Driftnet Interdiction — North Pacific Transition Zone
Disrupt-tier interdiction and ghost-gear recovery against the Aurelia Drift-Net Cooperative, operating under charter from Meridian Pelagic Holdings. Nets fouled, severed from their floats, and recovered to deck as logged evidence. No injuries.
Summary
On the night of 2091-05-22, FPV Sea Wolf interdicted a pair of dark-running driftnetters of the Aurelia Drift-Net Cooperative as they worked an illegal high-seas curtain across the North Pacific Transition Zone — a migratory corridor for the species the League is sworn to protect. Acting on a Document-tier dossier elevated to Disrupt by the Admiralty, the team fouled and severed roughly 6.2 km of monofilament gillnet, recovered it to deck as evidence, and added a substantial ghost-gear haul abandoned in the same set. Both crews were left unharmed and seaworthy. The Cooperative's charter trail leads back to Meridian Pelagic Holdings.
Intelligence Picture
The set had been building in the registry for eleven days. Petrel Wing aerial frames first caught two hulls running with their transponders dark, rendezvousing at dusk well outside any flag state's reach. AIS cross-correlation placed both vessels under bareboat charter to the Aurelia Drift-Net Cooperative; the beneficial-ownership thread ran through three shell entities to Meridian Pelagic Holdings, already profiled in the dispatch dossiers.
- Two driftnetters, ~28 m, working a paired curtain set across a known migratory corridor.
- Net signature consistent with monofilament gillnet banned on the high seas under multiple instruments.
- Estimated 6+ km of active net, plus a derelict section already lost to the current — classic ghost gear, still fishing.
- Bycatch risk to registry-listed species assessed Severe by NEREID; corridor timed to a migration pulse.
Execution
Conducted under Disrupt-tier rules of engagement: gear and floats only, no boarding of crew spaces, no harm to persons. Narrative log, condensed:
- Approach & mark (03:40Z). Sea Wolf closed under a low moon while Petrel Wing held overwatch and time-stamped every frame to the evidence locker. The Argus Swarm was launched ahead to map the net line end to end.
- Fouling (04:20Z). Swarm units fouled the driftnetters' propulsion so the hulls could neither chase nor re-set, leaving both vessels safely adrift and their crews unhurt.
- Severing the curtain (04:55Z). The net was cut free of its float line in sections and its position buoyed, so nothing was left drifting to keep killing.
- Recovery to deck (05:30–06:50Z). Sea Wolf's net-recovery rig hauled the severed sections aboard, each tagged, photographed, and bagged to chain-of-custody. The derelict ghost-gear section was recovered in the same pass.
- Disengage (07:15Z). With gear aboard and both crews verified safe, Sea Wolf cleared the area before any flagged response could close. Custody of the haul was logged en route.
Outcome & Evidence
All recovered gear was logged to evidence package GG-2091-0517 and sealed to Evidence & Custody. Live animals freed from the net line during recovery were assessed against the Universal Marine Registry; condition notes were filed against the affected records. The net itself — tagged with the Cooperative's own float markings — anchors the exposure package now building against Meridian Pelagic Holdings.
Follow-on
- Elevate the Meridian Pelagic Holdings dossier to campaign status; recommend persistent Petrel Wing watch on the corridor.
- Seal evidence package GG-2091-0517 for the legal exposure file; cross-reference float markings to charter records.
- File condition notes on affected registry records from the live-release tally.
- Stage MV Gyre Keeper for follow-up sweep of the buoyed net positions in case of re-set.