Thai authorities have prohibited the landing of more than $7 million USD worth of tuna from the South Korean fish carrier Sun Flower 7. The action was triggered by unusual ship tracks seen in Starboard Maritime Intelligence which prompted further investigation by Francisco Blaha, a leading fisheries adviser. In an international collaboration, Blaha passed his analysis to the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) and the Thai authorities, when it was clear the Sun Flower 7 was headed to Bangkok.
The track of the Sun Flower 7 looked like it was deploying drifting fish aggregating devices (FADs) in the northern part of Kiribati’s EEZ and the adjacent high seas. Such activity would be in violation of the vessel’s licensing conditions 1. Once the vessel indicated it would arrive in Bangkok, Thailand’s Port State Measures (PSM) regulatory framework kicked in. This allowed investigation by Thai authorities in collaboration with the Kiribati Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development. As a consequence, the vessel was denied port use and escorted out of its waters.
“Francisco found the unusual zig-zagging pattern in November last year and let us know that this could indicate FAD deployment. This is noteworthy behaviour so we have been identifying and flagging these tracks in Starboard,” says Andy Hovey Chief Product Officer, Starboard Maritime Intelligence.
Stopping IUU fishing requires international collaboration. PSM frameworks are a crucial component of this, as they prevent vessels engaged in IUU fishing from using ports to land their catch.
“Since the vessel wasn’t going to offload its cargo to a port in the Pacific, it was initially harder to intervene, but when realising that the vessel was going to Bangkok… I sent all the info I had, and I knew they would pick up on it,” says Blaha.
Tools such as Starboard that provide long track histories, analysis of vessel behaviour, and the capability to share analysis facilitate international collaboration. In this case Blaha, EJF, and Starboard’s staff all used the platform to analyse the same unusual ship tracks.
“I have maintained good relationships in Thailand since working there substantially in 2016 on Port State Measures. This includes a very clever and committed Thai-English colleague working with EJF. I have been communicating with them throughout the whole process, particularly, in terms of providing operational know how to discredit some of the excuses the vessel captain was providing,” says Blaha.
The use of drifting FADs is regulated by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission via conservation and management measures. FADs make fishing more efficient, saving on fuel and other expenses, but they have come under increased scrutiny for the catch of juveniles, bycatch of non-target species, and the potential of masking overexploitation when operating in the high seas. As a result, some ecolabels only grant their certification to tuna catches not associated with drifting FADs, and some large retailers are marketing their tuna as FAD free.
“Providing maritime domain awareness for fisheries monitoring, control, and surveillance has been a focus of Starboard. We are now ingesting fishing authorisations from the 13 regional fisheries management organisations that cover most of the world’s oceans. Importantly, we want to facilitate the sharing of information amongst all fisheries experts; this case is a great example of how the sharing of analysis and expertise has a real impact,” says Hovey.
Learn more about how Starboard is the common operating picture for the maritime world.
