Spanish Authorities Levy Massive Fines on Owner of Notorious Poacher ‘F/V Thunder’
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 4, 2017 On Wednesday the Spanish government announced that six Spanish nationals and six Spanish companies involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the Southern Ocean have been fined a combined total of more than €5.2 million euros by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and the Environment (MAPAMA). The fines are the result of Operation Sparrow II, a continuation of Operation Sparrow, a MAPAMA policing operation targeting Spanish IUU operators, which saw the infamous Vidal Armadores crime syndicate fined more