For the past three weeks, law enforcement agents with the Deep Sea Fishing Authority, Tanzanian Navy and the Multi-Agency Task Team (MATT) have been secretly stationed on board Sea Shepherd’s ship, the M/Y Ocean Warrior, working alongside Captain Adam Meyerson and Sea Shepherd crew to patrol Tanzania's sovereign waters. The law enforcement agents have the authority to board, inspect and arrest vessels in violation of Tanzanian law. The MATT is led by the Tanzania Police Force and includes the Tanzania Forest Services, the Wildlife Division, Fisheries Division, Tanzania Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Tanzania Intelligence and Security Service. It was formed to target individuals and networks that control environmental crime in the region and the illegal trade in wildlife.

Operation Jodari seeks to control all vessel operations in the waters of Tanzania, boarding those suspected of IUU fishing, as well as training Tanzanian officers in monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) of fishing activity in Tanzanian waters, including fishing vessel inspections and boarding procedures.

On the first patrol of Operation Jodari, nine boardings and inspections were carried out, resulting in three arrests:

1. The Chinese-flagged F/V Tai Hong 1 was discovered to be carrying a cargo of shark fins that far exceed the 50 carcasses on board. Under Tanzanian law, the number of shark fins must correspond to the number of trunks (bodies). The twelve Tanzanian fishermen working on board, had been refused water and food by the captain, and shared a small unventilated accommodation space with only beds for two of the twelve, leaving the rest to sleep on the floor on top of one another.

2. The Malaysian-flagged F/V Buah Naga 1 was discovered to be carrying a cargo of shark fins. Carcasses had been discarded overboard. An unlicensed firearm, a 9 mm Beretta pistol, was found in the captain’s cabin. The Indonesian fishing crew informed Tanzanian authorities that the captain would regularly threaten them with the pistol to work. If no fish were caught, then the Indonesian crew would not be fed.

3. The Tanzanian-flagged F/V Swabir Jamil was discovered fishing in the Tanzania Territorial Sea without a license. The vessel was carrying shark fins.

The F/V Tai Hong 1, F/V Buah Naga 1 and F/V Swabir Jamil were escorted to Tanzanian ports for legal action on the grounds of shark-finning and labor abuses.