Despite the Taiwan vessel evading capture, Marshall Islands Sea Patrol Chief Thomas Heine said in Majuro that the vessel was identified and efforts are already underway to put it on a regional “blacklist” so that it will be banned from fishing in the Pacific.
Late last week, the Marshall Islands Sea Patrol identified two vessels — one Taiwanese, one Japanese — that were reportedly fishing illegally in the northwestern sector of the Marshall Islands 200 mile exclusive economic zone.
Because the Marshall Islands’ patrol was unavailable after developing engine problems earlier in the week, the government invoked a regional surveillance treaty for the first time, authorizing the Federated States of Micronesia’s national police to act on behalf of the Marshall Islands. Sea Patrol prepared the legal paperwork late Friday for President Litokwa Tomeing’s signature, then faxed it to Pohnpei, the FSM capital.
“Within minutes of our faxing the letter, the FSM’s patrol vessel ‘Independence’ was on its way,” Heine said. “It’s the first time we put this into play. I’m very pleased with the FSM’s response.”
Pohnpei is about 500 miles from Ujelang, the western-most atoll in the Marshall Islands, where the Taiwan vessel had been spotted.
When the crew on the Taiwan vessel “Fu Yang 168” saw the Independence approaching, “they cut their fishing lines and high-tailed it out of there,” Heine said. The Independence gave chase, firing warning shots across the bow of the longliner. But the fishing vessel refused to stop, Heine said.
“After the Independence exhausted all means of communicating with the Fu Yang 168, we decided to call off the chase and take other steps through the Tuna Commission and the Forum Fisheries Agency,” Heine said. “We’ll get the vessel on the blacklist so that it can’t access fishing in any member nation. We’ll bring it to justice.”
He called the Fu Yang 168 an “illegal and unlicensed” vessel that was caught red-handed with its fishing lines in the water inside the 200 mile zone.
The second vessel, the Japanese “Chidori #5,” was being pursued by FSM maritime police in Microneian waters on Monday, Heine said. The vessel has an expired license to fish in this area.
In addition to reportedly fishing illegally in Marshall Islands waters, the Chidori #5 also was fishing illegally within the 12-mile limit of an island in the FSM, Heine said.
