MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Government denies MV Bandero access over “questionable actions” at sea

The MV Bandero, a Captain Paul Watson Foundation vessel

The Falkland Islands government has banned the MV Bandero, a Captain Paul Watson Foundation vessel, from entering its territorial waters following the ship's collision with a Norwegian industrial krill trawler in Antarctic waters on March 31. The order, signed on April 9 by the Acting Governor, took effect immediately.

In an official statement, the islands' government said the prohibition was issued under Section 10 of the Harbours and Ports Ordinance 2017, after consultation with the Executive Council. The measure was adopted “in protection of our national interest — in particular not being seen by the international community to be resourcing the operations of a vessel that has undertaken questionable actions on the high seas and may well be intending to return to those operations.”

The government stated that “the activities undertaken by the Bandero posed a serious risk to maritime safety” and that “proportionate steps” were taken “to prevent the vessel from continuing activities that could endanger life.”

Competing accounts

The Captain Paul Watson Foundation called the decision “politically biased” and accused the island government of siding with the krill fishing industry at the expense of marine conservation.

“The Governor's decision was made without review and without offering the crew of the Bandero the opportunity to present their case: that they engaged in a non-violent protest against an industry contributing to the decline of whale, penguin, seal, and seabird populations in the Southern Ocean,” said Captain Paul Watson.

The foundation formally requested that the British government, the islands' governor and King Charles III grant the Bandero access to Port Stanley for provisions, fuel and crew relief. Watson argued that the vessel's actions fall within the framework of the United Nations World Charter for Nature, adopted in 1982 with United Kingdom support.

Norwegian company Aker Qrill, however, offers a starkly different account. A two-minute video provided to the AP shows the Bandero slowly steaming toward the stern of the trawler Antarctic Sea and striking its port side. According to Aker, the activist vessel came within centimeters of hitting a diesel tank, which could have caused a spill in sensitive waters. Aker BioMarine CEO Matts Johansen called the incident a “terrorist attack” and announced the company would pursue all available legal action, AP reported.

The “krill wars”

The incident occurred during what the foundation calls “Operation Krill Wars.” On March 31, the Bandero's crew, led by French activist Lamya Essemlali, confronted two Aker Qrill vessels near Antarctica for over five hours. The crew deployed metal devices designed to shred fishing nets and struck the Antarctic Sea, a 132-meter trawler with a crew of 60.

“Fishing for krill is an ecological time bomb. Nothing can justify targeting a keystone species on which the entire Antarctic ecosystem depends,” Essemlali said.

Aker Qrill is the world's largest harvester of Antarctic krill, accounting for more than 60% of the total catch quota. Last season, the 620,000-tonne quota was reached for the first time, and Norway has proposed raising the annual limit to as much as 1.2 million tonnes. Krill is primarily used in omega-3 supplements, salmon farm feed and pet food products.

Watson, who founded the Sea Shepherd conservation movement in the 1970s, was detained in Greenland for five months in 2024 under an Interpol warrant that was later dismissed as politically motivated over his interventions against illegal Japanese whaling.

Any formal investigation, including possible criminal prosecution, would commence at the vessel's next port of call — making the Falklands ban particularly significant.