The crew of a vessel believed to be engaged in illegal fishing was rescued by members the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a direct-action ocean conservation group founded by the controversial Canadian activist Paul Watson. According to a news release recently published by Sea Shepherd:

At 1152 GMT today, the notorious poaching vessel, Thunder, sank at 0˚ 20′ North 05˚ 23′ East inside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sao Tome.

The Sea Shepherd ships Bob Barker and Sam Simon are in the process of rescuing the entire crew of 40, including the captain, officers, and deck crew, who were all able to disembark to liferafts from the Thunder before it sank.

The Thunder was part of a group of six fishing vessels suspected of poaching toothfish in the Southern Ocean. The Sea Shepherd vessel Bob Barker pursued the Thunder for four months before it sank under mysterious circumstances. According to Captain Peter Hammarstedt of the Bob Barker:

“When my Chief Engineer boarded the Thunder in the hours leading up to the sinking, he was able to confirm that there were clear signs that the vessel was intentionally scuttled. Usually when a vessel is sinking, the captain will close all hatches so as to maintain buoyancy. However, on the Thunder, the reverse was done – doors and hatches were tied open and the fishhold was opened. It is an incredibly suspicious situation, to say the least.”

Days before the sinking of the Thunder, the Sea Shepherd ships Sam Simon and Bob Barker reported an attempted suicide aboard the alleged poaching vessel:

In a radio communication to the Sea Shepherd ships Bob Barker and Sam Simon, the Captain of the Interpol-wanted poaching vessel, Thunder, has reported that one of the deck crew, said to be Indonesian, has attempted suicide.

The report comes in the wake of the news that the Thunder has been de-registered by its flag state, Nigeria, for violations of its registry conditions; an action that means that the Thunder is now officially a stateless, pirate-vessel as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

In Costa Rica, Sea Shepherd vessels have also chased poachers in an effort to thwart their nefarious operations; however, a 2002 incident involving a fishing vessel suspected of shark finning resulted in criminal charges filed against Paul Watson, who would later become a reality television star and an international fugitive sought by INTERPOL.

Mr. Watson recently got married in Europe, where he is believed to be enjoying a more stable life. Sea Shepherd also runs Operation Pacuare in Costa Rica, an effort to protect the sea turtles that massively arrive in our Caribbean coast for nesting.