Sea Shepherd night patrol drone shot down by poachers - video

During a patrol conducted on Christmas Eve, Sea Shepherd representatives were surprised by poachers who fired a gun at a drone used to patrol the ocean surface. The entire incident took place in the waters of the Gulf of California, Mexico.

The crew of the vessel M/V “John Paul DeJoria” set sail on December 24, Christmas Eve, on patrol in search of poachers. The vessel is currently in the northern Gulf of California, where Operation Milagro IV is trying to protect two endangered species found only in this one place – the California porpoise and the totoaba fish.

-- Advertisement --

At 21.30, Sea Shepherd crew members noticed suspicious activity on the radar. As a result, Captain Benoit Sandjian decided to send a drone, adapted for night patrols.

After travelling less than 3 Mm, the drone came upon a suspicious small craft (known as a skiff), whose crew fired at the device with firearms moments later. Below is a video recording that was captured up to the moment the drone was shot down.

[blockquote style=”2″]”Poachers usually use the cover of night to carry out their illegal activities. Therefore, in this case, we had a reasonable suspicion that someone was heading for illegal fishing,” said Capt Sandjian.”[/blockquote]

Poachers have targeted the perch-shaped totoaba for its swim bladder, which is an extremely highly prized delicacy in Hong Kong and southern China. The prices it fetches have given it the slang name ‘water cocaine’. On the black market 1 kg of fish from which swim bladders are obtained can reach a dizzying price of 33 000 PLN!

The California porpoise, popularly known as the ‘fudge’, is the incidental prey here. Totoaba are caught using gill nets, so-called drift nets, in which porpoises also become entangled. The situation for these mammals is dramatic. A species discovered only in 1958, it will probably become extinct in 2018 if nothing changes. Its population has declined drastically in recent years and is now down to just 60 individuals.

Through drone work, Sea Shepherd members are able to locate nets set by poachers and eradicate them. At the moment, this is the organisation’s biggest weapon in the fight to preserve the California porpoise and totoaba among existing species.

For the past four years, Operation Milagro Sea Shepherd has been working with Mexican authorities and the Mexican Navy to save endangered species in the Gulf of California. The case described here is the first where they have encountered automatic weapons fire from poachers, and this means that the fight has entered a whole new level.

Source: seashepherd.org, ginacegatunki.pl