Two fishermen who found a piece of scientific equipment off the coast of Monterey, Calif., are holding it hostage, interfering with international research, and demanding $45,000 ransom for its return, the federal government claims in court.
The United States sued Daniel Sherer, Patrick Anderson and their business, A&S Fisheries, in Federal Court on Friday, accusing them of holding government property "de facto hostage" and causing irreparable harm to an international research project.
The "oceanographic mooring buoy," known as Scientific Mooring MS1, was one of several anchored to the seafloor to record data on the velocity, temperature, salinity and sediment concentration of ocean currents.
