The Swordfish Wars E-Book

alastair macleod

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

As fishing stocks dwindle the fight for the resources of the sea has become a war in areas where terrorism has taken root.

"In 2012, against conservation rules, two large non-Mediterranean fleets were  spotted in some of the main Mediterranean fishing grounds. The substantial presence of irregular foreign vessels in the Mediterranean, added to an evident decrease in the control zeal of nations involved in this fishery, is a reminder of the situation created by recent conflict in Libya.

One of the fleets consisted of several Chinese ships (none of which is authorized to fish here), with the other comprised of several ships of unknown registry.
The Chinese fleet entered the Mediterranean via the Suez canal, leaving the region via the Straights of Gibraltar  reportedly heading to Mauritania.
The second fleet  refused to respond to attempts to communicate. The high prices paid for swordfish and  tuna in the Japanese market mean that quota levels are continually not set low enough to allow the fish to recover, as well meaning that there is extensive illegal fishing going on. Single fish can sell for over $100,000. adapted from " treehugger."

Leseprobe

Alastair Macleod

The Swordfish Wars

To the Italian Coast Guard, the Guardia Costiera and the difficult task they do. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

The Swordfish Wars

The Tyrrhenian Sea.

Dawn off Lipari.

A red orange strip appears on the horizon.

Capitano Bolzano yawns. It has been an uneventful night. Tipped off by someone at the Italian Embassy in Cairo, his vessel the “Pesce Spada,” a large launch of the Guardia Costiera had been lying in wait for two long liners - Chinese trawlers.

But so far no sign.

Black masses of the other islands and the detail of the land on Sicily emerge, clearer and clearer. A red glow begins to rise above the darker strip.

With a roar, the Aliscafi, the ferry to Milazzo rumbles out of Lipari harbour and the sea, until now ruffled only by a light breeze and wafts of wind, begins to oscillate in the ferry’s wake.

The sky turns to pale blue in the east, weakening to grey above. Venus is still clearly visible.

The radio barks, “Swordfish, Swordfish, vessels now passing Messina.”

The sea now is like molten metal - a redder patch appears in the east getting redder and redder,

“Like my zanzare bite,” muses Bolzano.

A distinct part of a redder orb, the whole orange now, glowing, rising, bigger and bigger, casting a beam across the sea. Its rays lighting up things in orange light. Then you feel the heat of the sun. At first gentle then the orb becomes stronger and stronger until it diffuses out.

Bolzano has been up since 4 am. A crewman brings him an espresso.

He crosses the bridge to the command. Here the radar cowls glow an eerie green as if powered by phosphorescent plankton.

He radios the Garibaldi, another coast guard vessel, on the other side of the Tyrrhenian Sea, lying near the Italian mainland.

“Jacomo, our two birds are approaching. They’re off Messina now, making slow progress towards us.”

Bolzano’s hunch is that if these vessels are the two Chinese fishing pirates, they will make for the Aeolians and then the Balearics.

“Long liners?”

“Si, long liners, grey, old, no markings.” He gave the Garibaldi the last co-ordinates.

He turns to his first officer Tomasso.

“Get the crew to boarding readiness.”

“Armed?”

“Si, of course,”said Bolzano.

The Guardia Costiera, like the Italian police, carried arms.

In this case the Beretta 9mm pistol, but for boarding his men would also be equipped with M16 machine guns, some with the lighter M4’s and at least one with a shotgun to open reluctant doors.

“Do you think capitano they are just fishermen?”

“I think they are pirates who have turned to fishing for the moment.”