Catching Thunder

by Eskil Engdal

  5 The article “Mozambique leads the charge against Thunder”, was published on Sea Shepherd Global’s website, 12 January 2015. www.seashepherdglobal.org/icefish/campaign-updates/commentary/mozambique-leads-the-charge-against-thunder.html (accessed 28.09.2016).

  6 Robert William “Bob” Barker was for 35 years a television host for the USA’s most famous game show, The Price Is Right, which is still running on the TV network CBS.

  18 “THE ONLY SHERIFF IN TOWN”

  1 Graham MacLean interviewed by the news portal Stuff.co.nz in New Zealand. The article, “Sea Shepherd: Navy’s toothfish poaching operation ‘cowardly’”, was written by Michael Field and published on 20 January 2015. www.stuff.co.nz/national/65226107/Sea-Shepherd-Navys-toothfish-poaching-operation-cowardly (accessed 26.09.2016).

  2 Comment made by Paul Watson on Sea Shepherd’s website: “The ‘likes of Sea Shepherd’ succeed where the Navy fails”, published 20 January 2015. www.seashepherd.org/commentary-and-editorials/2015/01/20/the-likes-of-sea-shepherd-succeed-where-the-navy-fails-683 (accessed 26.09.2016).

  3 Minister of Defence Gerry Brownlee interviewed by Radio New Zealand (RNZ), 15 January 2015. The interview was also published on RNZ’s website the same day under the title “Govt defends poaching operation”. www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/263716/govt-defends-poaching-operation (accessed 28.09.2016).

  4 The article “Sea Shepherd announces plans to take over chase from New Zealand Navy”, published 15 January 2015. www.seashepherd.org.uk/news-and-commentary/news/sea-shepherd-announces-plans-to-take-over-chase-from-new-zealand-navy.html (accessed 28.09.2016).

  19 THE FLYING MARINER

  1 Warredi Enisuoh was interviewed by the authors over the telephone and by email on many occasions in 2015 and 2016.

  2 The authors have access to the documents from the Thunder’s registration in Nigeria.

  3 Republic of Liberia, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Volume II, Consolidated final report, published July 2009.

  4 The authors have tried on a number of occasions to make direct contact with both Dew Mayson and Henry Macauley. Both have confirmed by email that they have a relation to the company Royal Marine & Spares, but that they did not know about the fishing vessel the Thunder before they were contacted by the Nigerian authorities and the authors after the search for the Thunder had commenced. Both claim that Royal Marine & Spares, which was an oil service company that is no longer in business, must have been exploited by the Thunder’s owners and agents.

  5 The Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) at the Bureau of Diplomatic Security of the US State Department publishes an annual Crime and Safety Report. The descriptions of Lagos come from OSAC’s reports in 2014, 2015 and 2016. The reports are available on OSAC’s websites.

  6 The authors established contact with one of the Thunder’s Nigerian consultants on the social network LinkedIn. The man, who claimed to be Managing Director at Maritime Consultants Limited, gave the following answer to the authors’ question about the Thunder’s ship’s documents: “Thanks for thinking of me, but I’m not interested.”

  20 A BLOODY NIGHTMARE

  1 On 1 January 2015, Chakravarty was contacted by Gary Orr from the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand. Orr was one of the fisheries officers who participated in Interpol’s Operation Spillway. He informed Chakravarty of the importance of securing evidence in a professional manner so it could be used in a potential criminal case.

  2 Siddharth “Sid” Chakravarty interviewed by the authors in Jakarta, 2 and 3 March 2016. Chakravarty has also responded to questions in a long series of emails from the authors in 2015 and 2016.

  3 The Storegg Bank was discovered on 9 January 1934 by the Norwegian-owned ship the FLK Solglimt. The ship was searching for new whaling grounds when they discovered the plateau that suddenly rose out of the depths of the ocean, from 5,100 metres to 310 metres.

  21 LA MAFIA GALLEGA

  1 “Luis” and his colleague interviewed by the authors in Barcelona on 2 February 2015 and 7 June 2016.

  2 Two of the lawyers are currently employed at the law firm Abogados Marítimos y Asociados in Panama, a country where anyone can purchase anonymity as long as they have the financial means. “The Panamanian lawyers having acted as registered directors do not run the business of such companies nor are they involved in their corporate affairs. We were and are NOT aware of the matter disclosed in your letter as we are concerned with the registration of the companies and with their compliance with the laws of Panama in that regard only.” Written by one of the members of the board of Estalares, the lawyer Iria Barrancos Domingo, in an email to the authors dated 17 May 2015.

  3 On 20 April 2010, the environmental organization Oceana published a report in which they documented that the conglomerate of companies controlled by the Vidal family has received EUR 9.9 million in subsidies from the provincial government of Galicia, the Spanish fisheries authorities in Madrid and the EU from 1997 to 2009. During the same time period, vessels controlled by the same syndicate were fined, confiscated and observed dozens of times in connection with illegal fishing.

  4 From the article “Spain doles out millions in aid despite fishing company’s record”, written by Kate Willson and Mar Cabra, and published by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on 2 October 2011. www.icij.org/projects/looting-seas-2/spain-doles-out-millions-aid-despite-fishing-companys-record (accessed 13.11.2016).

  5 The sentence has been discussed in a number of publications, including the article “Spanish fishing firms fined £1.62m”, written by Ryan Hooper, and published by The Independent on 26 July 2012. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/spanish-fishing-firms-fined-162m-7978843.html (accessed 28.09.2016).

  23 BUENAS TARDES, BOB BARKER

  1 The Melville Bank was discovered and mapped by scientists on board the ship the R/V Melville in 1978. The ship was named after the American engineer, rear admiral, author and explorer George Wallace Melville (1841–1912).

  25 RAID ON THE HIGH SEAS

  1 The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), in laymen’s terms called the Law of the Sea, regulates traffic and financial activity on the high seas and coastal states’ rights in own territorial waters and exclusive economic zones (EEZ). A coastal state has full sovereignty in its own territorial waters, which extend 12 nautical miles from the coast. A coastal state can also establish an economic zone with exclusive rights to exploit all the natural resources up to 200 nautical miles from its coast. The rest of the ocean is fair game; it belongs to nobody, but all of the 168 nations that have ratified the convention have made a commitment to secure the open ocean from pollution and destruction. There are also a number of regional conventions that regulate fishing on the high seas, such as CCAMLR, which regulates fishing around Antarctica.

  2 The next day, the director of Sea Shepherd Paul Watson posted his indignant commentary “The Aussies came, they saw, they did nothing!” on the organization’s website. www.seashepherd.org/commentary-and-editorials/2015/02/27/the-aussies-came-they-saw-they-did-nothing-688 (accessed 26.09.2016).

  26 OPERATION SPARROW

  1 Assistant Managing Director Héctor Villa González of General de Control e Inspección Secretaría General de Pesca, a division subordinate to the Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (MAGRAMA), interviewed by the authors in Madrid on 6 June 2016.

  27 EXERCISE GOOD HOPE

  1 Eve de Coning was interviewed by the authors on several occasions in Oslo in 2015 and 2016.

  2 The descriptions of the military drill Exercise Good Hope were taken from the website of the South African Navy. www.navy.mil.za/archive/1503/ (accessed 26.09.2016).

  3 A fishing vessel was almost sunk by the battleships that took part in Exercise Good Hope. The battleship mixed up the fishing vessel and a radio-controlled boat that was supposed to be a target for a shooting exercise
at sea off Cape Agulhas. The crew of the fishing vessel almost died of fright when three large calibre grenades suddenly landed in the water 15 metres in front of the vessel in the darkness of night. The shipmaster immediately switched on all the lights on the ship and screamed over the radio that there were ten men on board.

  28 THE BIRD OF ILL OMEN

  1 The letter from Prince Charles to the (then) Minister of the Environment Elliot Morley, dated 21 October 2004, was made public by the British government on 13 May 2015. The letter can be accessed here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/prince-of-wales-correspondence-with-the-minister-for-environment (accessed 25.09.2016).

  2 The quote is cited many places but originally stems from an article by the Associated Press. Here is a version of the article “Whaling clash sparks accusations”, published by The Wall Street Journal, 7 January 2010. www.wsj.com/articles/SB126283509683519109 (accessed 28.09.2016).

  3 Article from Sea Shepherd’s website, “The time is right for Bob Barker to rescue the whales”, published 5 January 2010. www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2010/01/05/the-time-is-right-for-bob-barker-to-rescue-the-whales-265 (accessed 27.09.2016).

  29 THE WANDERER

  1 From a documentary piece about J. Michael Fay in the magazine Outside, written by Michael McRae, published 21 October 2011. www.outsideonline.com/1887471/how-nomad-found-home (accessed 28.09.2016).

  2 J. Michael “Mike” Fay interviewed by the authors on Skype, 25 August 2016.

  31 THE THIRD SHIP

  1 David Carter interviewed by the authors in Melbourne in June 2016.

  32 “YOU ARE NOTHING”

  1 The article “Attempted suicide on board poaching vessel Thunder as Nigeria strips registry” was published on Sea Shepherd’s website 26 March 2015. www.seashepherdglobal.org/news-and-commentary/news/attempted-suicide-on-board-poaching-vessel-thunder-as-nigeria-strips-registry.html (accessed 27.09.2016).

  33 THE SNAKE IN PARADISE

  1 After the officers of the New Zealand battleship the HMNZS Wellington tried boarding the Kunlun in early January, the authorities in Wellington requested that Interpol issue a notice on the ship. On 21 January 2015, Interpol published a Purple Notice on the Kunlun.

  2 www.facebook.com/paul.watson.1426/posts/10153640142298362 (accessed 27.09.2016).

  34 THE ARMPIT OF AFRICA

  1 Portions of the account about Equatorial Guinea’s history are based on the documentary Djevelens håndtrykk, (“The Devil’s Handshake”) written by Eskil Engdal following a reporting trip to the country, and published in Dagens Næringsliv 15 September 2012.

  2 The US Department of Justice initiated a civil case against Teodor Obiang Nguema at the US District Court in the Central District of California 24 October 2011. The US authorities want to collect more than USD 70 million from Obiang. The case from which the quote is taken is available here: www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/obiang-doj-doc1-20111026_0.pdf (accessed 28.09.2016).

  3 The story of the fate of the Fantome is to a large extent taken from the book The Ship and the Storm: Hurricane Mitch and the Loss of the Fantome, written by Jim Carrier and published by International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press in 2000.

  36 A WEIRD DREAM

  1 Simon Ager, interviewed by the authors in Bremen, 28 April 2015, and on Skype, 14 January 2016.

  2 Adam Meyerson, interviewed by the authors in Bremen, 28 April 2015.

  38 THE ISLAND OF RUMOURS

  1 Wilson Morais, interviewed by the authors in São Tomé and Príncipe, 3 and 4 February 2016.

  41 THE LUCK OF THE DRAW

  1 The story of the Perlon’s final expedition in the Southern Ocean is based on interviews with Glen Salmon of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) and Naval Captain Khairul Nizam Misran at the Maritime Crime Investigation Department of Malaysia.

  42 THE ESCAPE

  1 www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/2015/09/09/interpol-wanted-poaching-vessel-kunlun-and-its-illegal-catch-escape-from-thailand-1744 (accessed 04.11.2016).

  46 THE MAN FROM MONGOLIA

  1 Peter Pham, “Ship of fools”, The Washington Times, 7 May 2008. www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/may/7/ships-of-fools/.

  47 THE LAST VIKING

  1 Rear Admiral Achmad Taufiqoerrachman, interviewed by the authors in Jakarta, 3 March 2016.

  48 OPERATION YUYUS

  1 The Guardia Civil was founded as a national police force in 1844, has 80,000 employees and is Spain’s oldest and largest police force. The organization performs both military and civil tasks. Investigator Miguel works at the Guardia Civil’s Servicio de Protección de la Naturaleza (SEPRONA), the division that combats environmental crime. Due to the fact that his job includes undercover police work, Miguel does not want his surname made public. The authors interviewed him in Madrid, 7 June 2016.

  2 The name of the operation, “Yuyus”, was investigator Miguel’s idea. The first assignment he received when he assumed his post in the Guardia Civil’s environmental crime division in 1998 was to investigate a man who was smuggling Senegal parrots, which are also called the “yuyu” in Spanish. Phonetically Miguel thought the pronunciation sounded like IUU – Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated fishing.

  3 The instant messaging service Telegram was developed and financed by the brothers Nikolaj and Pavel Durov, who made a fortune on the Russian social network VK – known as the Russian version of Facebook. In conjunction with the conflict in Ukraine and the protest movement Euromaidan, the Durov brothers had a falling out with the Russian authorities, according to Pavel Durov because VK had refused to provide Russian intelligence with personal information about the social network’s users. The Durov brothers went into self-imposed exile and started Telegram. “The No. 1 reason for me to support and help launch Telegram was to build a means of communication that can’t be accessed by the Russian security agencies,” Pavel Durov said to the website TechCrunch in February 2014. techcrunch.com/2014/02/24/telegram-saw-8m-downloads-after-whatsapp-got-acquired/ (accessed 22.10.2016).

  4 Angel Vidal Pego was observed in Phuket by a criminal investigator from New Zealand who was there to help the Thai authorities investigate computers and other digital equipment on board the Kunlun. The information has been confirmed by Gary Orr of the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand. Orr, who was New Zealand’s man in Operation Spillway, was interviewed by the authors over the phone on 22 September 2016.

  5 ARTAI Corredores de Seguros was the insurance broker for at least four of “The Bandit 6” – the Kunlun, Songhua, Yongding and Thunder. ARTAI had contact with the ship owners and did the rounds with the insurance companies to procure the best offers. It was usual for one insurance company to underwrite the ship, while another underwrote the cargo – the toothfish. At least three large European insurance companies have sold insurance to “The Bandit 6” ships after they were black-listed for illegal fishing activity and at least two companies continued to sell insurance while the ships were wanted by Interpol. British Marine has insured all six of the pirate vessels, but cancelled the insurance when they were confronted, by the authors among others, early in 2015. The Spanish company Murimar Seguros was the insurance company for the Thunder when the ship was sunk. The world’s largest insurance company, the German Allianz, underwrote the Vidal ship the Tiantai. There has been an extreme amount of secrecy around the insurance policies of the pirate ships. Since March 2015 and up to November 2016 the authors have on repeated occasions tried to schedule interviews and asked for comments, but none of the insurance companies have communicated anything more than “no comment”. When the authors visited the busy office of the insurance agency ARTAI Corredores de Seguros in Vigo on 10 October 2016, there was nobody there who was willing to talk.

  6 In the EU body of laws prohibiting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing), which went into force on 1 January 2010, accomplice
liability is loosely defined in article 39. The first paragraph reads as follows: “Nationals subject to the jurisdiction of Member States (nationals) shall neither support nor engage in IUU fishing, including by engagement on board or as operators or beneficial owners of fishing vessels included in the Community IUU vessel list.” It is the word “support” which is relevant to the companies that sold insurance to “The Bandit 6” ships. All the vessels were on the EU’s blacklist.

  49 THE TIANTAI MYSTERY

  1 From the time the refrigerated cargo ship was bought by the Vidal family through a company in Panama in 2011 and up until the shipwreck in 2014, the vessel operated under at least four different names: the Baiyangdian, Keshan, Luoyang and Tiantai. The Baiyangdian was flagged in Tanzania, while the Keshan was flagged in Mongolia. It is unclear whether the identities Luoyang and Tiantai were authentic or pure fabrications. The authors have consistently chosen to use the name the Tiantai in their descriptions, as this was the name of the ship when they first learned of it.

  2 The account of the fate of the Tiantai is based on the maritime declaration following the shipwreck, Alberto Zavaleta Salas’ statement to the Guardia Civil, a number of reports from the South Asian collaboration to combat illegal fishing (RPOA) and interviews with Captain Peter Hammarstedt of Sea Shepherd, Glen Salmon of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority AFMA, Captain Alberto Zavaleta Salas on the Kunlun, investigator Miguel of the Guardia Civil and three insurance investigators in Spain who wish to remain anonymous.

  50 A DIRTY BUSINESS

  1 www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News/2015/N2015-160 (accessed 04.11.2016).