Steve Irwin released

On 15 July, the Steve Irwin was detained in the Scottish Shetland Islands pending the organisation’s ability to fund a bond estimated to be in the amount of USD$1,411,692.87. The detainment was ordered by British courts due to a civil lawsuit brought against Sea Shepherd by Maltese fishing company Fish & Fish Limited.

The bond was posted on 2 August, and the Steve Irwin will soon depart to the Faeroes for Operation Ferocious Isles. The Steve Irwin will join the vessel Brigitte Bardot and her crew, who are already onsite defending pilot whales.

A court date has not been set for the civil case brought against Sea Shepherd by the Maltese bluefin tuna company Fish & Fish Limited. However, Sea Shepherd says is ready to battle with this company that is “contributing to the demise of the imperilled bluefin”. The organisation says it firmly believes it caught their boats red-handed, unlawfully taking bluefin tuna from Libyan waters. Sea Shepherd says it has evidence, and also said “we look forward to our day in court against these plunderers of the ocean”.

Sea Shepherd claims that Fish & Fish are trying to intimidate the organisation and that it is hoping to cripple it financially, and thus reduce its ability to oppose tuna poaching in the Mediterranean.

“We will not be unsettled or bullied by their wealth and their reputation of using litigation to silence their opposition. The bluefin tuna is on the threshold of extinction,” said Sea Shepherd Founder and President Captain Paul Watson. “We owe it to this species to fight the poachers on the sea, in the media, and in the courts. We acted justly in intervening against their illegal operation. And win or lose, we believe that the bluefin tuna - an awesome, magnificent species on the brink of extinction - is worth whatever money and effort we can muster to save it.”