Two Taiwanese longline tuna fishing vessels have been caught illegally transferring fish at sea by Greenpeace. Fishing vessels Her Hae and Jia Yu Fa were carrying tuna and shark fins, and were photographed while transferring tuna from one ship to another in a pocket of international waters between Papua New Guinea and the Federated States of Micronesia, an area proposed as a marine reserve. They abandoned their transshipment process and fled the area as the Greenpeace ship Esperanza approached the vicinity, reports Greenpeace.
The Esperanza escorted the vessel Jia Yu Fa out of international waters and into the waters of the Federated States of Micronesia where it has license to fish. Greenpeace has reported the Taiwanese vessels' illegal transshipment at sea to the relevant authorities.
Pockets of international waters in the Pacific, which are regulated by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), are known to be especially vulnerable to pirate fishing. The WCPFC has agreed to close two of the pockets to purse seining from January 2010 but the areas will remain vulnerable to overfishing by longline fleets.
“Members of the WCPFC must now shut down all pockets of international waters to all fishing including longlining and ban the transshipment of fish at sea, which currently gives pirate tuna fleets the opportunity to keep plundering the Pacific Ocean,” said Josua Turaganivalu, Oceans Campaigner of Greenpeace Australia Pacific onboard the Esperanza.
