Captain Paul Watson, of the California-based marine-conservation group Sea Shepherd, faces new criminal charges this week for a recent skirmish with a Costa Rican fishing boat, but has been granted permission to leave the central-Pacific port town of Puntarenas for the first time since May 3.

After posting bail set at $850, Watson and the crew of the Sea Shepherd’s boat, the "Farley Mowat" (formerly the Ocean Warrior), left Thursday afternoon for Cocos Island to deliver supplies.

Shortly after their departure, however, the Coast Guard chased them down, The Tico Times learned Thursday, because it was unaware of a Puntarenas court order that allowed the Farley Mowat leave.

Once the matter was cleared up, Coast Guard officials said they desisted immediately. The Farley Mowat crew reported that the Coast Guard fired at them, but Coast Guard officials adamantly denied this version.

Watson was charged with damages and attempted shipwrecking by the Costa Rican fishermen involved in the April 22 scuffle between the Farley Mowat and the Costa Rican vessel called the "Varadero I" (TT, April 26, May 3).

Watson thought his problems were over last week, when Puntarenas prosecutors said they would not pursue the original charges of attempted murder.

The Costa Rican fishermen said Watson and his crew used excessive force to bring the Varadero I into a Guatemalan port for allegedly poaching sharks in Guatemalan waters.

On April 29, a Puntarenas prosecutor reviewed the evidence and told Watson and his attorney Milton González that the investigation would not continue, because there was no proof of any wrongdoing.

Watson and his attorney assumed the charges were dismissed and the case closed. However, Puntarenas Prosecutor Rodrigo Vásquez told The Tico Times this week the case was still open, and that the prosecution needed more time to gather evidence.

Before last month’s skirmish, Cocos Island was to be the conservation boat’s semi-permanent home, where it would patrol for poachers in this National Park and UNESCO World Heritage site. Costa Rica indefinitely suspended its patrol agreement with Sea Shepherd, while authorities look into the charges.

Sea Shepherd and other conservation groups are outraged by the criminal charges, alleging that the Puntarenas Fisherman’s Chamber is pulling out all the stops to ensure the protection agreement does not take effect (see Perspective).

William Muñoz, director of the Friends of Cocos Island Foundation, told The Tico Times he thinks the case has been "manipulated" and "managed terribly" in response to pressure from the fishermen.

Yet Puntarenas Prosecutor Vásquez insists the case is "just one more out of the 3,000 we handle," and that his office has not been pressured by the fishing lobby.