Tag: Sea Shepherd

Sea Shepherd Legal entered into an agreement with Ecuador’s Office of the Attorney General to increase Ecuador’s capacity to fight illegal fishing and related criminal activity. Sea Shepherd Legal will provide training and other support to help Ecuador.

The Government of the Gambia collaborated with the Sea Shepherd arresting a fourth trawler, fishing vessel 'Niam Niokho' for fishing within The Gambia’s nine-nautical mile Special Management Area reserved for artisanal fishermen in less than a month.

A group of scientists and conservationists have been collaborating with Sea Shepherd in attempts to reduce as much ghost net as possible from the critical zones; In August they recorded the first vaquita sightings of 2019. 

The Sea Shepherd has partnered with the government of Gambia to tackle and halt illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in West Africa. The partners arrested in late August two illegal fishing vessels for fishery violations.

Sea Shepherd collaborated with Gabonese authorities to arrest the Chinese-flagged Haixin 27, as it was seen sailing into Gabonese waters from the Republic of Congo, while Gabonese fisheries enforcement officers discovered that the vessel's fish hold was full, despite the fact that the vessel had no fishing logbook. 

In a joint operation in partnership with the Liberian Ministry of National Defense to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Republic of Liberia, West Africa, Sea Shepherd has assisted the Liberian Coast Guard with the arrest of a foreign-flagged purse seine fishing vessel with a criminal history of illegal fishing in Liberia. The vessel caught, Solevant, is the 15th arrest of an illegal-fishing vessel in the area.

The Japanese fleet that fishes whales returned after killing 333 minke whales in the Southern Ocean. According to the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research from the 333 killed whales, 186 were male and 181 female. Over 50% of the females were adult and preliminary analysis, such as pregnancy rates, suggest healthy fertility of the species.

Sea Shepherd Legal has collaborated with Gabon’s National Agency of National Parks to initiate capacity-building workshops, aiming to provide legal and policy support to multiple government agencies combating fisheries crime in Gabon, Central West Africa. The workshop series is called 'Securing Gabon’s National Heritage: Policies and Practices to Eliminate IUU Fishing in Gabonese Waters'.

Sea Shepherd submitted a petition to the US government for emergency rulemaking, demanding it to fulfill its obligations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) to protect the Māui dolphin. Actually, the organization formally demanded that the Trump Administration immediately ban all imports from New Zealand fisheries that are driving the Māui dolphin to extinction. 

On January 31st, Sea Shepherd vessel the 'M/V Farley Mowat' was attacked by more than 50 assailants posing as fishermen on board 20 high speed boats while performing maritime conservation patrols inside the Vaquita Refuge in the Upper Gulf of California. A total of 52 skiffs were counted. The poachers threw molotov cocktails and projectiles, including lead weights and large stones, smashing windows and setting the side of the Sea Shepherd ship on fire.