Environmentalists, tuna poachers battle at sea

By Don Melvin
11 June 2011 Tuna fishermen confronted environmentalists on the Mediterranean on Saturday, as activists attempted to disrupt illegal tuna fishing under the no-fly zone north of Libya. The fishermen attacked the Steve Irwin, owned by the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, by hurling heavy metal chain links aboard. They also attempted to lay a rope in front of the activists’ boat, hoping to disable it. Environmentalists responded with water from fire hoses and stink bombs. Several hundred feet above the fray circled a French fighter jet, summoned by the fishermen — who claimed, falsely, that activist divers were trying to cut their net. The 59.5-meter (195-foot) Steve Irwin, named after the Australian conservationist who died in 2006, left the Sicilian port of Syracuse early Friday, heading for a rendezvous with a smaller, faster sister ship, the Brigitte Bardot, just north of Libyan waters. The Bardot had traversed the area and reported that more than 20 purse seiners were operating there. Purse seiners are boats that deploy large nets that draw closed like a purse, ensnaring the tuna. The fish are then sometimes put in floating net-cages and slowly towed to port. Sea Shepherd is on a mission to disrupt boats that are fishing illegally or have exceeded their quotas. The stock of bluefin tuna, which spawn in the Mediterranean and then swim out to the North Atlantic, has been depleted to the point that some experts fear it will soon collapse. …

Environmentalists, Tuna Fishers Battle At Sea