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FISH-i Africa countries unite to deny services to a suspected IUU fishing vessel – the Dongwon Industries’ FV PREMIER
The saga of the South Korean tuna purse seiner FV PREMIER has taken a dramatic new turn with the suspected IUU fishing vessel being denied permission to offload its catch in the Seychelles’ port of Victoria. This bold step by the Seychelles Government is the latest example of cooperative action by several African countries under the recently forged FISH-i Africa initiative, to improve information sharing on suspected illegal fishing between five key regional states.
The action against the PREMIER follows crucial intervention by Liberia, which accuses the vessel of illegal fishing in its territorial waters. This prompted a chain of events including the uncovering of forged documents, and the refusal by several FISH-i Africa countries to issue fishing licences.
The PREMIER has now been denied use of port Victoria for landing or transshipment due to the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission’s (IOTC) Port State Measures Resolution (PSMR) (10/11) Article 9.1 e) the Cooperating non-Contracting Parties has reasonable grounds to believe that the vessel was otherwise engaged in IUU fishing’.
Stop Illegal Fishing (SIF), which is coordinating FISH-i Africa, has been involved in the collection and reporting of evidence linking the PREMIER to IUU fishing activities in Africa for over a year. The key events include:
February 2012 ‚SIF reports on Illegal Fishing in West Africa, including naming the Premier as one of the vessels monitored by the Trygg Mat Foundation* fishing illegally in Liberian waters.
December 2012 ‚facilitated by FISH-i Africa and SIF, Liberia sends an official request to the Mauritian government for assistance and inspection of the Premier. An inspection takes place and several documents are found that confirm the suspicions of illegal fishing in Liberian waters.
January 2013 – Several FISH-i Africa countries in the Western Indian Ocean deny a fishing licence to the Premier due to the on-going IUU case in Liberia.
January 2013 – An employee of Dongwon Industries (owners of Premier) forwards two letters to the Government of Kenya, supposedly addressed from the Liberian Authorities to the flag State South Korea, implying that the IUU fishing suspicion was a misunderstanding.
January 2013 – These letters are confirmed by the Bureau of National Fisheries (BNF) in Liberia to be forged.
February 2013 ‚As a result of this and other stories, the UK government raises concerns over imports of canned tuna that may contain illegally caught fish from West Africa.
March 2013 – The Government of Liberia releases a press statement refuting allegations made by Dongwon Industries that they are a “victim of fraud‚ by officials in BNF.
March 2013 ‚Seychelles denies the Premier’s request to offload its catch in their port.
Due to the sharing of information and cooperation between countries, the alleged criminal fishing history of the Premier has rendered its attempts to continue its fishing activities in the West Indian Ocean futile.
When launching FISH-i Africa in December 2012, the Honourable Minister of Investment, Natural Resources and Industry for the Government of Seychelles, Mr Peter Sinon said: “This initiative is important because it requires a consolidated effort to eliminate the IUU scourge and FISH-i Africa is one of the management tools in the armoury to help address this very important challenge.‚ Minister Sinon has this week proved that he will back up his words with action and be a true leader in the fight against illegal fishing.
One of the driving forces behind the work of Stop Illegal Fishing and FISH-i Africa is the need to implement the recommendation from the Conference of African Ministers of Fisheries and Aquaculture ‘that monitoring, control and surveillance systems and regional cooperation should be strengthened and that urgent actions at national and regional levels are required to deter and eradicate IUU fishing’. This, along with the Southern African Development Community’s Statement of Commitment to Combat IUU Fishing and the IOTC Resolution on Port State Measures, provides the solid political foundation for the work of FISH-i Africa.
The Chairman of Stop Illegal Fishing, Mr Geofrey Nanyaro, welcomed this decision by Seychelles pointing out that “this level of cooperation and information sharing would not have been possible a few months ago, however thanks to FISH-i Africa, through Stop Illegal Fishing, Africa and indeed the world are working as one, and the net is closing fast on IUU fishing perpetrators.‚
About FISH-i Africa:
FISH-i Africa, launched in the Seychelles December 2012, is an initiative coordinated by Stop Illegal Fishing with the support of the Pew Charitable Trusts. FISH-i Africa is a partnership between the five coastal States of Comoros, Kenya, Mozambique, Seychelles and the United Republic of Tanzania. It connects partners on a real-time basis to share information and intelligence to enable them to make decisions and take action against suspected illegal operators. Stop Illegal Fishing and the Pew Charitable Trusts directly support the group with assistance from the IOTC and the Indian Ocean Commission’s SmartFish Project.