HUNTING ANTARCTICA'S PIRATES

Three months on the tail of the Thunder, one of the most notorious illegal fishing vessels in the world

- Simon Ager

The crow’s-nest watches on board the Bob Barker began on December 15, 2014, a couple of weeks after setting course for Antarctica from Hobart, Australia. This was neither a pleasure cruise to see penguins, seals and icebergs, nor a scientific field trip to study wildlife in the southern hemisphere’s most pristine waters. We were on a mission to find the Thunder, one of the world’s most notorious illegal fishing vessels. Deckhands in survival suits and climbing harnesses were soon working shifts from up high, scanning the horizon for signs of that ship.

The Bob Barker, a long-range ice-class vessel 51 metres in length and capable of a swift 18 knots in calm conditions, meandered for days through fog and fjords choked with growlers, the car-sized remnants of broken-up icebergs. These chunks, which showed up as hundreds of blips on our radar screen, made it difficult to spot a vessel. But then we saw a trail heading in the opposite direction as everything else on the radar, about five kilometers dead ahead of our position. The Bob Barker moved closer, and the fog lifted long enough for us to see a ship emerge from behind an iceberg. I grabbed my camera and started shooting. Peering through the preview screen, I scrolled to the ship’s bow. It was the Thunder.

Our pursuit was part of Operation Icefish, led by the marine conservation group Sea Shepherd. Made up mostly of volunteers, the organization investigates poaching and intervenes against illegal activities that exploit marine wildlife. It used to act alone, but now many of the campaigns involve agreements with governments to assist in patrolling their waters, as is the case in Africa, with military and fisheries officers from countries such as Gabon and Liberia onboard. During Operation Icefish, Sea Shepherd worked alongside Interpol.