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Eye witness: Sea Shepherd frees 800 endangered bluefin tuna

wietse@indymedia.org | 29.06.2010 13:51 | Animal Liberation | Ecology | Ocean Defence | World

This is an eyewitness account from an action by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which set out onto the Mediterranean Sea last month in search of bluefin tuna poachers. As one of the most valuable fish in the world, the bluefin populations in the Mediterranean region have been reduced by over 85% in the last 50 years due to relentless industrial overfishing. Crew member Wietse van der Werf reports.

Sea Shepherd diver cuts tuna pen
Sea Shepherd diver cuts tuna pen


It is night when we enter Libyan waters. Everyone on the ship is excited, yet somewhat anxious about what is coming. We are the first to enter these waters in search of illegal bluefin tuna fishing. Neither observers from the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which 'manages' the fishery, nor French or Maltese navy vessels operate here. We are determined to find a floating cage full of illegally caught bluefin tuna, by now an endangered fish, and release them.

Our helicopter has been out for some time when it spots a target. Two tugs, towing a cage each, both full of tuna and headed for the tuna fattening farms in Malta. Down in the engine room we work to get the ship the extra thrust it needs to arrive at the target as soon as possible. Having a quick look up on deck, I can spot two vessels on the horizon. Around here you don't have to look far to find illegal fishing.

Closer to the vessels we request permission to inspect the fish. Only a certain percentage of undersized fish, known as juveniles, are allowed. This is often where the violations occur. Our request is refused. The fishermen state that the fish were caught on the last day of the allowed fishing season and that the cage contains the catch from eight different fishing ships. The story doesn't add up. The bad weather conditions in the fishing grounds we have witnessed in the last few days, which make fishing virtually impossible, and the relatively short distance the boats are from the fishing grounds make us highly suspicious of their story.

The engine room phone rings. 'Hold on, we're putting the bow over the cage to see what's inside'. We hold on and feel a shudder going through the ship as we park it against the cage. At that moment one of the fishing vessels, Rosaria Tuna, moves at speed towards us. Unhindered by our larger size, it smashes its bow into our port side. With a loud bang, steel bends and paint flakes off. One of the fishermen threatens us by swinging a pole with a large hook on its end across the deck. We respond by dropping a few bottles of rotten butter on their deck and they retreat. By now our ship is nosed in the pen and when it's clear that there are many tuna inside, our divers get ready for a closer inspection.

We move away from the pen and to our disbelief the Rosaria Tuna starts moving away from the scene. Once we have moved about a mile off and our divers are ready we turn and re-approach. This is our chance. With Rosaria Tuna moving off in the distance and the other tugboat Cesare Rustico standing by, our divers jump in the pen. Meanwhile the other tug has turned and approaches at full speed. The divers report back that they can see a large number of juveniles inside. We decide to intervene. The divers descend and start cutting the net. Within minutes the gigantic net is starting to move and the first tuna are curiously moving out through the new opening. As we stand on the bow we can see a few fish swimming away from the cage, then more and more until it is entirely empty. Eight hundred fish escape.

Everyone on the ship is in a state of euphoria. High fives, hugs and smiles all around. It is the first time anyone has managed to free bluefin tuna out of one of the numerous floating cages in the Mediterranean. With a market value exceeding seven figures, this is a big deal. As the tug is getting close to our starboard side and our divers are back in the inflatable boat, we turn sharply and start heading off. Repeated MAYDAY calls from the dumbfounded fishermen come through the radio as we haul up our little boat and head north at full speed. Within the hour rumours are circulating that the Libyan navy is on its way, but with us nearly out of their waters there is little they can do. On the Libyan front it stays quiet. Perhaps the country isn't willing to give attention to our action because they don't want the world to see that they have let poachers operate within their waters unhindered for so long. A surveillance plane circles over us the next day as we continue on a steady course back to land.

With more than 85% of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna populations killed off in the last 50 years, the stakes are higher than ever. The spawning bluefin tuna females could be wiped out as soon as 2012. Since the failure to add the threatened fish to CITES (the UN threatened species list) due to intense lobbying from Japan, the issue has been in a political deadlock. The need for action is more acute than ever. The bluefin tuna stands as a symbol for the way in which we continue to use the oceans as an inexhaustible resource without regard for the consequences which inevitably lie ahead. The oceans are in crisis. As the most important life support system on earth we simply cannot afford to let it be damaged any further.

wietse@indymedia.org

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

congrats!

29.06.2010 14:59

What a great action! Mercenary eco-activism with a real impact.

Krop


Well done

30.06.2010 08:37

Really brave action, inspirational and exactly what we should all being doing

Lynn Sawyer


They were not poachers!

30.06.2010 22:34

Sea Shepherd had no authority to inspect the catch or question the fishermen. They should have notified authorities and stayed with the cage until they arrived, It turns out, paperwork on the catch was proper and legal as was the catch itself. SSCS was desperate for headlines and had to produce a number of tuna "saved" in order to justify the hundreds of thousands of dollars of the donor's money spent so Watson could show off his pirate ship in Cannes, as he attempted to find another mark like Bob Barker or Ady Gil to swindle more millions from. What they did was criminal resulting in serious injuries to honest hard working fishermen that are trying to provide for their families. SSCS should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and made to pay restitution to the fishermen for the catch lost and for damage to their equipment as well as medical costs of the injuries they are responsible for. The Netherlands should also be punished if they do not honor their legal obligation to take action against the pirate/terrorist vessel Steve Irwin. The United States Of America should also take action against the bogus charity Sea Shepherd Conservation Society for engaging in criminal activities in the Mediterranean and elsewhere (as documented on the Whale Wars program).

Gizwinkus


SSCS attacked fishermen

30.06.2010 23:31

SSCS has no proof that these fishermen were poachers. Infact in a video shot by SSCS they didn't even have fishing gear aboard. SSCS rammed the holding pin first to provke a confrontation. This was an attack by SSCS on common fishermen.

Romika3


Eh, yes they were poachers

01.07.2010 12:23

Normally I don't really feel inclined to respond to the many keyboard warriors who have too much time on their hands to criticize what we do but this time I just wanted to clarify something. The fishermen we encountered were poachers. There catch was illegal for the following reasons:

First of all the fishermen said that the fish were caught on the 14th June, the last day of the allowed fishing season. When we encountered them it was the 17th June. In those three days, traveling from the fishing grounds towards the pen in Malta where it was destined to, the fishermen should have been way further. Tuna catches in pens are transferred to tuna farms as soon as possible. The fishermen were still so close to the fishing grounds after the season had already been closed for three days because they caught the fish outside of the season. The Libyan waters in which we found them are also renowned for habouring illegal fishing, so it is no surprise we came upon these poachers so quickly when we had only been in the area briefly. Secondly, we were in the fishing area during the last few days of the fishing season and the weather conditions were so bad that it made fishing virtually impossible. Thirdly, when our divers initially inspected the pen they found that a large number of fish were juveniles, way more than the allowed percentage.

Finally you are wrong about your argument that Sea Shepherd has no authority to intervene in this case. Sea Shepherd has been operating (legally) for the last 33 years as an enforcement organisation, as empowered by the UN World Charter for Nature. This United Nations resolution gives organisations such as Sea Shepherd a mandate to operate in areas where no other enforcement body is active. Although Libya claimed a special 62 mile 'fishing zone' in 2005 and no foreign navy has dared to enter it for upsetting the Libyan authorities, there is no active enforcement of any kind taking place. In this case, the Charter applies and Sea Shepherd has, as always, made good use of it. Original charter text:  http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/37/a37r007.htm

To say that these fishermen were simply 'common' fishermen just 'trying to feed their families' shows how little actual knowledge you have about what is happening in the Mediterranean in regard to the bluefin tuna fishery. This branch of the fishing industry in possibly the most lucrative in the world with much involvement from organised crime syndicates in countries such as Spain, Morocco, Tunisia, Italy, Turkey and Libya. The vast majority of the bluefin tuna industry is operating outside of the law and is driving this incredible species towards extinction within the next few years. While the European Union is tightening its regulations in regard to this fishery, in many other countries and areas beyond the Union's jurisdiction, the situation is getting out of control and poaching is more widespread than ever before. In that light the opportunities Sea Shepherd has to intervene as an independent observer and enforcement body might make the difference the fish needs to ensure its survival.

wietse@indymedia.org