Sailing under a number of names, the ship frequently engaged in illegal fishing operations in the Pacific, Indian, and Southern Oceans.

The ship would unload its catches in a number of Asian countries, and would often misreport the type of fish being offloaded to avoid sanctions.

[2] In January 2018, Interpol issued a Purple Notice in regard to the ship, indicating it was wanted for illegal and unregulated fishing.

Local authorities alerted CCAMLR (a multinational body responsible for enforcing edicts made via the Antarctic Treaty System) after it was discovered that the ship in port (which was operating using the name STS-50) was using a fake International Marine Organization number and was in possession of forged documents.

It was hoped that, by finding the outlaw fisher's locations via its AIS-linked transponder, the ship could be tracked, pursued, and captured.

According to OceanMind, a non-profit assisting in the hunt for the Andrey Dolgov, the wanted ship was able to simultaneously appear near the Falklands Islands, Fiji, and Norway.

[2][6] Following the third escape of the Andrey Dolgov, several African countries and international organizations began a concerted effort to hunt down the outlaw ship.

Eventually the ship was picked up on radar (which was then cross-referenced with AIS pings to determine the Andrey Dolgov's location), and the fleeing vessel was soon being pursued by the Sea Shepherd's MY Ocean Warrior and the Tanzanian navy.

However, the Tanzanians and Sea Shepherd were able to record information about Andrey Dolgov's speed and heading; this data was passed onto other groups following the chase and eventually forwarded to the Indonesian navy.

[2] Having captured the rogue ship, the Indonesian government had the option to destroy or maintain possession of the vessel as a prize.