Indonesian Navy Scuttles FV Viking, World’s Most-wanted IUU Pirate Fishing Ship

http://aecnewstoday.com/2016/indonesian-navy-scuttles-fv-viking-worlds-wanted-iuu-pirate-fishing-ship/#axzz43Rs9wgbx

One of the world’s most wanted pirate fishing ships, the FV Viking, has been dramatically scuttled by the Indonesian Navy, bringing more than a decade of toothfish poaching in the Southern Ocean to what authorities hope is a decisive end.

Spectacular drone footage of the sinking, released by marine conservation organisation The Sea Shepherd on YouTube on March 16, shows the Nigeria-flagged FV Viking being rocked by a controlled explosion.

The blast splits the hull of the outlaw vessel open in several places, sending a plume of black smoke spiralling skyward before the FV Viking slowly begins to list in the clear blue waters of Pangandaran, West Java.

The FV Viking is the last of half a dozen toothfish-poaching ships branded ‘The Bandit 6’ by Sea Shepherd, which hunted the boats as part of its Operation Icefish 2015-16 campaign and was among those who alerted Indonesian authorities when the vessel entered their waters.

<more>