Descending by rope from a helicopter, the Norwegian coastguard boarded a ship bottom- trawling for cod in the Barents Sea yesterday. The pirate fishing vessel flew no flag, had no call sign and no IMO-number, and used the name 'Joana'. But our own investigation uncovered its real name had been the 'Lootus', and that until it "disappeared" from official registers, the ship had known connections to Spanish fishing company Oya Perez. Further research revealed it now appears to be connected to a Portuguese company named Silvia Vieira - a group with known links to other pirate vessels operating in the area.
The pirate trawler Kabou that was arrested by Norway in June has now arrived Portugal and its home town Aveiro.
UPDATE AUGUST 15 2006
The pirate trawler Joana (aka Kabou aka Lootus) that was
arrested byNorway in June has now arrived Portugal and its home
town Aveiro. Thearrival was not communicated by Portugal to Norway,
but according toNorwegian officials, the Portugese Fisheries
Ministry has said that"they have control over the vessel, and that
the entire harbour ofAveiro has been closed to any fish
offloading". This was communicatedafter Greenpeace had documented
that the vessel had arrived Aveiro.
Whenwe spotted the vessel Wednesday 15 August 2006, it looked
empty andabandoned. We saw no guards nor police either, and doubt
the entireAveiro port is closed for fish offloads.On the same quay
as the KABOUwere also the trawlers BRITES and KERGUELEN, all three
controlled bySilvia Vieira. Both Kerguelen and Kabou are
blacklisted bu NEAFC forillegal fishing. Such blacklisting means
for example that allcontracting port states, like Portugal, must
inspect all such vessels,refuse all offloading of fish and refuse
any service.
From the fall,even entry into port will be prohibited. It is
currently very unclear ifPortugal is living up to its commitments
regarding these vessels, orthe Portugese owners Silvia Vieira.
The Barents Sea is home to the last remaining relatively healthy
codstock on the planet. As in other fisheries, it is common for
fishingvessels to fly 'flags of convenience' to hide their true
owners, andgain access where they have not been provided with a
permit to fish.
This bottom trawler was fishing with no licence in the Barents
Sea"loophole" - an area between the Norwegian and Russian
ExclusiveEconomic Zones and outside of both. Catching a
vesselfishing illegally would be made easier if this area were set
aside asan International Marine Reserve: no fishing would be
allowed. A marinereserve would also benefit adjacent fisheries by
giving fish a safeplace to breed, grow larger and develop increased
reproductivepotential.
Yesterday's arrest comes a week after
The Times of London revealed:
Mafia-style gangs from Russia areplundering protected stocks and
then laundering their illegally-caughthauls through fishing ports
in Britain
Cod set for British dinner plates has become the latest
commodity to beplundered by mafia-style criminal gangs using
consumers as accessoriesin a growing deep-sea crime.
In fact, estimates are that every fifth cod from this region is
caughtillegally, and they end up on supermarket shelves all over
the world.
It is not yet known if the Joana/Lootus is connected to
organizedcrime, or was simply practicing what is considered
business as usual bymany rogue fishing companies. However, the
fact that theJoana/Lootus was bottom trawling, one of the most
destructive methodsof fishing, and flagrantly avoiding
international laws, argues forsevere legal action against those
responsible for its operations - theSilva Vieira.
The Joana/Lootus is now being held in port. Its crew refused
tocooperate when boarded, and in the end the coast guard cut the
ship'snets loose in order to bring them in. While it is good
tosee justice being served in this case, the reality is that most
piratefishing vessels operate outside the law, rather than in
directviolation of it.
Another positive step would be for the Norwegian government to
supporta moratorium on high seas bottom trawling at the UN later
this year asa first step towards providing urgently needed
protection to deep sealife while better laws are put into place to
end pirate fishing.