Phuket officials have detained a fishing vessel with a long history of illegal fishing. The vessel, known as Kunlun, is wanted by Interpol and has been internationally blacklisted.

The action comes just a few months after the Royal New Zealand Navy intercepted Kunlun in the Southern Ocean. The vessel was caught engaging in illegal fishing in Australia. One month later, the vessel was intercepted again in Australia by the Sea Shepherd ship for possession of banned fishing equipment.

The Kunlun vessel is one of six that are notorious for the IUU (Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated) fishing of toothfish in the Southern Ocean. The vessel attempted to enter a Thai port under a different name, Taishan, and claimed to be flagged to Indonesia.

The detainment of Kunlun was a collaborative effort between Interpol and authorities in Thailand, New Zealand and Australia. Australia officials have offered full support of the ongoing investigation.

Kunlun has changed names at least ten times since 2008 to avoid prosecution. The poaching vessel was issued with an Interpol Purple Notice in January for illegal toothfish fishing inside a regulated area.

IUU fishing is a growing problem that Operation Icefish (launched in December 2014) hopes to address. Since its launch, the operation has intercepted three major illegal poaching vessels. On December 17, 2014, the Sea Shepherd vessel Bob Barker intercepted the most notorious illegal vessel – the Thunder.

Operating under the Nigerian flag, the vessel was intercepted on the Banzare Bank in Antarctica. While the Thunder has attempted to flee, the Bob Barker ship has continued its pursuit of the vessel, which has been ongoing for more than 90 days.

Kunlun was intercepted by Shepherd Ship Sam Simon in February and chased out of its hunting grounds right into the hands of the authorities in Thailand. In just three months, Operation Icefish has shut down three of the six toothfish poaching operators.

-- 2015-03-19

Take it out and sink it - job done

Take it out and sink it - job done

Or sell to India to be scrapped

I will offer to run it onto the beach

Take it out and sink it - job done

Yes, that is what the Indonesians are doing, which seems a very good deterrent to me. But that is a far cry from the Thai style.

Trouble is there is a huge market for Patagonian Toothfish in North America where it is marketed as 'Chilean Seabass'. Like all poaching it is extremely difficult to stop. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_toothfish