Slideshow: Pirate Vessel Arrested | Home | Videoblog: Undercover uncovered

Well done...this is what it's all about...I just hope the Guinean law has sufficient teeth to really prosecute these pirates.

Good work!

I wonder how it will turn out though; will the owners of the vessel just get a small fine and will the ship be released to continue fishing? A report (see below, its an interesting read) from the Environmental Justice Foundation / Coalition for Fair Fisheries Arrangements shows that the ship was arrested in Guinea last year for "Fishing without a licence" in Guinea. Lets hope this will be the last arrest!

Good luck with the campaign btw; I hope you catch many more pirates (and maybe some of the Lian Run’s sister ships? It seems that Greenpeace has seen them before)!

The report:
http://www.cape-cffa.org/issues/PARTY_to_the_PLUNDER_(PDF_file_EN)_(December_2005).pdf

And you should be in the path of the solar eclipse soon. Maybe, Thom will change the webcam direction.

Nooo Carol, we'll all get blinded! :)

Congratulations to all the crew ,
The adrenaline must have been pumping.
We all admire you.
But I wanted to ask some questions. (Don't have to reply, as I can see you're busy)
The catch that was onboard is that now kept as evidence and how can it be proved that it was caught on Guinean shores and not somewhere else?

Why was there such little representation from the Guinean officials on board?
What would be Greenpeace's stance if the pirates had arms on board?

Thanks

Hi Dave

Well done to you and your crew.

Keep up the good work.

hallo!
das habt ihr prima gemacht! sind echt große fans von euch! wir wüssten gerne mehr über andy booth. ist er ein schwerverbrecher?
love and peace to you and the nature!

Hi Melinda,
Sorry we didn't get back to you straight away - you guessed it, we have been a bit overwhelmed with work the last while.
We know the catch that was on board the ship was caught in Guinean waters because we filmed them catching it. But it's a really good point. Without seeing the nets down you can be as suspicious as you like, but you can't prove it. That's why we have invested so much time trying to show it happening.

The authorities have documented the catch and our understanding is that it will be sold in Guinea - back to where it came from.

One of the big problems, not just in Guinea, but in many other countries around the world that have pirate fishing fleets in their waters is that they have little capacity to police the problem themselves. That's why it can;t just be the responsibilty of individual governments to do something - collective action and support and stopping the pirate fishing fleets from leaving port is the way to stamp it out, not hoping to take one or two boats out every now and then.

Greenpeace has a pretty simple position on any threat of violence - violence is not the answer. We work in many places were there are risks and threats, but that isn't going to stop us from exposing what is going on, if it did, then the people and companies and governments that are wrecking our planet win.
for the record - the crew of the pirate fishing boat were completely peaceful the entire time.

well done guys. would it be possible to obtain a full listing of vessel names printed on fish boxes carried aboard the Lian Run 14. i would like to cross-check those with some regional records on whom those other vessels fish for, and where they are officially licensed. thanks for now.

Hi!

Great progress! I'm watching every move from here in Sweden.
I'm dying with every whale which gets harpooned. Hope I manage to study marinebiology in time before the armageddon..

Keep the spirits up! :)

Melinda - sorry I didn't answer you:

"The catch that was onboard is that now kept as evidence and how can it be proved that it was caught on Guinean shores and not somewhere else?"

Well, they were bringing nets on board while we there, for a start - and the had an illegal net hidden inside a legal one. On top of that, they had no paperwork whatsoever for fishing anywhere, or passports.

"Why was there such little representation from the Guinean officials on board?"

What do you mean by this? We had a Guinean fisheries inspector and a naval officer on board - we facilitated the arrest, but they're the ones that actually carried out the inspection and arrest. Greenpeace doesn't have powers of arrest!

"What would be Greenpeace's stance if the pirates had arms on board?"

Well, obviously enough, we don't carry weapons, and we completely eschew the use of violence. On one hand, we're not about to get ourselves shot. On the other hand, many Greenpeace activists are used to attempts to intimidate us by people pointing guns our direction.