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The owner of the purse seine vessel the Marshalls 201 settled its USD 500,000 fine for poaching in early June. (Photo: USCG Hawaii)
Illegal fishing vessel fined USD 500K
UNITED STATES
Friday, June 12, 2009, 23:50 (GMT + 9)
The owner of a foreign vessel caught fishing illegally within protected US waters in the central Pacific three years ago paid a fine of USD 500,000 earlier this month, jointly announced the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Law Enforcement, the US Coast Guard and the US Attorney’s Office, District of Guam, last week.
The owner of the purse seine vessel Marshalls 201, which had been carrying a flag of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, has paid the fine for violating the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act for fishing illegally in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the US adjacent to the Howland and Baker Islands.
On 9 September 2006, the Coast Guard and NOAA were working together to patrol the remote EEZ adjacent to the US National Wildlife Refuges at Howland and Baker when they spotted the vessel.
A Coast Guard air crew found the Marshalls 210 about 2 miles inside the EEZ and alerted the crew of the 225-foot Coast Guard buoy tender Walnut based in Honolulu, which eventually managed to intercept the vessel with the intent to board.
Walnut’s crew chased the vessel for four hours until the Marshals 201 slowed down enough for the buoy tender to place itself alongside. The crew went on board the vessel and corroborated the illegal fishing operation.
The Marshalls 201 was escorted to Guam, over 1,200 miles away, to be charged in a federal court. The vessel had fished 110 tonnes of tuna that day.
The US Attorney’s Office for the District of Guam filed a forfeiture complaint against the Marshalls 201 based on two violations of the Magnuson Act on 4 October of that year.
The vessel owner paid the USD 500,000 for one of the violations.
In cooperation with the country in which the vessel was registered, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the owner will permit US authorities to supervise its fishing through an installed vessel monitoring system (VMS) for a period of three years.
The vessel owner also agreed to organise drifter data buoys in remote areas of the central Pacific during its fishing trips over the next five years to participate in NOAA’s “Global Drifter Programme.” This information will vastly improve the area’s data used to map surface currents, surface temperatures, and other data.
It’s the first time NOAA has utilised participation in the Global Drifter Programme as a term for settlement in an enforcement action.
“Enforcement in the remote waters of the US Pacific islands is essential to the management and sustainability of fish and other ocean resources throughout the Pacific,” said Leonardo M. Rapada, United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.
By Natalia Real
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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