Canadian-born Sea Shepherd boss Paul Watson skips bail in Germany for ‘unknown destination’

The Canadian-born head of a marine anti-poaching group has skipped bail in Germany and is heading for an “unknown destination,” his lawyer told a German court this week.

Paul Watson, an early member of Greenpeace and the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was arrested in Germany two months ago at the request of Costa Rica, where he is accused of having endangered the crew of a fishing vessel.

German officials, who released the 61-year-old on bail in May, first noticed something was amiss on Sunday, when Mr. Watson failed to appear for his daily check-in at a Frankfurt police station.

Then, this week, his attorney told a German regional court that his client had telephoned him with news that he was leaving the country for “an unknown destination,” according to a statement by Frankfurt’s higher regional court.

“[By] fleeing, Watson has shown that he cannot justify the trust placed in him,” said the court.

With his escape, Mr. Watson forfeits both his passport — which is in the custody of German authorities — and a $300,000 bond that was put up in May by an unidentified donor.

Although his whereabouts remain a mystery, Mr. Watson could have easily slipped over the unguarded French or Belgian borders, where the German arrest order is not valid.

Quinn Rooney/Getty Images files

Paul Watson and Terri Irwin stand aboard as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's whale defending ship "Steve Irwin" at Victoria Docks in Melbourne.

“At this time we have no comment,” a Sea Shepherd representative said on Wednesday.

A Toronto native, Mr. Watson founded Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 1977 to use aggressive “direct action” to harass and sabotage whalers and marine poachers. Currently in command of a fleet of three vessels, the group claims to have sunk 10 whaling ships and is the subject of the Animal Planet TV series Whale Wars.

Acting on a Costa Rican warrant, German authorities arrested Mr. Watson on May 14 while he was changing planes at Frankfurt Airport. Authorities in the Central American country issued the warrant last October on allegations that, in 2002, Mr. Watson endangered the crew of the Varadero I, a Costa Rican fishing vessel allegedly caught “shark finning,” an illegal technique where a shark’s fins are severed and its fatally-wounded body is thrown back into the water.

The 2006 Canadian-produced film Sharkwater features the incident prominently. A ship named the Ocean Warrior, with Mr. Watson at the helm, comes upon the Varadero I in Guatemalan waters. When the vessel tries to flee, the Ocean Warrior fires water cannons at its decks before ultimately bringing it to a stop by ramming it from the side. Attaching the boat to a towline, the Ocean Warrior then sets sail to port, allegedly to turn the Varadero over to local authorities. Throughout, Mr. Watson maintains, they were acting under the official sanction of Guatemalan authorities.

Three miles from shore however, the Sea Shepherds drop the towline and flee south upon getting word that a Guatemalan gunboat had been dispatched to intercept them. “The Varadero had pulled some strings,” said the film’s narrator.

During a stopover in Costa Rica, the crew was subsequently charged with attempted murder by local authorities, but fled to open water before the charges could he heard.

Sea Shepherd calls the charges “politically motivated” and alleges that if Mr. Watson is extradited to Costa Rica, he risks being killed by thugs connected with the illegal fishing industry. “The shark finning mafia, which operates illegally in Costa Rica, could try to harm Captain Watson and this reality has him fearing for his life,” reads a May 16 release by the organization.

In a meeting with Costa Rica’s foreign minister in late May, Mr. Watson said he would gladly face trial in Costa Rica if he did not suspect he would be murdered in prison. “I don’t think [Costa Rica] wants a trial. I think they want an execution,” Mr. Watson told Russian radio earlier this month.

“No person, domestic or foreign may take the law into his or her own hands in violation of Costa Rica’s laws to defend the causes he or she considers just,” reads a statement issued by Costa Rica’s Ottawa embassy. The statement adds that shark finning is illegal under Costa Rican law. “Nonetheless, even this fight to preserve valued marine life must be undertaken in accordance with existing laws.”

In late June, Mr. Watson’s fears were compounded by revelations that Japan would also to seek an extradition order. Japanese whaling ships are a frequent target of the Sea Shepherd fleet — particularly in the Antarctic — and since 2010, Mr. Watson has been wanted under a warrant obtained by the Japanese Coast Guard

Although the Sea Shepherd Society operates primarily in international waters, the latest event is far from their first run-in with the law. In 1997, Mr. Watson was held by Dutch authorities on a Norwegian government warrant stemming from the sinking of a Norwegian whaling vessel three years before — although the order was ultimately overturned.

In 2008, the Sea Shepherd vessel the Farley Mowat was seized by Canadian fisheries authorities off the Atlantic coast during a protest of the seal hunt.