Anneli Rufus: The War to Protect Bluefin Tuna in Libyan Waters

The most important war in Libya is not in our news! The casualties are Atlantic bluefin tuna, which though not an officially endangered species has reduced bluefin populations by 80% since 1970. A single bluefin typically sells for $75,000, and the species will be decimated unless the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a nonprofit Watson founded in 1978 intervenes. French, Spanish, German, Italian and Maltese poachers ply these waters with impunity, although the EU has outlawed all fishing there due to Libya's civil war. It's a NATO no-fly zone, which is good news to poachers: No inspectors, no surveillance. "Any boat we find here will be an illegal boat," warns Watson, who says he liberated 800 tuna off Libya last year. Bluefin are not killed upon being caught, but hauled live in huge underwater nets to shore stations, where they can be fattened up like feedlot steers. Sea Shepherd divers slit those nets with knives: It's the latest in a long series of rip-roaring and highly controversial rescue missions involving blades and ballistics, fire and ice, stink-bombs and blood. Sea Shepherd crews have sunk at least 10 whaling vessels by fouling their propellers, intercepting their harpoons, blocking their slipways to prevent loading, and barrage them with foul-smelling butyric acid.