Sea Shepherd frees 800 caged bluefin tuna

Stand-off with fishermen in Libya's waters
June 2010: Between 700 and 800 caged bluefin tuna have been freed by divers from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society after a dramatic confrontation with fishermen in Libyan waters.

CAUGHT: The two nets, one of which was holding 800 tuna that were released by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

The society's boat Steve Irwin discovered two fishing vessels, one of which was towing two cages - one containing about 800 fish, the second empty. Unhappy with the fishermen's explanation about when and where the tuna were caught, and suspecting that quotas were being ignored, Steve Irwin's captain Paul Watson brought the bow of his ship up to one of the cages to take a better look.

‘At this point,' says Mr Watson, ‘one of the fishing boats rammed the Steve Irwin and a fisherman tried to violently gaff Sea Shepherd crewmembers with a long, sharp-hooked pole. The Steve Irwin crew retaliated with eight litres of rotten butter forcing the fishing vessel to retreat and to stand off.'

The two fishing vessels circled their cages defensively and Sea Shepherd notified the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna of possible violations, but it did not respond.

Divers knew they must cut the nets and free the tuna

GREAT ESCAPE: Simon Ager captures the moment the tuna are let out of the net

Explaining how Sea Shepherd's crew came to free the tuna, Mr Watson said: ‘With two fishing vessels containing angry Italian crews, there were risks involved with getting into the water to assess the bluefin catch, but if the catch was illegal, Sea Shepherd divers knew they must cut the nets and free the bluefin tuna.

‘A five-person dive crew entered one of two cages being towed by the main fishing vessel to identify the size, age, and quantity of the bluefin tuna within. Once it was clearly established that the cage was overstocked and that a high percentage were juveniles, Sea Shepherd divers freed the 700-800 tuna.

‘It is our position that the bluefin tuna we freed from that cage held a large number of juveniles and that the fish were caught after the official closure of the season. It is also our position that the fish that we freed exceeded the quota.'

A Sea Shepherd cameraman filmed the release of the fish from the centre of the cage and swimmers confirmed that all 700-800 tuna inside the enclosure were freed.

‘They shot out of that net like racehorses,' said Canadian cameraman Simon Ager.