Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia has reported that the Spanish Civil Guard yesterday raided the offices of fishing company Vidal Armadores and arrests have taken place linked to allegations of large-scale poaching of toothfish in the Southern Ocean
The long hunt for the last of the illegal toothfish poachers has come to an end with the arrest of the Nigerian-flagged Viking in Indonesia.
An illegal toothfish longliner that was followed by Sea Shepherd last year has finally turned up in West Africa, a long way from its Southern Ocean fishing grounds, and has been detained in Senegal where there are questions about its registry.
Indonesia has taken drastic action, not for the first time, in sinking 30 impounded fishing boats today, according to Channel News Asia, as part of an ongoing campaign against illegal fishing in its waters.
The Port State Measures Agreement aims to harmonise port controls in order to prevent illegally caught fish from entering international markets through ports. 2016 is set to be a landmark year in the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
President of Mauritania Ould Abdel Aziz, who also chairs the African Union, has urged urgent action to halt the flow of illicit finance and illegal fishing.
A series of new measures and heavy penalties have been introduced as a package of of new regulation to deter illegal fishing activities and to monitor labour-related offences in overseas fishing operations by Thai fishing vessels.
Mauritius is the latest African nation to accede to the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA).
The Spanish authorities have underscored Spain’s hardline stance on illegal fisheries with the conclusion of the Sparrow investigation and the Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Environment is seeking record penalties worth almost €18 million.