By Dr Motseki Hlatshwayo (SADC Secretariat) and Mr. Per Erik Berg (Stop Illegal Fishing)

SADC Ministers responsible for Fisheries at their meeting held in Pretoria, South Africa in November 2017, discussed a working relationship between SADC Fisheries Monitoring Control and Surveillance Coordination Centre (MCSCC) and FISH-i Africa project, and recently approved this partnership during their meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. FISH-i Africa is a regional project in the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) helping several SADC Member States and other partner countries to share information to combat large-scale illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) in the region.

The regional project recently delivered one of the milestone efforts to deter illegal practices and helped in the arrest of an IUU vessel, STS-50. This vessel in 2016 was listed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) as an IUU vessel responsible for illegal catching of the Antarctic tooth-fish. The vessel had also, in the past, used forged Greek documentation to obtain registration documents in Togo. In February 2018, inspectors from Madagascar alerted the FISH-i Africa Task Force to the presence of the vessel in the SADC region along with details of its new identity. Previously known as ANDREY DOLGOV, AYDA and SEA BREEZ 1, the STS-50 had presented false information to officials as it called at Port d’Ehola in southern Madagascar. The STS-50 was tracked as it headed into Mozambican waters where it was intercepted and inspected by a Mozambican multi-agency team. Having failed to seek permission to enter the Mozambican EEZ, the STS-50 was detained.

The STS-50 then absconded from its detention outside Maputo on 17 March 2018, leaving the passports of the 20 Indonesian crew-members and 15 Russian officers behind. With all FISH-i Africa members on high alert, the STS-50 attempted to evade tracking by periodically switching off its Automatic Identification System (AIS). Trygg Mat Tracking, which provides specialist vessel tracking analysis as part of the FISH-i Africa project, was able to supply regular updates that ensured that the STS-50 could be intercepted when the opportunity arose.

The Sea Shepherd’s patrol vessel OCEAN WARRIOR, currently docking in Maputo port, was patrolling in the Tanzania exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under Operation Jodari, a cooperation with the Deep Sea Fishing Authority, Tanzanian Navy and the Multi-Agency Task Team (MATT) supported by FISH-i Africa, when it intercepted and followed the STS-50 into high seas, until the vessel got arrested by Indonesian authorities. This success was due to a united regional response with weeks of satellite tracking and monitoring by the FISH-i Africa project and cooperation between Madagascar, Mozambique and Tanzanian authorities and other partners, like Indonesia, Sea Shepherd and INTERPOL.

This arrest demonstrates the real value of cooperation at a regional level and how effective the FISH-i Africa project can be for MCSCC in pooling resources and coordinating collaboration against rogue vessels. Also, to have this backed up by enforcement action from Indonesia on the other side of the Indian Ocean is a significant development. This demonstrates that illegal operators anywhere can no longer get away with switching identities and switching regions.

Source: Inside SADC