The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society flagship Farley Mowat came across and confiscated 25 kiilometers of monofilament longline on April 30, 2004.

The line had been recently set in an area approximately 360 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. There were no identification numbers or names on any of the gear. The radio transmitter locating buoy said it was manufactured in Taiwan.

The white plastic longline floats had Chinese writing on them. Most likely the line was from a Taiwanese longliner. The Taiwanese longliners operating out of Costa Rica have been the primary cause of massive shark depletions in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.

There were no sharks or other fish on the recently set line. The crew freed a sea turtle that had been hooked and was still alive. The crew spent six hours hauling in and stowing the monofilament line in barrels.

After confiscating the line, the crew switched off the radio beacon.

There is now a Taiwanese longliner searching in vain for their lost weapon of mass destruction.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is pleased to offer a genuine confiscated longline hook to any supporter who sends in a donation and requests a hook.

Our dilemma is that there is great financial motivation to destroy life in the sea and little economic incentive to defend it. In response, we are fishing for longlines and every hook pulled from the sea is a hook that will be permanently retired from the business of slaughter.

The Sea Shepherd ship Farley Mowat is en route to the Galapagos to re-supply and support the Sea Shepherd ship Sirenian, now in her fourth year of a contract to support the Galapagos National Park by patrolling the Galapagos Marine Reserve.