The 'Bad Rappenau' discovered a large air mine directly on the bottom at the pier head of the Kiel naval arsenal in good condition during a maneuver along with the 'Rottweil' on March 14. It was an exercise as part of the “Baltic MCM Exercise I/24”. The boats of the 3rd Minesweeper Squadron were supposed to explore the arsenal in Kiel as a potential port of call. Units from Germany, Estonia and the Netherlands were scheduled to arrive there on March 15th. During this preliminary search of the harbour entrance, the crew of the “Bad Rappenau” came across a suspicious object with their sonar. A probe with divers brought certainty: it was an HC4000 air mine that was dropped over Kiel by the British armed forces during World War II. After viewing the images, the Navy alerted the explosive ordnance disposal service and made the data available. The discovery was confirmed by the explosive ordnance disposal service and preparations were made for defusing. Although the hull of the 1.8-ton monster has some vegetation, it is otherwise complete and undamaged. The three detonators on the head of the air mine, also known as the Blockbuster, are recognizable and well preserved. On March 26 the “HC4000”, which is the largest aerial bomb from the Second World War ever found in Schleswig-Holstein, will be defused from 10 a.m. Beforehand, the bomb should be lifted out of the water and brought to the roadstead in front of Holtenau on a pontoon. Only there do the defusers want to start work. The port and large surrounding areas will be barred for this. Report with photo: https://www.kn-online.de/lokales/kiel/bombe-im-hafen-kiel-entdeckt-erstes-bild-von-der-grossen-luftmine-7ZVFH3ZPJFHY5NTHI2VU54BMOI.html
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MAERSK ESSEN
On March 24, 2024, the 'Maersk Essen', en route from San Vicente to Hongkong, stopped opposite the Papeete pass. The captain requested medical assistance. Once the aid had been obtained, the ship resumed the route without stopping in Tahiti. Report with photos: https://www.tntv.pf/tntvnews/polynesie/societe/un-navire-de-368m-demande-une-assistance-medicale-a-papeete/
GREENLAND
The 'Greenland', the third UAE aid ship carrying 4,630 tonnes of humanitarian supplies set sail on March 23, 2024, for the city of Al Arish, destined for the Gaza Strip, as part of Operation "Gallant Knight 3" to support the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The ship was carrying 4,218.3 tonnes of food, 370.2 tonnes of shelter materials, and 41.6 tonnes of medical aid, in addition to six water tanks, two septic tanks, and one diesel storage tank. The cargo of the ship was provided by the Emirates Red Crescent, the Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, and the Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, and was transported by 267 trucks that unloaded their cargo onto the ship. Report with video: https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/video-third-uae-aid-ship-sets-sail-for-gaza-sets-sails-as-part-of-operation-gallant-knight-3-1.1711254164174
MED ARCTIC
On March 23, 2024, the captain of the 'Med Arctic', which was anchored off Huelva, requested the urgent medical evacuation of a crew member after consultation with Turkish radio medical center. Salvamento Marítimo mobilized the SAR helicopter Helimer 223 which hoisted the patient and transported him to the Jerez airport, where an ambulance was waiting for transfer to the hospital.
TAI AN
The Fisheries and Prefectural Authorities carried out an operation in the port of Ushuaia to confiscate the catch of toothfish from the 'Tai An' in a surprising operation carried out in the last few hours in the port of Ushuaia. The vessel, belonging to the Prodesur company, has been the center of a controversy after being surprised with a shipment of toothfish valued at 4 million dollars. Upon arrival at the port of Ushuaia by order of the Naval Prefecture, about 163 tons of toothfish were discovered. The situation was aggravated by juvenile specimens of the species which were found among the cargo, the capture of which is strictly prohibited globally in order to preserve its population. The cargo seizure operation was carried out under the supervision of the Undersecretariat of Fisheries and Agriculture of the Nation, which detected serious environmental faults. The vessel, owned by Chinese businessman Liu Zhijiang, lacked any extra quota authorized for the capture of these specimens. The legal implications of this incident have been immediate, with the resignation of several national government officials involved in the scandal, including Julián Suárez, Pablo Ferrara Raisberg and Guillermo Abdala Bertiche. These resignations underlined the seriousness of the matter and the authorities' commitment to legality and the environment. The National Institute of Fisheries Research and Development (INIDEP) has a report prepared, stating that between February 4 and March 11 the TAI-AN vessel “captured a total of 3,178 tons of fish, consisting of 1,975 tons of pollock, 892 tons of hoke and 175 tons of toothfish, which together represent 96% of the total. The report points out that between February 4 and March 11, the vessel captured 175 tons of toothfish, in seven fishing hauls out of a total of 72, carried out with a bottom trawl net in the grid. statistic 5462 that is part of the Juvenile Toothfish Protection Area (APJMN) at depths that averaged 450 meters From the analysis it appears that the catches of toothfish were obtained through a particular operation of the vessel during the trip, carried out repetitively despite having exceeded the catch limit of the species allowed per trip for said vessel (5 tons), which suggests a manifest intention regarding the fishing of the species: the vessel entered the APJMN every 5/6 days making a set with a bottom trawl in a geographical position almost identical to the previous occasions. On Feb 10, the vessel, after a haul in which it captured 12 tons of toothfish, was already in violation in accordance with CFP Resolution 9/23 (maximum catch of toothfish of 5 tons per fishing trip) , which is why it should not have returned to the APJMN to carry out fishing operations, much less repetitively in positions very close to the one where it had obtained excessive catches of the species. This behavior, in our opinion, demonstrates a clear intention aimed at capturing toothfish. The ship used bottom trawling at depths close to 450 meters in the APJMN, which is not allowed according to the details of CFP Resolution 12/21. As a consequence of the fishing activity with bottom trawl nets at depths prohibited for the use of fishing gear within the APJMN, a proportion of juvenile toothfish (55%) was captured higher than the limit established by current regulations (20 % CFP Resolution 12/19). -Taking into account that the 'Tai An' does not have CITC of toothfish since 2020, the vessel, in addition to failing to comply with the Federal Fisheries Law (24,922) by obtaining catches of the species in a directed manner without having an enabling quota, would have violated three additional regulations by fishing with a bottom trawl at less than 800 meters deep in the APJMN, fishing in a targeted manner for the species at depths lower than that permitted south of 54°S (800 meters) and capturing a proportion of juveniles (55%), much higher than that allowed in each trip. Report with photo: https://www.surenio.com.ar/decomisan-el-cargamento-del-buque-tai-an/