Fishing boat caught with illegal 18-mile-long nets: 'A risk to almost all marine life'

[sl8]

Source: Independent

Agustinus Beo Da Costa, Independent Staff | an hour ago

A fishing ship carrying 600 illegal nets stretching up to 18 miles has been seized after it escaped Chinese authorities, while using the flags of eight different countries to evade capture.

The vessel, STS-50, had targeted a cod species called Antarctic toothfish that plays an important role in the Southern Ocean ecosystem, according to Indonesia‘s fisheries ministry.

Its hundreds of gillnets had walls of fine mesh and could expand to a distance of 18 miles. Gillnetting has been banned in Antarctic waters since 2006 and is described by Australia as posing a “huge risk to almost all marine life, including marine mammals due to [its] indiscriminate nature”.

The use of the nets also harm seabirds including endangered albatrosses, the country’s environment department said on its website in 2011.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/fishing-boat-illegal-nets-captured-indonesia-weh-aceh-sts50-cod-fishing-a8295971.html

---

Indonesian navy soldiers hold rifles as they stand next to the detained crew of the STS-50 fishing boat at a port in Sabang, Indonesia | ANTARA FOTO/Reuters

[Achilleaze]

1. republican "values" at work in the world

I don't know who the evil, stupid, wretched people behind this are, but I can guarantee you one damn thing: no matter what country they are from, or what they say about themselves, they are deeply infected with republican "values." They will merrily f*ck over people and planet to try and satisfy their deranged egos and greed, as tragically exemplified today by the republican "family values" role model Comrade Casino*

* aka Dirty Donny, republican Draft-Dodger-in-Chief

[ffr]

6. +1

[Renew Deal]

2. Good job catching these guys

Hopefully they can break down the entire chain of illegality associated with them.

[jmbar2]

3. Wonder if the smaller men are slaves

A lot of these bad fishing outfits use slave labor. Looks at the difference between the well-fed white ones, and the others.

[Maraya1969]

4. K and R for exposure. This is horrible!

[ffr]

5. Mmmmmm, seafood.

This is one major reason why I don't buy seafood at all.

Drain the boat's fluids and sink it to make an artificial reef.

[Delphinus]

8. Good idea.

And then put the folks behind this in jail.

[RainCaster]

7. Score one for the good guys!

Glad to see Indonesia pick up where China failed.

[Vogon_Glory]

9. The article said that such boats were destroyed

The article said that such boats were destroyed—not resold, not converted, but destroyed. I hope that that’s the fate of STS-50: taken to someplace like Alang and cut up into little bitty pieces.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. Destroy the nets and the ship. Lock the owner away for life. Biggest

threat to Antarctica.