Hey but there is hope. Thanks Russia bro. SU35 will change the game. They will bombard the shit out of those rebels. The necessary money will be made by burning more rain forests to make place for more palm oil plants.
Why bringing China money into the discussion? Ok why not bringing indonesian garlic price into this Vietnam military thread? you are funnier than I thought.
what do you think chinese thingking about vietland? may be part of their old rulling power... so prepare your self as you told what happent in papua as you fill free to speak, you might reunited with uncle Mao in the near future... and i guess we're not in the same team in this north natuna sea issue, well goodluck meet your friendly chinnese CG then.. coz we will not! any thief come in, is not good guest, like Tan Malaka said (by the way he commie who build chinnese coomie party in sanghai in the past when he was far east commie intern) The owner of the house will not negotiate with looters who come to loot "our sea"Again. I have no qualm about what you Indonesian what to do, the only thing that come to my mind is the atmosphere generated from the action. So far, with the Indonesian eagerness to open live ammunition on unarmed protesters in "autonomous region", I highly doubt you fisheries control vessels would simply "shoot to drive people away". In Vietnam, we hear about Indonesian all the time since they are know for calling their military to shoot everyone in sight."Good viet is a dead viet"? For a people that claim "Bringing back some old memory wont help much", your idea is kind of bullshit
Simple: THEY NEVER HEAR ABOUT INDONESIAN PIRATES. In a war, people always flee. Guess how many people from Papua flee to other places after Indonesia annexed half of their country. Pretty sure after that, Human Right Commission filed plenty of report about Indonesia "rape, loot and engage in all kinds of plunder" in the region. Have you ever read some of them because for sure as hell they EXIST.
Hello, F-A-G, you sure love to talk about "terro VC" but don't bother to look about your own military back in the old days and in the 21st century? Terror? I bet Indonesia bring lots and lots of terror to Papua and Aceh RIGHT NOW.
Indonesian used to claim: "Vietnam never dares to clash with us on the sea". After clashes happened, Indonesian claimed: " Vietnam never dare to capture our officer". After Vietnam captured some Indonesian officers, a retard Indonesian now claim: "Vietnam never dare to lynch our officer"
No, Vietnam would not dare to lynch Indonesian officer, we simply expose him to minor concussions so he could not come back from a coma
Let's see, aggressiveness on the sea: Indonesian win. Willingness to resort to firearm: Indonesian win. The number of trolls that flood forum thread of other countries to express their agenda: Indonesian win
Yup, that sure sound like Chinese a lot from my point of view.
With more than 20 million Indonesian living with less than 1 dollar/ day compared to Vietnam 8 million (World Bank numbers), pretty sure more Vietnamese know about the wealth than Indonesian. Indonesian GDP is 5 times higher than Vietnam So why the heel so many live in poverty? Oh wait, they could not work without any worry as rebels would slice their throat at any time. Meanwhile, "hillbillies from jungle" could get to their working place without worrying that some rebels might jump out and execute them in a gruesome manner.
But for a total A-hole that quickly resort to wartime sayings and ethnic slurs, your feeble mind could not comprehend (or refuse to accept) that. You jump from subject to subject looking for a way to dehumanize Vietnamese (without any provocation from Vietnamese member) and that is the only thing you good at in your pathetic life, Mr. AIR CHIEF MARSHAL. (hope you don't think you are actually a marshal in real life lol)
For a "mighty" country like Indonesia, your ability to take care of some disfranchised rebel is a joke. But your mind always seeks glory in clashes with other ASEAN members. How about using some of those trigger-happy troops to deal with the rebels once and for all? Oh wait, you guys sucks at that kind of task
Ooooh interesting wet dreams you have there, but still its only a dream. So sad.No, Vietnam would not dare to lynch Indonesian officer, we simply expose him to minor concussions so he could not come back from a coma
All barbarians have same problem, they alway think that the disputed land/water belong to them and they can threaten ppl wt their stupid arm forces even when the International court never support them. (CHampa thought they could enslave VN, Pol Pol thought VN land belong to them, CN thinks SCS (east VN sea) belong to them, ID think the disputed water bween VN-ID belong to them).Hey but there is hope. Thanks Russia bro. SU35 will change the game. They will bombard the shit out of those rebels. The necessary money will be made by burning more rain forests to make place for more palm oil plants.
Why bringing China money into the discussion? Ok why not bringing indonesian garlic price into this Vietnam military thread? you are funnier than I thought.
says that to US President Trumant and US marine LOL, you so miserable bro...
Ok hahahaha. Very nice dream.very well done
damn... i give u a clue, truman doctrine.. and see did a cave man could read LOLIt seems that your blood is boiling to the point that your veins are about to explode as the number of grammar errors in your sentence is increasing by the minute but hey, I'm no grammar nazi so let get this show rolling everyone.
- Before the colonial period, countries in Southeast Asia beat up each other from time no time while grabbing land, there's no helping that. But in the post-colonial period, things change as people value the integrity of their nation more. The way Indonesia annexed Papua and invaded East Timor clearly indicate that Indonesia is far from a side that simply wants to protect their country. You feel that Indonesia is a country that upholds the moral code in the region? Let Aceh and Papua hold a vote regarding their independence and we shall see what happen.
- Chinese? Oh no worry. We Vietnamese meet them every day in South China Sea (which is a name that leaves a bad taste in my mouth). So we have ample experience at dealing with our northern neighbor, you don't have to worry about us
- Do what you believe to be right as I don't like to be someone that tells you the "best way" to behave. But remember this: Too eager to shoot others? Then others might not be that willing to let things pass the next time you mess up
So you are both a F-A-G and a meme boy? Good to know
Let's see...
Vietnam People Armed Forces in 2018 boast the 9th numerous military in the world with T-90 tanks, Scud missiles, Kilo submarine, Sukhoi aircraft, Gepard Frigates and plenty of goods from other countries tries. The budget is estimated to be above 7.8 billion US dollars per year which includes the costs of various military-civil services.
What about Indonesia and their almighty army?
- Piracy in Indonesia: The Navy seems to be formed for parades as they can do crap about pirates
- Rebel in Indonesia: The Army never fall behind their Army counterpart in term of uselessness as rebels roam the land killing people left and right with near-impunity.
- Human right in Indonesia: Now this is funny. Vietnam is a "communist" country so Indonesia must be way ahead of Vietnam when it comes to human right, right? Oh wait, we are in the fcking same group with UN Human Right Commission blasting us with complaints every year
Old and poor? The more you speak show how ignorant you are. One Google query with keyword "Vietnam economic" should tell you everything you must know about us. But as a narrow-minded Indonesian, your feeble brain fail to take in information that don't match your Stone Age belief. More than 20 million Indonesian live with less than a dollar a day and in Vietnam, the number is less than 10 million but you still you think you guys are all rich and powerful. Good joke there.
Relations with other ASEAN member? Well, things get bumpy in Vietnam but I assure you, it could not get as hot as Malaysia-Indonesia relation.
Oh you know something new about "US President Trumant and US marine" involvement in Southeast Asia and surrounding regions that see the lost of US servicemen defending France colonial, Chinese Nationalist and various puppet government back in the old days? Please share us your wisdom.
The right to hope for a better future is the right of each person. For example, I bet the average Indonesian would dream that:
1/Someone do something with the rebels that slaughter us citizen like animals every day
2/ Someone do something with the pirate that steal our stuff every time our ship get near Malacca Strait
3/ Someone do something with the policeman that locks us in the same cage with a god damn snake without evidence
After like what, 2-4 pages of constant bickering, it seem that the mind of the Indonesian in here are running low on ideas. First they try to boast their pride with baseless reasons then switch to a mix of ethic slurs and wartime sayings (with a whole lot of mirror crap in between) and end up with meme and "hahaha...ha...ha...ha...dream"
I'm game at anytime, Indonesian boys. We play this game until you guys crawl your pathetic A-S-S back to whatever hole you Indonesian come from and stay there for good. There is no way in hell you guys get to have the last words in OUR thread.
and btw superman we live in place called earth LOLIt seems that your blood is boiling to the point that your veins are about to explode as the number of grammar errors in your sentence is increasing by the minute but hey, I'm no grammar nazi so let get this show rolling everyone.
- Before the colonial period, countries in Southeast Asia beat up each other from time no time while grabbing land, there's no helping that. But in the post-colonial period, things change as people value the integrity of their nation more. The way Indonesia annexed Papua and invaded East Timor clearly indicate that Indonesia is far from a side that simply wants to protect their country. You feel that Indonesia is a country that upholds the moral code in the region? Let Aceh and Papua hold a vote regarding their independence and we shall see what happen.
- Chinese? Oh no worry. We Vietnamese meet them every day in South China Sea (which is a name that leaves a bad taste in my mouth). So we have ample experience at dealing with our northern neighbor, you don't have to worry about us
- Do what you believe to be right as I don't like to be someone that tells you the "best way" to behave. But remember this: Too eager to shoot others? Then others might not be that willing to let things pass the next time you mess up
So you are both a F-A-G and a meme boy? Good to know
Let's see...
Vietnam People Armed Forces in 2018 boast the 9th numerous military in the world with T-90 tanks, Scud missiles, Kilo submarine, Sukhoi aircraft, Gepard Frigates and plenty of goods from other countries tries. The budget is estimated to be above 7.8 billion US dollars per year which includes the costs of various military-civil services.
What about Indonesia and their almighty army?
- Piracy in Indonesia: The Navy seems to be formed for parades as they can do crap about pirates
- Rebel in Indonesia: The Army never fall behind their Army counterpart in term of uselessness as rebels roam the land killing people left and right with near-impunity.
- Human right in Indonesia: Now this is funny. Vietnam is a "communist" country so Indonesia must be way ahead of Vietnam when it comes to human right, right? Oh wait, we are in the fcking same group with UN Human Right Commission blasting us with complaints every year
Old and poor? The more you speak show how ignorant you are. One Google query with keyword "Vietnam economic" should tell you everything you must know about us. But as a narrow-minded Indonesian, your feeble brain fail to take in information that don't match your Stone Age belief. More than 20 million Indonesian live with less than a dollar a day and in Vietnam, the number is less than 10 million but you still you think you guys are all rich and powerful. Good joke there.
Relations with other ASEAN member? Well, things get bumpy in Vietnam but I assure you, it could not get as hot as Malaysia-Indonesia relation.
Oh you know something new about "US President Trumant and US marine" involvement in Southeast Asia and surrounding regions that see the lost of US servicemen defending France colonial, Chinese Nationalist and various puppet government back in the old days? Please share us your wisdom.
The right to hope for a better future is the right of each person. For example, I bet the average Indonesian would dream that:
1/Someone do something with the rebels that slaughter us citizen like animals every day
2/ Someone do something with the pirate that steal our stuff every time our ship get near Malacca Strait
3/ Someone do something with the policeman that locks us in the same cage with a god damn snake without evidence
After like what, 2-4 pages of constant bickering, it seem that the mind of the Indonesian in here are running low on ideas. First they try to boast their pride with baseless reasons then switch to a mix of ethic slurs and wartime sayings (with a whole lot of mirror crap in between) and end up with meme and "hahaha...ha...ha...ha...dream"
I'm game at anytime, Indonesian boys. We play this game until you guys crawl your pathetic A-S-S back to whatever hole you Indonesian come from and stay there for good. There is no way in hell you guys get to have the last words in OUR thread.
Ok we will see who laughs at the end of the day. You can stick to burning the forest.here, from the news today: Vietnamese carmaker Vinfast has started mass production of cars. The top L model can run 300 kmh. Oh among the news: 4,000 frigate or more heavier warships are coming.
what's the point of showing off cars at us, when we are the top 2 largest car manufacturers in SE Asia and we produce much more ships in our shipyard than yours??????
oooooooooooooooooooooohh yes, Vietnam boasts world 9th most numerous army with very very very advanced T90,scud missiles, gepard class frigate and other hyped up russian weaponry LOL we are so scared that we took hundreds and hundreds of their fishing boats and burned them all while we wait and watch those scary vietcong armed forces came into action, which they never dare. hahahahaIt seems that your blood is boiling to the point that your veins are about to explode as the number of grammar errors in your sentence is increasing by the minute but hey, I'm no grammar nazi so let get this show rolling everyone.
- Before the colonial period, countries in Southeast Asia beat up each other from time no time while grabbing land, there's no helping that. But in the post-colonial period, things change as people value the integrity of their nation more. The way Indonesia annexed Papua and invaded East Timor clearly indicate that Indonesia is far from a side that simply wants to protect their country. You feel that Indonesia is a country that upholds the moral code in the region? Let Aceh and Papua hold a vote regarding their independence and we shall see what happen.
- Chinese? Oh no worry. We Vietnamese meet them every day in South China Sea (which is a name that leaves a bad taste in my mouth). So we have ample experience at dealing with our northern neighbor, you don't have to worry about us
- Do what you believe to be right as I don't like to be someone that tells you the "best way" to behave. But remember this: Too eager to shoot others? Then others might not be that willing to let things pass the next time you mess up
So you are both a F-A-G and a meme boy? Good to know
Let's see...
Vietnam People Armed Forces in 2018 boast the 9th numerous military in the world with T-90 tanks, Scud missiles, Kilo submarine, Sukhoi aircraft, Gepard Frigates and plenty of goods from other countries tries. The budget is estimated to be above 7.8 billion US dollars per year which includes the costs of various military-civil services.
What about Indonesia and their almighty army?
- Piracy in Indonesia: The Navy seems to be formed for parades as they can do crap about pirates
- Rebel in Indonesia: The Army never fall behind their Army counterpart in term of uselessness as rebels roam the land killing people left and right with near-impunity.
- Human right in Indonesia: Now this is funny. Vietnam is a "communist" country so Indonesia must be way ahead of Vietnam when it comes to human right, right? Oh wait, we are in the fcking same group with UN Human Right Commission blasting us with complaints every year
Old and poor? The more you speak show how ignorant you are. One Google query with keyword "Vietnam economic" should tell you everything you must know about us. But as a narrow-minded Indonesian, your feeble brain fail to take in information that don't match your Stone Age belief. More than 20 million Indonesian live with less than a dollar a day and in Vietnam, the number is less than 10 million but you still you think you guys are all rich and powerful. Good joke there.
Relations with other ASEAN member? Well, things get bumpy in Vietnam but I assure you, it could not get as hot as Malaysia-Indonesia relation.
Oh you know something new about "US President Trumant and US marine" involvement in Southeast Asia and surrounding regions that see the lost of US servicemen defending France colonial, Chinese Nationalist and various puppet government back in the old days? Please share us your wisdom.
The right to hope for a better future is the right of each person. For example, I bet the average Indonesian would dream that:
1/Someone do something with the rebels that slaughter us citizen like animals every day
2/ Someone do something with the pirate that steal our stuff every time our ship get near Malacca Strait
3/ Someone do something with the policeman that locks us in the same cage with a god damn snake without evidence
After like what, 2-4 pages of constant bickering, it seem that the mind of the Indonesian in here are running low on ideas. First they try to boast their pride with baseless reasons then switch to a mix of ethic slurs and wartime sayings (with a whole lot of mirror crap in between) and end up with meme and "hahaha...ha...ha...ha...dream"
I'm game at anytime, Indonesian boys. We play this game until you guys crawl your pathetic A-S-S back to whatever hole you Indonesian come from and stay there for good. There is no way in hell you guys get to have the last words in OUR thread.
Im sorry cambodia, Vietnam respects your national integrity so much.much sad
Thats a nice private enterprise you have there, it shows that communism is a failed product and whoever stand by it is actually a hypocrite (just like most viet forum members). I bet uncle Ho will be sad.
Wow...but Im not surprise when u guys have same thinking wt Pol Pot when believing that VN is busy to counter CN-US, so we would not dare to attack Khmer Rouge .
Full china what?????Cambodia fell before china came into action about 3 months later hahahah, btw so much respect for national integrity by Vietnam forum member hahaha, hypocrite.Wow...but Im not surprise when u guys have same thinking wt Pol Pot when believing that VN is busy to counter CN-US, so we would not dare to attack Khmer Rouge .
Just wait ,dude. Never say never. Pol pot wt full CN's support was wiped put in just 1 week in 1979..
wot>??????????
Pls read the CN's support to Pol Pot if u care .Full china what?????Cambodia fell before china came into action about 3 months later hahahah, btw so much respect for national integrity by Vietnam forum member hahaha, hypocrite.
wot>??????????
The Hunt for the Fish Pirates who Exploit the Sea
For 10 years, a rogue fishing vessel and its crew plundered the world’s oceans, escaping repeated attempts of capture. Then a dramatic pursuit across the high seas finally netted the one that got away.
18 February 2019
- By Richard Gray
In the haze of an overcast April afternoon, the rust-stained hull of the Andrey Dolgov slapped its way through the ocean swell, oily water gushing from the ship’s waterlogged bilge as it made a desperate attempt to flee.
Pursued by a sleek, heavily armed naval patrol boat, the ungainly fishing vessel had little hope of escape. A drone and surveillance aircraft circled overhead while the Indonesian navy ship bore quickly down, closing a trap that had been months in the making. The crew of the Andrey Dolgov surrendered.
It seems hard to believe that this creaking, corroded vessel was one of the most wanted on the high seas. Yet it slipped through the authorities’ fingers on several occasions and managed to elude ships sent to chase it across the ocean.
The Andrey Dolgov, or STS-50 or Sea Breez 1 as it also sometimes called itself, had been plundering the oceans of their most valuable living resource – fish. It was part of an international organised criminal network that thrives between the blurred lines of maritime law and on the corruption of officials.
The operation to capture the vessel and its crew was the culmination of months of international cooperation between police and maritime authorities, painstaking detective work and satellite tracking worthy of a spy thriller.
“The captain and the crew were shocked to have been caught,” says Andreas Aditya Salim, part of the presidential taskforce in Indonesia that led the operation to snare the Andrey Dolgov. “They tried to say they did not go fishing as the refrigerator and other parts of the vessel were broken.”
The Andrey Dolgov, also known as STS-50, had been fishing illegally in the Southern Ocean for years before it was captured (Credit: Sea Shepherd)
When Indonesian naval officers boarded the ship after ambushing it at the mouth of the Strait of Malacca, a major shipping lane between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, they found a huge stack of 600 finely meshed gill nets that could stretch up to 18 miles (around 29km) in length if deployed.
In a single trip the nets allowed those on board to haul up $6m (£4.56m) worth of fish, illegally taking it ashore where it was either sold on the black market or mixed with legal catches for sale. Ultimately the fish ends up on supermarket shelves, in restaurants and on people’s tables. (Watch the video below on the mission to catch the FV Viking)
“Approximately 20% of all global catch is illegal, unreported or unregulated,” explains Katie St John Glew, a marine biologist at the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton. And the impacts are widespread, hurting the fish stocks themselves, the fishing industry and consumer trust. “If illegal fishing ultimately could result in stocks collapsing, this will then affect the livelihood of fishers across the globe.”
Over the 10 years or so it is thought to have been operating illegally, the Andrey Dolgov is estimated to have looted up to $50m (£38m) worth of fish from the oceans
Over the 10 years or so it is thought to have been operating illegally, the Andrey Dolgov is estimated to have looted up to $50m (£38m) worth of fish from the oceans. With that kind of money to be made, it is easy to see why it illegal fishing is a tempting enterprise for criminal organisations.
“These vessels operate in international waters outside the jurisdiction of nation states,” says Alistair McDonnell, part of the fisheries crime team at Interpol who helped coordinate the hunt for the Andrey Dolgov. “This is something that the criminals exploit.”
Patagonian toothfish are highly prized in restaurants around the world, where they are often marketted as Chilean sea bass (Credit: Christopher Jones/NOAA)
But the effect of this exploitation runs deeper than an opportunity for criminals to make money. It is often involves the corruption of public officials, fraud, money laundering and slavery – many of the crews on board these vessels are forced labour, imprisoned on a boat out at sea, often thousands of miles from home.
Then there is the environmental impact.
“Illegal fishing is one of the greatest threats to sustainable fisheries,” explains Matthew Camilleri, head of fisheries at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “The fishing gear they use can also be very destructive to fragile ecosystems like coral reefs. This is why the international community is putting a lot of effort into combating it.”
The Andrey Dolgov did not begin its life as an illegal fishing vessel. Built in 1985, the 54m-long (178ft) vessel was constructed as a tuna longline fishing boat at the Kanasashi Zosen shipyards at the scenic port of Shimizu in Japan, in the shadow of the volcanic Mount Fuji. Sailing as the Shinsei Maru No 2, the 570-ton boat operated for years legally under the Japanese flag in the Pacific and Indian Oceans for the Japanese seafood company Maruha Nichiro Corporation.
The vessel then appears to have changed hands a number of times after 1995 before it ended up sailing under the Filipino flag as the Sun Tai 2 until about 2008 when it joined the Republic of Korea’s fishing fleet, changing hands at least four times in under a year to owners including a Mr Boo-In Park and the STD Fisheries Corporation.
Several kilometres of nets were found on board the Andrey Dolgov when Indonesian authorities boarded it (Credit: Sea Shepherd)
At some point between 2008 and 2015, the vessel appears to have been refitted as an Antarctic toothfish boat, capable of operating in the wild Southern Ocean and storing fish for long periods on board. Toothfish are highly prized in restaurants around the world, sometimes referred to as "white gold" due to their value, but require specific licenses to fish.
While the boat is suspected of having been fishing illegally for at least 10 years, it first came to the attention of the authorities on the international stage in October 2016 when Chinese officials found it trying to offload toothfish that had been caught illegally. By now the boat was called the Andrey Dolgov and was flying the Cambodian flag, operated by a company registered in Belize. A year earlier it had been photographed off the coast of Punta Arena, on the southern tip of Chile’s Patagonian region, indicating it had been fishing in the Southern Ocean.
But before the Chinese authorities could take further action, the vessel and its crew fled across the Indian Ocean. This time, however, the vessel had been listed as IUU – illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. This meant when the crew tried to enter the port again in Mauritius it was denied entry.
The STS-50, which has links to Russian organised crime, highlights many of the problems faced by those who police global fisheries (Credit: Sea Shepherd)
By January 2017 the vessel had been renamed the Sea Breez 1 under a Togo flag. Togo later struck the vessel off the registry, but as it moved from port to port, and the vessel changed name again to AYDA. When it arrived at ports, the crew presented forged documents to obscure its identity and it claimed a to belong to at least eight different flag states including Togo, Nigeria and Bolivia.
They are essentially committing identity fraud by repeatedly falsifying their registry - Alistair McDonnell
“It’s a common tactic,” says McDonnell. “They are essentially committing identity fraud by repeatedly falsifying their registry. Only flag states have jurisdiction over vessels when they are more than 200 miles from a coast, but these vessels claim flags of states that have no fisheries legislation to cover it and are not subject to any international fisheries treaties.”
Illegal fishing vessels also regularly change the flags they fly, claiming nationalities of states that have denounced them.
“Coastal states may consider them a high-risk vessel, without the protection of a flag state, and therefore stateless,” says McDonnell.
Finally, in February 2018, the authorities caught up with the Andrey Dolgov again at a port in Madagascar when the captain of a vessel claiming to be the STS-50 provided a false International Marine Organisation number – which every vessel on the ocean above a certain size must have – and forged documents. Madagascar alerted the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which regulates fishing in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.
Satellite images and data allow fishing vessels to be tracked on the world's oceans so boats engaging in illegal activity can be identified (Credit: OceanMind)
Again, the boat and its crew fled, but this time they left a trail behind. The vessel had been fitted with an automatic transponder system, which is used to help prevent collisions between ships at sea. This automatic identification system, known as AIS, broadcasts a location signal that can be picked up by radio equipment and overhead satellites.
Simultaneously the vessel appeared to be off the coast of the Falklands, Fiji and Norway – thousands of miles apart
But there was a problem. When officials plugged the AIS identification number for the vessel into their system, they were presented with a spaghetti of tracks all over the world. Simultaneously the vessel appeared to be off the coast of the Falklands, Fiji and Norway – thousands of miles apart.
“They were obscuring their identity by spoofing their AIS,” explains Charles Kilgour, who at the time was senior fisheries analyst at OceanMind, a British non-profit organisation that analyses data from fishing vessels at sea. It was a technique that allowed the Andrey Dolgov to appear to be in almost 100 different locations at once.
The mission to catch Andrey Dolgov spanned the globe
But then its pursuers received another alert – the Andrey Dolgov had popped up just off the coast of Maputo, in Mozambique’s waters. An inspection team found fishing gear on board and forged registration documents. They officially “detained” the vessel, seizing its documents and the crew’s passports, but before they could investigate further, the Andrey Dolgov absconded, slipping through the fingers of the authorities again.
This time, however, Kilgour and his team had a positive identification of the exact time and location of the Andrey Dolgov. Using a passing satellite, they were able capture radar images of the fishing vessel while it was at anchorage off Maputo, helping them to clarify which of the AIS tracks they were seeing was the right one.
The international effort to capture the Andrey Dolgov after it escaped from custody twice resulted in a pursuit across the high seas (Credit: Sea Shepherd)
“We use algorithms to identify potential vessels from the synthetic aperture radar images,” says Kilgour, who now works for Global Fishing Watch, a Google-backed project to monitor fishing vessels around the world. “Any large metal vessel shows up quite clearly. Then we correlate that with the AIS data we have.”
The team at OceanMind also use infrared satellite imaging, which allows them to pick up lights from fishing vessels at night. With the additional information they now had, they were able to pinpoint which of the AIS tracks belonged to the Andrey Dolgov.
Meanwhile a vessel owned by marine conservation organisation Sea Shepherd, which had been taking part in a joint operation in Tanzania with other African fishing authorities, took up the pursuit. Under the command of the Tanzanian navy, it chased the Andrey Dolgov for several days towards the Seychelles, sending back images of it from a drone, further helping to confirm its identity.
“The fishing vessel left Mozambique’s waters to find refuge on the high seas,” says Peter Hammarstedt, director of campaigns at Sea Shepherd. “What was amazing was the Tanzanian authorities decided to leave their own waters to pursue it even though it hadn’t committed crime in Tanzania or entered its waters.”
Without the authority to board the vessel outside Tanzanian waters, however, they were eventually forced to give up the chase.
The authorities in Indonesia have taken a zero tolerance approach to illegal fishing, destroying another notorious illegal fishing vessel, the F/V Viking (Credit: Getty Images)
Kilgour and his team gave Interpol updates about the fleeing fishing boat’s position every four hours, using its speed and direction to calculate where it might be heading.
For most states, there is a reluctance to give chase and seize rogue vessels like this. The jurisdictional quagmire makes it tricky, but then there is also the expense of such a seizure. The vessels – often badly maintained – can be a pollution risk, they often need to be repaired, the catch on board needs to be disposed of safely and the crew need to be repatriated. Pests can be a problem on board and you must also post 24-hour security.
“Even developed countries are reluctant to do this,” says Bradley Soule, chief fisheries analyst at OceanMind. “So, it is hardly surprising that developing nations would rather not.”
The Andrey Dolgov was heading towards one of the few nations that aggressively targets illegal fishing vessels
Fortunately, the Andrey Dolgov was heading towards one of the few nations that aggressively targets illegal fishing vessels. Indonesia, under the leadership of the country’s minister for maritime affairs and fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti, has seized and destroyed 488 illegal fishing vessels since 2014. Among those was another Antarctic toothfish poacher, the F/V Viking, which was the last of a notorious group of fishing vessels known as the Bandit Six, operating illegally in the Southern Ocean, thousands of miles from Indonesia’s waters.
To make the point that illegal fishing would not be tolerated, no matter where it took place, Pudjiastuti had the F/V Viking spectacularly blown up on a sandbank off the shore of Pangandaran, West Java. With another notorious fish pirate heading into its waters, Pudjiastuti gave the Indonesian navy her endorsement to order an interception.
But as the vessel came into the busy Malacca straits, the satellite signal from its AIS transponder was lost among the mess of other signals in the area. Instead the Indonesian navy had to rely upon the calculations made using the information supplied by Kilgour and his team to estimate where the fishing boat might be. They dispatched the KRI Simeulue 2, a coastal patrol boat, to stop it.
“The last 72 hours saw sleepless nights for everyone involved,” says Interpol’s McDonnell.
As the Andrey Dolgov came into range, however, the Simeulue 2 and land based coastguard stations began picking up its AIS signal, allowing them to home in on the rogue vessel. Once they had visually confirmed the identity, the Simeulue 2 raced alongside around 60 miles from the southeast side of Weh Island, Sebang, ordering the captain of the fishing vessel to stop so he could be boarded.
Indonesia has destroyed hundreds of illegal fishing vessels by burning them, or sinking them off shore (Credit: Getty Images)
Once aboard, the naval officers found the captain and five other officers to be Russian and Ukranian. The rest of the crew consisted 20 Indonesians who later claimed they had no idea the vessel was fishing illegally. They were treated by the authorities as if were victims of human trafficking and slavery after being duped into working on board.
The captain, a Russian citizen named as Aleksandr Matveev, was later sentenced to four months in prison and fined Rp200 million (£10,800) after being found guilty of illegal fishing. The other Russian and Ukranian offers were deported to their home countries.
“After the inspection, we discovered that F/V STS-50 violated Indonesian fisheries law,” says Pudjiastuti. “Illegal fishing is a public enemy and every state should provide assistance in terms of eliminating it.”
But the investigation has not stopped there. Specialised digital forensics teams have pored over the wealth of intelligence contained within the fishing vessel’s bridge, its on-board computer systems, navigational instruments and the captain’s mobile phone.
It is helping the international authorities piece together the wider criminal web that the vessel operated in. While the Andrey Dolgov was registered as belonging to Red Star Company Ltd, domiciled in Belize, the suspected owner is a Russian citizen who has an office in South Korea and has conducted several bank transactions in New York. The boat is thought to have links to Russian organised crime.
Interpol are now helping law enforcement agencies in a number of countries to track down the criminals who operated the Andrey Dolgov, counterfeited its documents, helped to launder its catches and the money it made.
Many of the crew on board the Andrey Dolgov, or STS-50 as it had re-named itself, were suspected of being forced labour (Credit: Getty Images)
“The work doesn’t stop with the capture of the vessel,” says McDonnell. “There are still quite a lot of questions to be answered. These organisations are tightknit, often run within families or as a “dark” business disguised with legitimate companies. We are looking at how the criminals set their business models up, how they turn the fish into money. Until recently they have been able to operate with almost complete impunity. That is changing now.”
OceanMind too are developing new technology to help track down other vessels that try to hide or obscure their identity more easily. They will combine this with the artificial intelligence it uses to help identify vessels and determine whether the boats have permission to be operating in the areas where they are.
Others too are developing ways of combating illegal fishing. Katie St John Glew at Southampton, for example, is developing ways to use the chemical isotopes in fish to trace in which part of the ocean fish were caught. These isotope tracers come from the food the fish were feeding on before they were caught, and so could be used to identify products that are on sale but were caught illegally.
As for the Andrey Dolgov itself, it could soon play a role in catching the criminals like those who operated it. Rather than blow it up, Pudjiastuti decided to have the boat converted so it can join the Indonesian fisheries enforcement fleet. It will serve as a symbol of the country’s war on illegal fishing and as a message to the fish pirates – they are running out of places to hide.
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190213-the-dramatic-hunt-for-the-fish-pirates-exploiting-our-seas
