~!~ ABOARD THE BOB BARKER, in the South Atlantic — As the Thunder, a trawler considered the world*s most notorious fish poacher, began sliding under the sea a couple of hundred miles south of Nigeria, three men scrambled aboard to gather evidence of its crimes//
(ukcanadaus)
~!~ In bumpy footage from their helmet cameras, they can be seen grabbing everything they can over the next 37 minutes the captain*s logbooks, a laptop computer, charts and a slippery 200-pound fish// The video shows the fishing hold about a quarter full with catch and the Thunder*s engine room almost submerged in murky water// **There is no way to stop it sinking,** the men radioed back to the Bob Barker, which was waiting nearby// Soon after they climbed off, the Thunder vanished below//It was an unexpected end to an extraordinary chase// For 110 days and more than 10,000 nautical miles across two seas and three oceans, the Bob Barker and a companion ship, both operated by the environmental organization Sea Shepherd, had trailed the trawler, with the three captains close enough to watch one another*s cigarette breaks and on-deck workout routines// In an epic game of cat-and-mouse, the ships maneuvered through an obstacle course of giant ice floes, endured a cyclone-like storm, faced clashes between opposing crews and nearly collided in what became the longest pursuit of an illegal fishing vessel in history//Industrial-scale violators of fishing bans and protected areas are a main reason more than half of the world*s major fishing grounds have been depleted and by some estimates over 90 percent of the ocean*s large fish like marlin, tuna and swordfish have vanished// Interpol had issued a Purple Notice on the Thunder (the equivalent of adding it to a Most Wanted List, a status reserved for only four other ships in the world), but no government had been willing to dedicate the personnel and millions of dollars needed to go after it//
(ukcanadaus)
~!~ So Sea Shepherd did instead, stalking the fugitive 202-foot steel-sided ship from a desolate patch of ocean at the bottom of the Earth, deep in Antarctic waters, to any ports it neared, where its crews could alert the authorities// **The poachers thrive by staying in the shadows,** Peter Hammarstedt, captain of the Barker, said while trying to level his ship through battering waves// **Our plan was to put a spotlight on them that they couldn*t escape//**
(ukcanadaus)