A Month Later, The Drama on the High Seas Cont Today marks a full month since Captain Peter Hammarstedt and the crew of the Sea Shepherd ship Bob Barker intercepted and began pursing the Nigerian flagged tooth fish poacher Thunder. The chase continues after covering 2,700 Nautical miles from the the Banzare Bank off the coast of Antarctica to their present location which is 770 nautical miles Southwest of Madagascar, 620 nautical miles Southeast of South Africa and 740 Nautical Miles Southeast of Mozambique The Thunder appears to be trying to wait out the Bob Barker. With an Interpol purple notice issued, the poachers have very few options with the Bob Barker on their tail with the ability to notify officials of any port that the Thunder attempts to approach. 31 days of pursuit has set a new record by the Bob Barker for a hot pursuit of a poaching vessel, passing the record set by the Australian government ship Southern Supporter and its pursuit of the Uruguayan flagged poacher Viarsa in 2003. Meanwhile after confiscating the net abandoned by the Thunder the Sam Simon is now searching for the three Equatorial Guinea flagged poachers the Yongding, Kun Lun and the Song Hua. According to the government of Equatorial Guinea, these three ships are not registered in their nation despite flying their flag. New Zealand did not give the coordinates to Sea Shepherd as requested but they did give the coordinates to Interpol and that is public knowledge so Captain Sid Chakavarty knows where to head to. The crews of the three poaching vessels brazenly ignored the New Zealand Navy and continued to illegally fish as the Navy filmed their activities. When the Navy requested permission to board, permission was granted by Nigeria but the poaching captains denied permission. Instead of firing a shot across the bow or using the helicopter on the HMNZ Wellington to drop a boarding party, the government of New Zealand elected to order the Navy to stand down. Sea Shepherd recognizes that the New Zealand Navy had the means, the skills and the determination to stop the poachers but were thwarted by the politicians who are now claiming that their operation was a success. Yet the poachers continue to poach and that is where Sea Shepherd with the Sam Simon is heading - to the scene of the crime. Operation Icefish has been enormously successful with the shutting down of the poacher Thunder, the confiscation of the illegally set gill net and the denial of a seasons profits from the Thunder estimated to be between three and four million dollars. In addition the campaign has motivated New Zealand intervention. Until this year very little has been done to intercept these vessels in the Southern Ocean. The Spanish connection and EU subsidies to pirate fishing operations is being exposed. The issue of illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean has received wide international publicity. Operation Icefish is being filmed by two camera crews, one on each ship to be made into a television special for Animal Planet.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 11:29:55 +0000
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