Five members of Spain
Stephen Burgen, Barcelona
Wednesday 9 March
2016 13.58 GMTLast modified on Thursday 10 March 201609.24 GMT
Six people have been arrested on charges
of illegal fishing of protected species in raids carried out jointly by
Interpol and Spanish police in Galicia
The six include five members of the Vidal
family who run Ribeiro Vidal Armadores, among them Antonio Vidal, the owner,
and three of his children who are accused of illegally fishing Patagonian toothfish
in Antarctic waters.
The fish, which is rich in allegedly
health-enhancing Omega-3 fatty acids, is known as “white gold” in the industry
as it can sell for as much as €130 (£100) a kilo. A large catch can be worth as
much as €50m so poachers are willing to risk being fined for illegal fishing.
The Vidal family, which has a
previous record of illegal fishing, has a factory in the town of Boiro
“This is the first time that the Spanish Civil
Guard, Interpol and Europol have joined forces against illegal fishing in a
joint action,” said Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of the NGO Oceana
in Europe. “This
announcement is a watershed in the fight to eradicate illegal, unreported and
unregulated fishing of our oceans.”
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