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Sea Shepherd urging supporters for donations towards €1 million bond
Captain Paul Watson, the head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has called on supporters to donate towards an emergency fund that will pay off a €1 million bond to free their flagship Steve Irwin.
20 July 2011, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
The vessel was detained by the United Kingdom courts because of a civil lawsuit brought against Sea Shepherd by Maltese company Fish and Fish Limited (F & F).
Fish & Fish are specifically referring to an estimated €1 million in damages they allege was done to bluefin tuna fishing gear by Sea Shepherd in the Mediterranean last year when the Steve Irwin rammed their tuna pen on the high seas.
“Back in June 2010, the Steve Irwin rescued endangered bluefin tuna from F & F nets. They are claiming damages. We believe these fish were caught illegally – after the season closed, without an inspector on board, and without any legal paperwork for their catch,” Watson said in his message to supporters.
“This lawsuit gives us the opportunity to expose what we allege are illegal activities by F & F and we will aggressively defend the case on this basis.”
Unless Sea Shepherd immediately posts a bond for €1 million, the Steve Irwin will be held or possibly sold, Watson said.
Joseph Caruana, the owner of Fish and Fish, had claimed the direct action by Sea Shepherd, whose divers managed to free 800 Bluefin tuna from a floating cage that one of its vessels was towing, amount to over €1 million. The damages, Caruana said, include damages to the cage and a boat which caught fire from flares thrown by the crew of the Steve Irwin.
The Steve Irwin last week was scheduled to launch a new operation off the Faroe Islands.
Just as they were about to depart Lerwick in the Shetland Islands to launch the Operation Ferocious Isles campaign against the illegal slaughter of pilot whales, two court officials from Aberdeen arrived at the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin.
Paul Watson told supporters their donations were essential to save endangered whales. ”You’ve already helped save thousands of whales and untold numbers of other marine creatures. But unless we get our ship back, a lot of whales will die tragic and needless deaths. Please help free the Steve Irwin so we can return to sea, doing what we do best - defending life in our oceans.”
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
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Regrettably Malta has quite reputation in Brussels for harbouring illegal fishing practices and the main obstacle for the capping or moratorium of fishing quotas for endangered species.
As we are all well aware, money talks loudest here in Malta, more so when there is something fishy involved. It's only a matter of time before the lid of this racket is taken off and you can be sure that Malta is going to be right in the core of this cauldron of stinking mire. At least, we will be hitting the headlines again.
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I hope that Fish and Fish Limited (F & F) see this news, may be they will donate half of it. (???????)
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can you inform us how we can provide donations?
