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These motherships, known as 'reefers' are a gateway for laundering tuna out of the region. Fish transfer is known to happen in the Pacific Commons but it has never been documented before. This area is especially prone to pirate activities and tuna have disappeared unreported on motherships like this, for years.
Activists from the Esperanza managed to catch up with the reefer and were given permission to board by the Captain. They documented the contents of the hold that consisted mostly of juvenile yellowfin and skipjack tuna.
The Captain admitted to at least six other transfers of tuna over the last month in the same pocket of international waters between Papua New Guinea and the Federated States of Micronesia. These transfers alone added up to 675 tons of skipjack and yellowfin tuna onboard and were mainly from boats flagged from the Philippines belonging to the same company, TPS Marine Industries.
Globally, $9 billion a year is lost to pirate fishing and estimates in the Pacific range from $134 million to $400 million. These pirates earn four times more than Pacific Island states earn in access fees and licenses.
We can do two things to reduce piracy: ban the transfer of fishing catches at sea and create marine reserves in the Pacific Commons, off limits to all fishing. This would close off a safe escape route currently open to pirates illegally fishing adjacent national waters.
Greenpeace has reported the illegal purse seiner to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and our ship, Esperanza, continues to defend the Pacific Commons.
