In Chinese culture, the number 8 is considered a lucky number, as the word for eight sounds similar to the word meaning ‘prosper’ or ‘wealth’ . I am pretty sure the Chen family network of companies had this in mind when naming their fuel tanker, the MV Fong Seong 888. For them, it means good fortune and prosperity.
However, on the high seas the tanker means bad fortune and poverty for the Pacific nations.
© Greenpeace/Paul Hilton
The fuel tanker Fong Seong 888 refueling the purse seiner MV American Legacy. Both are owned by the Taiwanese Chen family network of Companies.
The ownership of both vessels links back to the Chen family, a Taiwanese network of companies. Although these two ships share the same owner, they fly under two different flags: the Fong Seong 888 is flagged to Panama while the American Legacy is a US-flagged purse seiner.
Strange to hear perhaps, that these Taiwanese owned ships are using another country’s flag but the practice of flying the flag of a country other than the country of ownership, is what is known as ‘flags of convenience’ (FOC) . This is done for many different reasons, including cheap registration fees, low taxes, and cheap labor. In the fishing industry, flying flags of convenience also makes it possible to artificially increase the fishing quota from what is assigned to individual nations. Meaning they can fish more than they would be allowed if they flew the flag of their real country.
Under the US Treaty agreement, the United States is entitled to fish in the waters of 16 Pacific nations with up to 40 purse seine vessels. In recent years, US had fewer than 40 ships, but new vessels are being added, flying the US flag though although they're actually owned by major shipbuilding and fishing conglomerates in Taiwan. Fresh from the biggest shipyard in Taiwan, the American Legacy has access to Pacific tuna resources only because it's flying the US flag. What hope does tuna have with an alliance like that pitched against them?
The Pacific is home to the LAST refuge of the LAST relatively healthy stocks of tuna. Scientists have been warning for years that the fishing pressure on Pacific tuna must be reduced, yet this brand new super-seiner joined the already vast number of fishing vessels out at sea chasing fewer and fewer fish.
Now, let’s turn to the other ship, the Fong Seong 888. This vessel is one of many tankers operating in the Pacific. These tankers, along with the refrigerated “reefer” vessels that transfer fish, enable fishing fleets to stay at sea for extended periods without having to come into port to refuel, take on supplies, or land the fish they have caught. This makes it is much more difficult for authorities to monitor tuna catches in the region and these supply vessels open a gateway for illegally caught fish to leave the region untraced – fostering the continued plundering of tuna from the Pacific.
©Greenpeace/Paul Hilton
To show our protest for this shameful practice, our activists painted "Fueling Plunder" and "Tuna Plunder" on the hull of the MV Fong Seong 888. It was one of the fastest ship painting actions I have ever seen. We barely finished the campaign message when the purse seiner, the American Legacy, broke away from the Fong Seong 888 and sped away.
Over the last 3 weeks in the international waters of the Western Pacific, we have come across FADs, documented an illegal transshipment at sea, confiscated longlines, and escorted several vessels out of the high seas. This latest deplorable activity - a brand new fishing vessel being refueled at sea - was perfectly legal, but it illustrates the problem of countries building more ships when there are too many already, finding that hole in the system by flying a different flag.
With all the resources at their disposal and the capacity to circumvent, exploit and abuse bans and treaties, what will it take to stop these distant fishing nations from robbing the Pacific nations of their own resource?
Help us defend our oceans.