Fleet & Operations · Evidence

Evidence & Custody

The strongest blow the League strikes is not a sunk net — it is a sealed, admissible package that no court, regulator, or newsroom can wave away. A fouled driftnet is a single night's loss to a syndicate; an unbroken chain of custody on its catch is the loss of its flag. This division exists so that what the field recovers survives contact with scrutiny.

Doc Control AE-EVD-0001 Revision A Owner Marine Forensics Lead Last Review 2091-03-09 Classification RESTRICTED // TIDEWATER-EYES-ONLY

Evidence over force. Per the Charter's third article, the League documents first and disrupts only what documentation cannot stop. Every recovery is treated as if it will one day stand under oath — because the ones that matter most will.

The Discipline

Chain of custody is the discipline of being able to prove, for any item in the locker, exactly who held it, when, and that no one tampered with it between the seabed and the seal. A single undocumented hour, a single unsplit sample, a single broken signature — and a year of field work becomes inadmissible noise. The League holds five principles without exception.

Collection

Tamper-Evident

Every item enters a pre-labelled, tamper-evident container at the point of recovery — photographed in situ with time and position before it moves an inch.

Custody

Unbroken Chain

A signed handover accompanies the item from collector to courier to locker. No gap in the ledger is ever closed after the fact; a gap retires the exhibit.

Integrity

Split & Re-Test

Every sample is split for independent re-test. The League never rests a case on a single aliquot it alone controls.

Storage

Sealed Master

The master set is sealed and held; it is never the copy that leaves the building. Its seal integrity is logged at every inspection.

Release

Cleared Exhibit

Only a cleared exhibit set is released, and only on dual Legal & Admiralty sign-off. The master stays sealed in the locker.

Audit

Re-Test Hold

Any item under independent re-test is frozen — neither released nor disposed — until the second laboratory's result is logged and reconciled.

Evidence Register

A standing index of sealed material, bound to the Field Operation Reports and dispatch targets that produced it. Identifiers follow AE-EVD-YYYY-NNN.

EVD ID	Linked Op	Type	Custody	Status
AE-EVD-2091-014	AE-FOR-2091-009	Water sample	Sealed	Held · Master
AE-EVD-2091-022	AE-FOR-2091-017	Imagery	Re-test	Under Re-Test
AE-EVD-2091-031	AE-FOR-2091-024	Gear	Sealed	Held · Master
AE-EVD-2091-038	AE-FOR-2091-031	Document	Released	Cleared Exhibit
AE-EVD-2091-046	AE-FOR-2091-040	Water sample	Re-test	Under Re-Test
AE-EVD-2091-052	AE-FOR-2091-048	Imagery	Sealed	Held · Master

The standard. Collection is governed by AE-SOP-0312 — Covert Sampling & Chain of Custody; nothing in this register may be released except under AE-SOP-0401 — Pollution-Exposure Release Authorisation. An exhibit that cannot cite both, in order, is not evidence — it is a liability, and it stays in the locker.