15

THE PHANTOM SHIP

THE INDIAN OCEAN, DECEMBER 2014

Like a phantom ship, the Thunder continues north. Nobody moves on deck, but now and then the officers on the Bob Barker see a shadow, catch a glimpse of a face glancing quickly down at them from the bridge. When the ship starts constantly changing its course or strategy, it is right after lunch. Is it because somebody has just woken up in Europe and is now sending orders to the Southern Ocean? Lloyds List, the company with the largest database of shipping traffic in the world has no information about where the Thunder has been since 2010.1

From his hiding place on land, Sea Shepherd’s founder Paul Watson is increasingly frustrated over how the international community fails to come to the Bob Barker’s aid.

“Interpol states that the nations have united to identify this poacher, yet none of these nations seem to be interested that Sea Shepherd has not only identified the poacher but also escorted the vessel from the CCAMLR region and has seized the net. Instead of supporting this effort by Sea Shepherd, the Australian government is condemning Sea Shepherd’s intervention,” he writes on social media.2

Paul Watson’s theory is that the Thunder and the five other ships being searched for in the Southern Ocean are connected to Vidal Armadores – the most powerful clan of what is called la mafia gallega – the Galician mafia. Watson also implies that there is “somebody” who is not interested in stopping the Thunder.

“Sea Shepherd believes that despite all the talk of apprehending the Thunder there is very little enthusiasm to actually stop the ship from operating. Why? Well, first the ship has reportedly earned more than USD 60 million on illegal fishing since 2006. That kind of money buys influence. In addition, organized crime syndicates in Galicia, Spain involving Antonio and Toño Vidal and others, own and operate many of these illegal poachers and may actually control the operations of the Thunder,” he writes on one of the last days of December 2014.

In the 1990s, Watson wreaked havoc in Norwegian waters. He crashed the ship Whales Forever into the Norwegian coast guard vessel the KV Andenæs and was charged with negligent navigation, a fraudulent distress call and for entering Norwegian territorial waters without permission. Now the bureaucrats at the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries are satisfied that Sea Shepherd is occupied with something more useful than actions targeting Norwegian whaling. A Norwegian local politician goes so far as to claim that Watson and Sea Shepherd should be treated as an international terrorist organization, along the lines of Baader-Meinhof, Al-Qaida and IS.3

On the same day that the Bob Barker set sail for the Southern Ocean, Sea Shepherd was warned by research scientists that boarding an illegal fishing vessel could constitute grounds for criminal prosecution for piracy and vandalism of private property. Sea Shepherd had no authority and the organization’s “citizen’s arrest” was not recognized by international law. In addition, they could be charged with illegal fishing themselves for hauling in the nets of others, the scientists warned.4

The nations of Operation Spillway cannot accept an environmental organization assuming a role as enforcer of the law. Sea Shepherd can never step in for the police. And it is more than legal arguments and general hostility towards Sea Shepherd that causes Australia, New Zealand, Norway and the USA to hesitate about sending ships to compel the Thunder to put into a port. In the country that has the world’s largest fleet of battleships, they have no faith in such a mission. It will be a “complicated mess”, the USA’s man at Operation Spillway, Stuart Cory argues. What will they do with the crew? Put them in jail? They haven’t committed any crime in the USA. And what will they do with the ship? Nobody wants a rusty old hulk full of asbestos and other environmental toxins sitting in their harbour. It is not the crew and the ship they are after, it is the owners.

“You don’t arrest the car of the bank robber, you arrest the robber,” Cory argues.5

It is New Year’s Eve and the Thunder appears to be completely dark.

“Let’s have a look at them,” Peter Hammarstedt says and orders the crew below deck and two photographers on deck.

Then the Bob Barker moves into action and puts in close to the Thunder’s starboard side. The photographers succeed in capturing the face of a 50–60 year old man. When the officers later move outdoors, their faces are hidden behind ski masks. The captain on the Thunder speaks Spanish, but with an accent. On the net floats they’d left behind when they fled, a Spanish name was engraved: A Poutada, a fishing gear company in Ribeira, Spain.

Where do they come from? Who is controlling the operation? And who is giving the orders?