FV ''Thunder'' was an outlaw fishing vessel sunk in 2015. The ship was built in 1969 in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and has gone by many names, including: ''Vesturvón'', ''Arctic Ranger'', ''Rubin'', ''Typhoon I'', ''Kuko'', and ''Wuhan N4''. The ''Thunder'' was part of the " Bandit 6", a group of six fishing vessels that illegally fished for Patagonian toothfish in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

. The ship was last registered in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

; however, the ship was officially de-listed by Nigeria a week before she sank. At the time of her sinking, the crew consisted of 30 Indonesians and 10 officers from Spain, Chile, and Portugal, who were turned over to the authorities in

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe (; pt, São Tomé e Príncipe (); English: " Saint Thomas and Prince"), officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe ( pt, República Democrática de São Tomé e Príncipe), is a Portuguese-speaking i ...

. The officers of the crew were later tried and convicted of several illegal fishing offences. The captain, Luis Alfonso Rubio Cataldo of Chile, was given a three-year sentence. The ship's chief engineer, Agustín Dosil Rey of Spain, was given a two-year and nine-month sentence. The ship's second mechanic, Luis Miguel Pérez Fernández of Spain, was given a two-year and eight-month sentence. Together, they were fined a total of over $17 million.

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

believes that the vessel was part of a fleet of six operating through shell corporations under Vidal Armadores, a company based in Spain. An Interpol notice for the ship was released on 12 April 2013. In May 2014, ''Thunder'' was stopped by Malaysian officials for illegal fishing; however, they let the ship go after a fine of $90,000 was paid. From December 17, 2014, to April 6, 2015, two Sea Shepherd vessels, ''Bob Barker'' and the ''Sam Simon'', as part of "Operation Icefish," pursued the renegade trawler ''Thunder'' for 10,000 miles from Antarctic waters where it was illegally fishing for Patagonian toothfish to where ''Thunder'' was scuttled in the waters of São Tomé and Príncipe at . The ship was first intercepted on December 17, 2014, at , inside the CCAMLR ( Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources) region of management while deploying illegal

gillnet Gillnetting is a fishing method that uses gillnets: vertical panels of netting that hang from a line with regularly spaced floaters that hold the line on the surface of the water. The floats are sometimes called "corks" and the line with corks is ...

s. The pursuit of ''Thunder'' lasted 110 days, breaking the previous record of 21 days, set by the Australian patrol vessel ''Southern Supporter'' in her pursuit of '' Viarsa 1'' in 2003.

References

{{Reflist Fishing vessels of Norway Maritime incidents in 2015 1969 establishments in Norway Ships built in Norway Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing Ships of Nigeria Fishing vessels of Spain