Chase to save oceans

THE LONGEST POACHING VESSEL HUNT IN MARITIME HISTORY Illegal fishing ships across the globe are placing strain on the world’s oceans stocks – and they are great at evading the law.

great many of us enjoy what our oceans have to offer, whether it’s that favourite snoek braai, hake and chips, or some seasonal pickled fish.

But even we all have our limits. The same can’t be said of the numerous illegal trawlers scattered throughout the world’s oceans.

Part of what can only be described as a well-oiled sea syndicate, they can evade the law for years at a time, plundering as they flee. One such vessel is The Thunder, which was wanted by Interpol and which has managed to evade capture for 10 years.

Making millions of US dollars a year, the poaching ship and its crew hunted endangered species and destroyed the ocean habitats until in December 2014, Captain Peter Hammarstedt and the Bob Barker crew set out on a nonstop year-long pursuit of The Thunder.

In their Scandinavian bestseller Catching the Thunder, authors Eskil Engdal and Kjetil Saeter follow the incredible journey of the Bob Barker and what is the longest poaching vessel chase in maritime history.

“Why was a sea vessel wanted by Interpol, is what piqued our interest. What we found was this was not a single vessel doing a bit of poaching. It was part of organised crime,” said Saeter in a Zed Books YouTube interview.

It turned out Thunder was the most notorious one of six poaching vessels known as The Bandit Six, and had evaded capture for 10 years. Both seasoned journalists, Engdal and Saeter did not anticipate encountering death threats from criminal syndicates or to what depths their pursuit of the truth would take them.

Initially published as a series of newspaper articles over a twoyear period, Engdal and Saeter’s Catching the Thunder went on to reveal a dark world of organised crime, corruption, slavery and an international community content in turning a blind eye.

Next to climate change, the Worldwide Fund for Nature says: “Overfishing and its associated environmental impacts are among the biggest environmental challenges that our generation has to tackle … and remains a big challenge to managing our fisheries sustainably.” – WWF, Zed Books Current Affairs Eskil Engdal and Kjetil Saeter Tafelberg R285 9780624079712 Written like a gripping suspense action thriller, Catching The Thunder follows the illegal sea poaching activities and ultimate capture of one of the most notorious pirate ships to date, the Thunder. Adapted from a two-year series of newspaper articles they’d written for Norway’s Dagens Naeringsliv’s weekly magazine, multi award-winning authors Eskil Engdal and Kjetil Saeter manage to create a bestselling masterpiece of organised crime, government corruption, slavery and piracy on the high seas. This book is so well-written that it’s hard to believe it’s a true account of the scope of illegal fishing, the horrendous impact it has on sea life and ocean habitats, and just how massive this international crime syndicate is. – Hayden Horner