By Giff Johnson
For Variety
MAJURO — The Marshall Islands Environmental Protection Authority has won $29 million in damages for the grounding of a fish supply ship on a reef in this western Pacific nation in 2019 — but can it collect from the company and its insurer?
High Court Chief Justice Carl Ingram has ruled in the Marshall Islands EPA’s favor against the China-based Ningbo Eurasian Ocean Fishing Co. Ltd. and the People’s Insurance Company of China Ltd. for the grounding of the fishing transport vessel Ou Ya Leng 6.
The vessel ran aground on the reef at uninhabited Taka Atoll in the northern Marshall Islands in January 2019 and remains there to this day.
Ingram said the vessel “caused extensive damage to the coral reef, and the subsequent discharge of oil/fuel pollutants from the Ou Ya Leng caused damage to and destruction of the reef, aquatic life, aquatic habitats and other marine resources in the area.”
His judgment was based on the EPA’s provision of six situation reports over several years that evaluated the condition of the vessel and surrounding reef and marine life, three damage assessment reports and numerous other documents about the situation at the northern atoll’s reef.
These reports “establish that the loss of marine life at Taka Atoll is extensive, and the pre-grounding biodiversity value of such a pristine environment was immense.”
Chief Justice Ingram pointed out that notice of the hearing to determine the amount of damages held in October this year was provided to both defendant companies through compliance with The Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters. “Despite being served with the notice of the hearing to determine damages caused by the grounding of the Ou Ya Leng, (the company and the insurer) failed to appear,” he said.
He noted that the only corrective action taken by the defendants was that in the immediate aftermath of the 2019 grounding, “the crew of the Ou Ya Leng pumped all but approximately 27 tons of fuel from the No. 3 P&S double bottoms tank up to No. 3 Lower Hold, which contained approximately 680 tons of marine gas oil. Ningbo also hired a local Marshall Islands company to attempt to remove the oil/fuel pollutants from the Ou Ya Leng, but it was unable to do so.”
The failure of the company to remove the vessel means the violations of the Marshall Islands EPA Act continue to this day, he said.
The $29 million judgment was broken down by the Chief Justice:
• $14,100,000 compensatory damages for costs of removal of the vessel from Taka.
• $111,534 compensatory damages for the damage to coral from the grounding.
• $14,692,932 compensatory damages for damage to coral and marine life from fuel leakage.
• $104,003.61 compensatory damages for reimbursement of EPA costs to investigate the grounding and for costs of filing the prosecution.
Majuro attorney David Strauss represented the EPA in the case.
