Revista Pesca diciembre 2014

PERU FUELS CONTROVERSY AS PACIFIC ANDES’
FACTORY-SHIP TRANSSHIPS IN SOUTH PACIFIC
September 17, 2014, 9:00 am
Eva Tallaksen
Pacific Andes’ mothership Damanzaihao — until recently
known as Lafayette — is once again stirring controversy in the
South Pacific jack mackerel fishery.
Satellite data obtained by Undercurrent News shows the factory-vessel
has been most likely transshipping for jack mackerel
since mid to late August, despite having no authorization
— or at least so it appears — to take part in the fishery
from relevant authorities.
Vessel tracks from satellite images show the vessel — which
changed its flag from Russia to Mongolia andthen Peru in mid
July — has been in international waters off the coast of Peru
from mid June to mid August, and then off the Chilean coast
since at least Aug. 23.
Fishing for jack mackerel and taking part in new or exploratory
fisheries in those waters is managed by the South Pacific Regional
Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO).
A fishing industry source, using AIS satellite tracking,
told Undercurrent Damanzaiho has been offloading catch from
four jack mackerel catchers in the area including Pacific Champion,
Pacific Hunter, Enterprise and Liafjord.
“Parlevliet and van der Plas has two boats there, Unimed Glory
(owned by Laskaridis) has two and Shanghai KaiChuang Deep
Sea Fisheries (SKFC) has three vessels. So, many see what is
happening,” said this source.
Satellite images obtained by Undercurrent support this. AIS
data from Marine Traffic service, to which we had access for a
few days in early September, clearly showed the mothership
amid a group of fishing vessels including the four above catchers
off Chilean waters.
Vessel tracking data supplied by a second source traces the
vessel’s trajectory off the coast of Peru and then Chile since
June 12.
Asked for comment, SPRFMO’s executive secretariat
told Undercurren that Damanzaihao — which doesn’t
fish, but transships and processes other vessels’ catches —
has not received authorization to take part in the fishery, neither
for fishing nor transshipping.
The authorization needs to be granted by its new flag-state
Peru, which is a cooperating non-contracting party to
the SPRFMO. Under the flag-state duties of the convention,
Peru has to notify the secretariat of any vessel it authorizes
to take part in the fishery 15 days prior to the vessel’s
entry into the SPRFMO zone.
The flag state is also required to monitor the fishing vessels
registered to fish and report their activities on a regular basis,
including monthly catch reports and monthly transshipment
reports. The fishing vessels are also required to have onboard
observers that report to the flag state for 10% of the time operating
in the SPRFMO convention area. The SPRFMO itself
does not monitor vessels in the convention area, at least yet.
Pacific Andes told Undercurren that Peru granted an authorization
for Damanzaihao to take part in the SPRFMO fishery on
Aug. 15.
“Our understanding is that the vessel is authorized as we were
copied on a letter from de Peruvian government on August 14,
2014,providing the vessel details to the SPRFMO,” Geoffrey
Walsh, spokesperson for the company and its Hong Kongbased
fishing subsidiary China Fishery Group,
told Undercurrent on Sept. 15.
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