The CCAMLR IUU listed vessel Yangzi Hua 44 has changed name to Wutaishan Anhui 440
Unconfirmed information suggests that the Yangzi Hua 44, IUU listed by CCAMLR, has changed name to Wutaishan Anhui 44.
The Wutaishan Anhui 44 was last seen at 0528 GMT on Tuesday 24 April 2012 at position 07°50’south, 102°59’east, heading 052° at 11 knots. That indicates that the vessel was on her way to Singapore or some other port in the area. The vessel seems to be flagged to Tanzania with Zanzibar as home port. The new call sign is 5IM488. The call sign and home port can be seen in the pictures below. The vessel is, as is common for IUU vessels, attempting to hide name and home port under a fishing net.
You can read more about the history of the vessel here.
Poacher Ray in Luanda for 12 days0
The toothfish poacher RAY, ex Kily, Constant and Tropic is in Luanda and has been there for the past 12 days. In March, the TM Foundation noted that the IUU listed vessel “Kily” had changed name, flag and owner. The vessel transmitted the name “Ray” and flag “Belize” from its AIS in Singapore harbour.
The vessel is IUU listed by CCAMLR, therefore also IUU listed by SEAFO. Since Angola is a member of SEAFO, the country is obliged to take action.
To see the vessel’s history of name, flag and owner changes see the vessel sheet in the TM combined IUU vessel list.
Mozambique and Liberia cooperate in the fight against illegal fishing0
Mozambique suspends the license of Spanish flagged purse seine vessel F/V DONIENE for illegal fishing in Liberia’s waters. Proof of illegal fishing by the F/V Doniene in Liberia has been found after an inspection of the vessel was carried out by the Ministry of Fisheries in Mozambique following an excellent example of cooperation between the governments of Liberia and Mozambique.
In January 2011, the Minister of Agriculture in Liberia, the Hon. Florence A. Chenoweth declared a moratorium on large pelagic fisheries that lasted until 1st of April 2011. However, no tuna vessels have been licensed to date by the Liberian Authorities, so in September 2011, when Stop Illegal Fishingin cooperation with the TM Foundation presented evidence that suggested that a number of Spanish and French flagged tuna vessels were fishing illegally in Liberian waters, Liberia realised they needed to take action. Stop Illegal Fishing consequently briefed Mozambican authorities about the possibility of an IUU vessel coming to port in Mozambique.
The Doniene requested entry into port in Nacala, Mozambique, at the beginning of April for a pre-fishing briefing and inspection prior to receiving a fishing license under the present Fisheries Partnership Agreement (FPA) between the European Union (EU) and Mozambique. Based upon the existing information and on-going investigations, the Minister of Agriculture in Liberia, Hon. Florence A. Chenoweth requested assistance from the Ministry of Fisheries in Mozambique, whom she asked to detain and inspect the vessel on their behalf. Copies of evidence of its illegal activities in Liberia’s waters were also included in this communication.
The Doniene was initially issued a license to fish in Mozambique’s waters pending the Spanish Government’s commitment to provide the results of its investigation to Mozambique within the set time. However, further new evidence on the case from both Liberia and Norway arose, and in consideration of this evidence and the magnitude of alleged gross illegal fishing by several Spanish vessels in Liberia’s waters, the Mozambique Ministry has suspended the fishing privileges of the Doniene effective immediately, until the case is resolved between Liberia and Spain.
The stand taken by Mozambique in carrying out the inspection in support of the investigation is a strong example of continental cooperation between two coastal countries to combat IUU fishing in Africa.
Read the article from SIF here
Read more about Illegal Fishing in Liberia here
Spanish superseiner accused Of Ilegal Tuna Fishing In Mozambique Channel0
A superseiner owned by Inpesca has been fined Euro 1.2 million for fishing illegally in Mozambique waters, according to Mozambique’s Ministry of Fisheries.
Mozambique authorities inspected the purse seiner, Txori Argi, in Nacala port on March 18 and discovered it did not have its fishing license for the area on board, nor did it send the mandatory report, that details its catch aboard the vessel, prior to entering the region. The vessel had in excess of 1000 tons of fish on board. Since the Friend of the Sea (FOS) website lists Inpesca as certified sustainable, this charge could possibly hurt this status. Inpesca is one of four companies that make up Pevaeche, the first company in Europe to have their tuna vessels in the Atlantic Ocean certified by FOS since Sept. 2010.
Txori Argi has been operating in the northern part of the Mozambican Channel since the start of the 2012 purse seine fishing season. In addition to fishing in the Atlantic Ocean (from Mauritania to Angola) and the Indian Ocean (from the east African coast to the east of Indonesia), Inpesca will be extending its fishing activity to the Pacific Ocean “in the not too distant future,” according to its website. All five of its purse seiners are authorized to fish in the IOTC region.
Sources:
Press article, ATUNA, 20 March 2012
http://www.atuna.com/news.html
Web site Inpesca
http://inpesca.com/inpesca/dm/
Toothfish poacher leaves Singapore as “Ray” – enters the Indian Ocean as “Constant”0
IUU listed vessel Kily transmitting the name "Ray" in Singapore, March 1st
The IUU listed vessel Kily (the name under which she is IUU listed by CCAMLR) was spotted leaving Singapore a week ago transmitting the new name RAY through its AIS signals. The global register of ships IHSF consequently updated its records to show vessel name “RAY”.
The aim of these frequent flag changes is to avoid being recognized as the IUU listed vessel when entering ports. All members of CCAMLR, the international body managing fishery resources around the Antarctic, are required to refuse IUU listed vessels access to ports. The vessel was put on the CCAMLR IUU list for fishing without a license in the southern Indian Ocean in 2006, then with the “Tropic”. The vessel has subsequently changed name to Constant, Kily, Ray and now possible Constant again. Although what the vessels’ registration papers say may be different from what is painted on the hull.
Thus, when the international ship registers had updated the vessel information with the new name “Ray”, the captain changed the AIS signal back to the old “Constant”
IUU listed vessel Kily entering the Indian Ocean transmitting her old name "Constant" through her AIS
