Joint patrols have begun on board Sea Shepherd’s Allankay after the Pacific island’s lone offshore patrol boat was destroyed when a cyclone hit in March 2023.
Located halfway between Hawaii and Australia, Tuvala comprises coral atolls and reefs measuring just 26km² surrounded by 900,000km² of maritime territory.
“Tuvalu is truly an ocean country and, without an offshore patrol boat, much of the jurisdiction of the Tuvalu police service has been out of reach,” commented Peter Hammarstedt, director of campaigns for Sea Shepherd.
Since 2016, Sea Shepherd Global has worked with governments in Africa, helping eight countries arrest 98 vessels for illegal fishing and other fisheries crimes. Tuvalu is Sea Shepherd’s first country partnership in the Pacific.
“Although we have very good conservation management measures in place, the greatest challenge for Pacific Island countries is the enforcement of those measures,” said the Honourable Simon Kofe, Minister for Transport, Energy, Communication and Innovation.
The highest point in Tuvalu is just 4.6 metres above sea level and the effects of climate change are forcing many to relocate to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. Three quarters of Tuvaluan households depend on subsistence fishing making the economy particularly vulnerable to IUU fishing.
“The fate of the Tuvaluan people and their culture is and has always been intertwined with that of the ocean,” said Hammarstedt.
“The country now faces two manmade ecological catastrophes, neither of which is of their own making.”
