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The vessel, the Wen Teng No 688
has been listed by the IATTC since June 2005 at their annual meeting in
Lanzarotte, Spain as carrying out pirate activites in the Eastern
Pacific Ocean.
On October 12, 2006, Josua Turaganivalu of Greenpeace photographed the vessel as Mahkoia Abadi and upon closer inspection found it was the Wen Teng No 688. Four days later while on port watch, Mr Turaganivalu noticed crew members scraping and painting a different name on the vessel. Stationed next to the suspected pirate vessel is another vessel identified by its call-sign BJ4655, which is not registered under the Forum Fisheries Agency registry and belongs to the same company.
Greenpeace chief executive Steve Shallhorn said, “The key threat to sustainability of fish stocks is compounded by pirate fishing or illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
“If these vessels are confirmed pirate vessels they should be arrested, prosecuted, black-listed and all their sister ships investigated,” he said.
Mr Shallhorn said despite the political will of Pacific peoples and governments to strengthen monitoring controlling surveillance systems, they were hampered by poor infrastructure, lack of capacity, limited resources and competing development priorities to deal with.
“The fact that pirate operations are secretive, vague and hard to detect makes monitoring, compliance and surveillance very difficult,” he said.
Greenpeace recently launched a science report highlighting the conservation and management of Bigeye and Yellowfin tuna, which is now in a critically overfished state in the Pacific.
Mr Shallhorn said it was prudent the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPCF) collaborate with other regional fisheries management organisations, the Monitoring Controlling Surveillance network and NGOs in order to strengthen surveillance across the region and work at eradicating pirate fishing altogether.
He added it was time that flag states made greater efforts to deter and prevent pirate fishing on high seas registered to their flag. “The Flag of Convenience system is inexpensive and often a deliberate means for fishing vessels on the high seas to evade the rules.
“The oceans are being plundered and we must defend them to our best ability,” he said.
Greenpeace is on a ‘Defending Our Oceans’ expedition in the Pacific exposing the scale and threats of overfishing and pirate fishing in the region. Greenpeace is campaigning for a global network of marine reserves covering 40 % of the world's oceans. The tour is part of Greenpeace’s 15-month global expedition. http://oceans.greenpeace.org
Note to Editors
Greenpeace Science Report: http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/resources/reports/overfishing/Tuna-science-report-summary
On October 12, 2006, Josua Turaganivalu of Greenpeace photographed the vessel as Mahkoia Abadi and upon closer inspection found it was the Wen Teng No 688. Four days later while on port watch, Mr Turaganivalu noticed crew members scraping and painting a different name on the vessel. Stationed next to the suspected pirate vessel is another vessel identified by its call-sign BJ4655, which is not registered under the Forum Fisheries Agency registry and belongs to the same company.
Greenpeace chief executive Steve Shallhorn said, “The key threat to sustainability of fish stocks is compounded by pirate fishing or illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing.
“If these vessels are confirmed pirate vessels they should be arrested, prosecuted, black-listed and all their sister ships investigated,” he said.
Mr Shallhorn said despite the political will of Pacific peoples and governments to strengthen monitoring controlling surveillance systems, they were hampered by poor infrastructure, lack of capacity, limited resources and competing development priorities to deal with.
“The fact that pirate operations are secretive, vague and hard to detect makes monitoring, compliance and surveillance very difficult,” he said.
Greenpeace recently launched a science report highlighting the conservation and management of Bigeye and Yellowfin tuna, which is now in a critically overfished state in the Pacific.
Mr Shallhorn said it was prudent the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPCF) collaborate with other regional fisheries management organisations, the Monitoring Controlling Surveillance network and NGOs in order to strengthen surveillance across the region and work at eradicating pirate fishing altogether.
He added it was time that flag states made greater efforts to deter and prevent pirate fishing on high seas registered to their flag. “The Flag of Convenience system is inexpensive and often a deliberate means for fishing vessels on the high seas to evade the rules.
“The oceans are being plundered and we must defend them to our best ability,” he said.
Greenpeace is on a ‘Defending Our Oceans’ expedition in the Pacific exposing the scale and threats of overfishing and pirate fishing in the region. Greenpeace is campaigning for a global network of marine reserves covering 40 % of the world's oceans. The tour is part of Greenpeace’s 15-month global expedition. http://oceans.greenpeace.org
Note to Editors
Greenpeace Science Report: http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/resources/reports/overfishing/Tuna-science-report-summary
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Images/video footage: Michelle Thomas 0404 096 556 Note: Images can be downloaded at: http://photos.greenpeace.org.au Username: photos Password: green
