Greenpeace

So, get this.  Right after hitting the send button for my last blog entry about how we haven't found illegal fishing operations since leaving Pohnpei, I was called to the bridge to see a boat that had just appeared on the horizon.  A clue that something foul is afoot with a fishing boat is when you know it's there but it's not projecting a Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) signal, which all registered fishing vessels in this region are required to have on at all times.  The boat we saw, which turned out to be a Korean long liner named the Dong Won 117, wasn't transmitting, so we decided a boarding party was in order to see if smoke did in fact mean fire.

The boarding team, which included the Kiribati enforcement officer as well as Yours Truly, took a Rigid Inflatable Boat to the Dong Won.  Once onboard, we introduced ourselves to the captain and told him the records we needed to see. These included his license, fishing log, flag registration, ship's log, captain's log and engine log, all of which can help us paint a picture of what they've been doing since the boat was last in port.

Turns out the boat has been at sea for 13 months, which to me is unfathomable. One of the first questions the crew asked us when we boarded was who won the World Cup.  I'm guessing the internet isn't part of day-to-day life on the Dong Won.  Upon looking at their logs, the amount of fish onboard didn't seem to add up to their time at sea.  This could mean they transferred cargo (called a transhipment, onto a boat called a reefer), which isn't exactly illegal for a long liner but is evidence of unreported fish catch - a big fat no no.  Acronym junkies like to throw around IUU in this context, which stands for Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fish.  We inspected all possible storage areas, including freezer holds that felt rather nice for a moment given our current location near the equator.  They had enough fish onboard that I can't exactly say we caught them with their pants down, but the Kiribati officials agreed that it didn't add up.  We were also able to verify that the ship's VMS component has been operating intermittently since they've been at sea, and hasn't been operational at all since early September.  And despite official notification from the Kiribati government that they weren't transmitting a signal, they continued to fish.   Without an operational VMS they could have been doing anything during that time.  The violation gave Kiribati officials enough to escort the vessel back to port, and grounds for further exploration of an unreported fish catch.  The Dong Won is a good example of the shadiness of illegal fishing, as most of it is done by licensed vessels who turn off their monitor systems and break the rules.  A flagless vessel with ex-cons for a crew and a captain with mafia connections would probably be a better story.  But the Dong Won is more representative of the problem, as boats that fit its profile steal fish from the Pacific every day.

Early this morning, before the Kiribati enforcement boat could arrive, the Dong Won made a break for the high seas.  We tried pursuing, but they are faster than us and we couldn't keep up.  This morning we sent Taremon (the enforcement officer) up in the helicopter to demand that they stop, but they didn't answer the radio.  Our pilot positioned the helicopter right in front of the ship in dramatic fashion, but the effort was to no avail.  It appears the boat is headed back to Korea.

In addition to an apparent admission of guilt, their flight has further illustrated the sheer lack of enforcement resources available to Kiribati and most of the island nations in this region.  Kiribati has only one patrol boat for the waters it controls.  Juxtapose this to the recent story of an illegal fishing vessel the US Coast Guard apprehended in its waters off of the Howland/Baker Islands, which sit about 1,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.  They seized a purse seiner with $350,000 worth of illegal skipjack tuna by making use of a C-130 airplane and two Coast Guard cutter ships.  By comparison, you get an idea of the near impossible task Kiribati faces with only one boat at its disposal to effectively patrol its waters for pirate fishermen.

It was hard to watch the Dong Won disappear over the horizon, as further investigation of the vessel will now be nearly impossible.  At the same time, their escape to the high seas further illustrates the challenges of addressing pirate fishing with few resources, and the brazen nature of those who do it.  And I guess every good fishing story wouldn't be complete without the one that got away.