Nigerian-flagged, internationally wanted vessel, Thunder, is at the end of its long and destructive past after performing illegal fishing for toothfish in the Southern Ocean.
This was stated by the non-government organization Sea Shepherd on finishing the evidence hand over process in Port Louis, Mauritius, as part of its 11th Southern Ocean Defence Campaign called Operation Icefish.
The move that contributed to stop illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing for toothfish was carried out by local police, Coast Guard, the Scene of Crime officers, Mauritian Fisheries officers, as well as other local and international Interpol officials.
All these entities worked together for three months to gather pieces of evidence such as illegal gillnet, buoys, nets, lines and anchor shackles.
We have come to the conclusion of what has been an extremely successful cooperative exercise with Interpol and local law enforcement authorities in Mauritius, pointed out Captain Sid Chakravarty and the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship, Sam Simon, who participated in the evidence gathering process.
The captain also explained that the proceedings have been undertaken in a thorough and stringent manner that reflects the gravity of the offences committed by Thunder.
This vessel has been on IUU fishing vessel list of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) since 2006 because its illegal fishing activity in CCAMLR waters undermines the convention’s conservation objectives.
The fishing ship was issued with an Interpol Purple Notice for suspected illegal fishing activity following a joint effort by New Zealand, Australian and Norwegian authorities in December 2013.
Later, at the end of 2014, the Sea Shepherd ship, Bob Barker, intercepted the Thunder on the Banzare Bank in Antarctica, starting a period of pursuit of the poaching ship in the Southern Ocean.
Meanwhile, at that time, the Sam Simon commenced retrieval operations to remove the illegal fishing gear abandoned by the Thunder from the waters of the Banzare Bank.
It was reported that more than 72 kilometres of illegal gillnet was recovered over a three week period and over 1,400 fish, weighing a total of 45,000 kilograms, were returned to the ocean.
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