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THUNDER CAPTAIN SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS IN PRISON AND FINED 15 MILLION EUROS.
The captain and two engineer on the Norwegian-built pirate trawler "Thunder" weretoday sentenced by the Sao Tome and Principe Court.
On April 6th this year the outlaw toothfish poacher THUNDER was scuttled by her Chilean captain in the waters of the small island state of Sao Tome and Principe in West Africa. It put an end to the career of the world's most notorious toothfish poacher. The scuttling followed a 110-day pursuit by the Sea Shepherd ships BOB BARKER and SAM SIMON. It was the longest pursuit of a poaching vessel in Maritime history, from the coast of Antarctic south of India, to the equator off West Africa.
After the scuttling, the SAM SIMON rescued 42 officers and crew and turned them over to the Sao Tome Coast Guard. The crew, mainly Indonesians and suspected to be virtual slaves were returned home and the three officers were held pending their trial earlier this month. They were held on charges of pollution and forgery.
At the trial held earlier this month, Sea Shepherd captains Peter Hammarstedt from Sweden and Sid Chakravarty from India along with Sea Shepherd photographer Simon Ager testified against the three officers and provided evidence that the ship was fishing illegally, and that the officers had intentionally scuttled the ship in Sao Tome Principe waters.
Today the Judge delivered the verdict. - all three defendants were found guilty. The captain was sentenced to three years in prison, the chief engineer was sentence to two years and nine months in prison and another engineer to two years and eight months in prison.
Sea Shepherd is very pleased with the verdict which also contains a huge compensation claim.
All three defendants were ordered to pay 15 million euros in compensation to the state of Sao Tome and Principe as compensation for pollution and environmental damage. They have 15-day deadline to appeal the ruling. If they do not pay the compensation within 30 days, they will be transferred to a prison in Sao Tome.
The question is, will the Spanish company that owned the THUNDER pay the fines? Most likely not?
The notorious THUNDER was built in Ulsteinvik in Norway in 1969 and since 2006 had been blacklisted for illegal fishing.
On December 17th Captain Peter Hammarstedt and his crew on the BOB BARKER found the THUNDER off the Banzare Bank of Antarcitca in the Australian Antarctic Territory. It was the start of what would become world history longest ever pursuit at sea. As the BOB BARKER began the chase, the SAM SIMON confiscated 72 kilometres of the net abandoned by the THUNDER.
For nearly four months the BOB BARKER pursued the THUNDER" until April 6th when Chilean Captain Luis Alfonso Rubio Cataldo deliberately scuttled his own ship in the Gulf of Guinea, approximately 250 kilometers from the African mainland. Having failed to escape the pursuit and with nowhere to go the captain decided to destroy the evidence and sank his own ship.
But before the THUNDER disappeared below the surface three Sea Shepherd activists including Simon Ager boarded the sinking trawler to secure evidence of illegal fishing and evidence of the deliberate scuttling of the vessel. What they saw convinced them that the trawler was sunk intentionally. All the bulkheads and doors were tied and locked wide open. The captain’s defense was that the THUNDER sank after a collision with a cargo ship but the crews of the SAM SIMON and BOB BARKER had the THUNDER under observation at all times and did not see any cargo ship. The court found the captain’s story to be without credibility.
Also convicted were chief engineer Agustin Dosil Rey (46) from Galicia in Spain and second engineer Luis Miguel Perez Fernandez (43), also from Galicia.
The court established that the THUNDER was sailing under a false flag and with false documents when it sank.
Last week in Chile, United States Secretary of State John Kerry cited the pursuit of the THUNDER and acknowledged Sea Shepherd’s role in bringing the poachers to justice.
"The search for Thunder showed huge seas are unregulated and that there are unscrupulous people who hunt money in these areas” added Kerry as reported in the New York Times.
Photos: By Simon Ager. The THUNDER going under - scuttled in 3000 meters of water. Ship sunk, 72 kilometers of gill net seized, Officers jailed.15 million Euros in fines. Sea Shepherd's Operation Icefish was 100% successful.
The TRUTH will set you FREE.
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