“I have been honored to serve the whales, dolphins, seals – and all the other creatures on this Earth. Their beauty, intelligence, strength, and spirit have inspired me. These beings have spoken to me, touched me, and I have been rewarded by friendship with many members of different species.” - Paul Watson

Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson was arrested in Germany on May 13th in connection with an incident that took place with a Costa Rican fishing vessel back in 2002…its political and if we don’t pay attention, step-up and demand for his release, it may be the most devastating injustice we could have prevented.

Below is part of Our Captains blog post in reference to the incident…numerous celebrities are adding to the outcry for his freedom…Pamela Anderson, Pierce Brosnan, Brigitte Bardot, Michelle Rodriguez, John Paul DeJoria, Anthony Kiedis, Jose Bove, Daniel Cohn Bendit, Rutgar Hauer, Martin Sheen, Ian Somerhalder, Zach Callison, Perry Reeves, Bob Barker, Richard Dean Anderson, Kelly Slater, Xavier Rudd and the former Environment Ministers of Australia, British Columbia and Costa Rica.

Although released on bail, Watson faces an uphill battle…we need this man FREE to do what he does best, protect and save our sea life, hopefully most of you have seen his film ‘The Cove” and understand the importance of his freedom. I don’t write about him enough and couldn’t possibly cover each gift he has given to humanity. Again, this man is ‘necessary’ in all aspects of the word.

From the Captain:
I remain a prisoner in Germany in a case that has become highly unusual, controversial and international.

On May 13th, 2012, I was arrested at Frankfurt airport in Germany because in October 2011, Costa Rica issued an order for my arrest and extradition for an incident that had taken place in 2002.

That incident involved a confrontation between the Sea Shepherd crew and a poaching vessel that we caught finning sharks in Guatemalan waters. We were given permission to intervene to stop the killing of the sharks by the Guatemalan government. No one was injured and there was no property damage but the Costa Rican poachers accused us of endangering their lives.

And 10 years later I found myself arrested in Germany because of this complaint.

Even more strange is that I had traveled extensively between October 2011 and the present, including trips to Europe and had not been arrested. That was because Interpol had dismissed the extradition warrant as being politically motivated. But for reasons unexplained Germany had not dismissed the warrant despite Interpol `s dismissal.

Germany does not have an extradition treaty with Costa Rica but insists they can extradite to Costa Rica if they decide to so.

Is it a coincidence that Japan launched a civil lawsuit against Sea Shepherd in October 2011 when they were granted $30 million U.S. dollars from the Tsunami Earthquake Relief Fund to be used to protect the Japanese whaling fleet from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society?

I don`t think that Germany or Costa Rica anticipated the international response of support for my position. Dozens of demonstrations around the world before German Embassies, 400 demonstrators in Berlin to greet the Costa Rican President, a statement from the President of the Brazilian Senate calling for my release, statements from celebrities worldwide, support from the European Parliament, threats to boycott tourism to Costa Rica.

All and all it seems like a great deal of effort to go to because a couple of shark finning fishermen who were not hurt nor had their property damaged had made a complaint.

Meanwhile nothing ever happened to the Captain of the Shonan Maru 2 for destroying the 1.5 million dollar Ady Gil and almost killing 8 people and injuring one of them. There is no extradition order for him, no arrest warrant – nothing!

Why?

Because the law is there to protect those who profit from exploiting the oceans and not for those who work to protect the oceans.

Whatever happens, there is one undeniably positive outcome of this entire incident and that is that worldwide attention is being focused on shark finning and the horrific massacre of tens of millions of sharks every year and for what?

For a bowl of soup!

PLEASE GET INVOLVED HERE: http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/sos-paul-watson.html

As always, thanks for reading~
delinda@athlebrities.com