Field Operation Report · After-Action · AE-FOR-2091-068

Drive-Hunt Surveillance & Pod Defence — Coastal Bay Cetacean Watch

Observe-to-Document escalation over an illegal cetacean drive-hunt. Photo-ID and acoustic evidence of the drive built first; pod defence then conducted under the non-captivity doctrine to keep the pod off the beach. No capture, no contact with hunters — surveillance and standoff only.

FOR ID AE-FOR-2091-068 Date 2091-06-18 · 04:50–13:30 local Theatre Coastal drive-hunt bay · temperate shelf Lead Hull Petrel Wing (AE-HULL-06) Supporting MV Gyre Keeper · Argus Swarm (acoustic array) Tier Observe → Document Outcome Drive evidenced · pod held off the beach · no capture Classification RESTRICTED // TIDEWATER-EYES-ONLY

Observe Document Closed · Sealed Evidence: DC-2091-0681

Summary

On 2091-06-18, Petrel Wing and MV Gyre Keeper, with the Argus Swarm running a passive acoustic array, surveilled an illegal cetacean drive-hunt in a coastal bay and held the targeted pod off the beach under the cetacean non-captivity doctrine. The operation opened at Observe: build photo-ID and acoustic evidence of the drive — the boats herding, the pod's distress calls, the geometry of the beach trap — before doing anything else. As the drive closed on the shallows it escalated to Document-tier pod defence: a quiet acoustic and physical standoff that kept the pod from being driven onto the sand, holding open the seaward gap until the drive broke off. No animal was captured, and no contact was made with the hunters. The whole engagement was evidence and standoff only, exactly as the doctrine requires.

Doctrine — AE-SOP-0405, Cetacean Non-Captivity & Defence. No cetacean is to be captured, tagged invasively, or held by the fleet for any purpose. Where a drive-hunt or live-capture is in progress, the fleet may interpose to keep the pod in open water by non-injurious means — evidence first, standoff second, never capture. — Cetacean Non-Captivity & Defence Standard

Intelligence Picture

The bay is a known drive-hunt site flagged by community partners ahead of the season. NEREID's pre-positioning placed Petrel Wing over the headland before first light, with the acoustic array seeded across the mouth to catch both the boats and the pod.

A line of drive boats herding a mixed-age cetacean pod toward a shallow beach trap at the head of the bay.
Pod showing classic drive-distress acoustics; calves present, raising entanglement and stranding risk.
No permit on file; the drive is illegal under the relevant whaling prohibition and the League's own non-captivity doctrine.
Assessed by NEREID: evidence-build at Observe, with pre-authorised escalation to Document-tier pod defence under AE-SOP-0405 if the pod was driven toward the shallows.

Execution

Conducted under Observe-then-Document rules per AE-SOP-0405: evidence first, non-injurious standoff second, no capture, no contact with hunters. Narrative log, condensed:

Pre-position & photo-ID (04:50 local). Petrel Wing took station over the headland and began photo-ID of individual animals and the drive line; the Argus Swarm acoustic array logged the herding and the pod's distress calls to the evidence locker.
Drive geometry recorded (06:30). The trap geometry — boat line, beach, and the closing seaward gap — was mapped and time-stamped, fixing the illegality of the drive on the record.
Escalation to pod defence (08:10). As the drive closed on the shallows, the operation escalated to Document-tier defence under AE-SOP-0405; Gyre Keeper moved to hold the seaward gap open.
Standoff (08:30–12:40). A quiet acoustic and physical standoff kept the pod off the sand and the seaward route open by non-injurious means, without contact with the drive boats, until the drive lost its geometry and broke off.
Disengage (13:30). With the pod clear to open water and the drive abandoned, Petrel Wing and Gyre Keeper withdrew. No animal was captured; no contact was made with the hunters.

Outcome & Evidence

Pod Held Off Beachyescleared to open water

Photo-ID Cataloguebuiltindividuals logged

Acoustic Evidencesealeddrive-distress array

Captures0non-captivity held

The photo-ID catalogue, acoustic array record, and drive-geometry map were sealed as package DC-2091-0681 to Evidence & Custody for the whaling-prohibition file. Affected records in the Universal Marine Registry were annotated: the orca pod surveilled and defended (AE-SPX-0011) and a dugong logged transiting the bay margin during the standoff (AE-SPX-0075). Doctrine reference: cetacean non-captivity & defence, AE-SOP-0405.

NEREID Assessment. The model the doctrine is built for: evidence first, defence second, no capture. The photo-ID and acoustic record fix an illegal drive on the books, and the pod went back to open water without a single animal taken or a single hand laid on the hunters. Holding to non-injurious standoff under provocation is exactly the discipline AE-SOP-0405 demands and the fleet held it through more than four hours. Residual risk: the drive relocates to an adjacent bay within the season; recommend pre-positioned acoustic watch across the known sites and continued coordination with community partners. — NEREID, ops-intel layer

Follow-on

File package DC-2091-0681 to the whaling-prohibition track; circulate the photo-ID catalogue to partner cetacean registries.
Pre-position Argus Swarm acoustic watch across the known drive-hunt bays for the remainder of the season.
Maintain coordination with the community partners who flagged the site; review AE-SOP-0405 standoff timings against this engagement.
Annotate affected registry records (AE-SPX-0011, 0075) with the drive and defence findings.

Prepared by Ops Cell · Petrel Wing Counter-signed Fleet Operations (Document tier · AE-SOP-0405) Status Closed · Sealed Linked AE-FOR-2090-188 · AE-FOR-2091-052