Florindo González Corral, the Spanish fishing tycoon who owned the pirate fishing vessel ‘Thunder’, has been fined 8.2 million euros in a civil case brought by the Spanish government.
The F/V Thunder was an INTERPOL-wanted fishing vessel that was involved in more than 10 years of illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean, before its captain deliberately sank the vessel in the Gulf of Guinea, after a 110-day at-sea pursuit by Sea Shepherd vessels.
The captain and two of his crew, who were rescued by Sea Shepherd, were sentenced to three years in prison and fined $15 million euros by a court in the island state of Sao Tome and Principe in 2015.
The elusive owner, however, remained out of reach of the courts until now, hidden behind shell companies registered in secrecy havens. But a combination of evidence seized by Sea Shepherd crew from the sinking vessel, the investigative journalism work of Kjetil Saeter and Eskil Engdal of the Norwegian Business Daily, and raids of properties belonging to Galician fishing syndicates by law enforcement agents from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment (MAPAMA), the Guardia Civil (Spanish Federal Police) and INTERPOL, have uncovered irrefutable evidence linking González Corral to the F/V Thunder .
In addition to fines spread across three companies and eight persons connected to the F/V Thunder, the civil case resulted in a 12-year ban from fishing and receiving government fishing subsidies, Sea Shepherd added.
Captain Peter Hammarstedt, Director of Campaigns for Sea Shepherd, who pursued the F/V Thunder for 110-days across three oceans, stated:
MAPAMA and the Guardia Civil have been instrumental in changing international perception of Spain as a haven for pirate fishermen. The fines levied against the F/V Thunder are a strong statement by Spanish authorities that the crackdown on toothfish poachers continues…However, the F/V Thunder made a profit of 50 million euros during its toothfish poaching career, a number barely dented by an 8.2 million euro fine. Sea Shepherd would like to see the owner of the F/V Thunder join its captain in serving prison time and therefore hopes that these administrative fines are followed by criminal charges.
