Fishy business. The Social Impact of SST.pdf - Act Now!

Daniel and I met at the Sepik Coastal Agencies Head Office before 8.00 AM. After waitingfor 30 minutes Chauka brought us down to the wharf and instructed a motor boat headingfor the same destination (fishing vessel) to take us. We joined Justin a Guard DogSecurity Guard going in for his shift on the ship.From a kilometer away from the ship I saw many canoes surrounding the vessel transferringfish to the mother boat and I inquired what they were doing. The skipper replied that thelocals were fishing. He said they are also staying around to collect any fish if they fell off inthe sea and also waiting around for the crew to give them by-catches. We were helped ontothe vessel about 9.30 AM and the Observer on board explained our presences on the ship tothe crew and the Captain as students observing what they were doing as part of their schoolresearch. The Captain and a Chinese who managed some broken English and communicatedmainly through sign language. The Captain accepted our visit and asked for some soup tobe served to us. It was a little spicy but very delicious. Trying very hard to scoop the solidsin the soup Daniel and I gulped it.The Observer showed us around the ship. He took us to the main machine room which isequipped with all kinds of electronics. The vessel is equipt with all kinds of radio andcommunication systems, compasses, GPS, 4 powerful binoculars and others I understandvery little of. One of the equipments that interested me the most was the scanner. Thescanner has the capacity to detect fish especially tuna migrating or moving around some1000-2000 nautical miles. The vessel specializing in tuna would read very carefully of thedirection of tuna and would move accordingly to lower their net which covers 150 squarekilometer.They use purse netting method of fishing which means that anything that is within the 150square km range will be caught and pulled onto the vessel. They then select what they wantto take and dump the others they called by-catch. They also bring some of these by-catchesoff shore so they could transfer on the mother boat if they will. Nearly all the by-catchwould have been dead before they are chucked back into the sea.The Observer who said has traveled on many fishing vessels said many fishing vessel dosomething illegal such as catching protected species such as dolphins, whales, sharks andmany others. The onus and the responsibility is on the Observer to report it or hide it. Thereare big temptations for this job because they would offer very big sum of money to shut youup. He said if they take you to some Asian countries they will take you to some exclusiveclubs and brothels and offer you all kinds of lucrative and luxury you can’t afford in PNG.He said there are cases where some PNG Observers went too far where they were offeredprostitutes and money. There was another case where a Samoan was offered US$ 1.2million. In any of these cases Observer Officer would be prosecuted under the FFA andinternational Fishing Laws that they operate under.We went into their living area which looks generally clean. They have a clean small kitchenwhich would fit about 20 people which I think was the size of the crews present on thevessel. Their sleeping areas looked exceptionally clean with two double bunkers per room.They have six rooms. There showers and toilets didn’t looked filthy. Smelt fishy and dirtyon the floor.We went to the back of the vessel where it rolled up the 150 square km net. It also has aboat they use to stretch out the net if they are to lower the net and two other boats hanged104