By MIKE LOEWE
Three guilty Chinese skippers who slipped unnoticed out of East London port on Thursday turned off their vessels’ tracking devices soon after departure.
The vessels departed under a cloak of official silence, despite being chased down and arrested in the full glare of the public by navy and fisheries patrol vessels on May 15.
The arrests took place during a public furore over rapacious illegal trawling off the Eastern Cape coastline, especially in Wild Coast marine protected areas.
Yesterday keen-eyed angler Murray du Plessis, of the Border Deepsea Angling Association, said: “The last tracking signal was received at noon and then no further signal.”
He said Fu Yuan Yu 7881 was heading into the shipping channel south of Madagascar “which is their route home, or they will rendezvous with allies on the high sea. I have no idea as to the position of Fu Yuan Yu 7880”.
He said the vessels’ AIS trackers showed they left port at 7am on Thursday and by midnight were 140km to the north-east, which is roughly off Cwebe nature reserve.
Yesterday the whistle-blowing role played by the public was acknowledged by Daff spokeswoman Bomi-kazi Molapo who said: “We urge all South Africans to continue to report any suspicious fishing activity in our EEZ (exclusive economic zone).”
However, Du Plessis cautioned fellow anglers to not make false reports.
“Okes must not drink a ton of beer and report seeing an illegal vessel and then it comes around the point and it is a sailing ship.”
Hein Engelbrecht, writing on the vocal and popular Salt Fishing South Africa Facebook site, yesterday posted that only one of the vessels had its tracking device on.
Last week, the vessels’ skippers pleaded guilty in an East London court to illegally entering SA fishing waters and disobeying lawful instructions.
Yesterday, East London Transnet port authority responded via corporate affairs head Terry Taylor saying: “All communication regarding these vessels has been coordinated through Samsa, (SA Maritime Safety Authority), Daff (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) and the Hawks.”
The Dispatch’s regular shipping notice published yesterday on page 2 reported that the trawlers sailed from berths F and G “to China at 8am”.
Samsa spokesman Sicelo Fayo said the departure delays were caused by “a poverty of communication between the ships’ agents and the principals (owners). They needed to sort out their oil discharge system. They had tampered with it and there was a threat of oil spillage.”
Waste oils had to be discharged into a tank onboard “not overboard”.
Molapo said all Daff fines were paid “in full”.
The exercise was a success and there were no new cases.
She said: “The department will continue with its working relations with other law-enforcement partners as well as the concerned communities to deal with this challenge.”
Hawks East London spokeswoman Captain Anelise Feni said they were monitoring the vessels “via satellite and their own vessel tracking system”. — additional reporting by Brendon Brown/ mikel@dispatch.co.za
Trawlers depart for home
Three guilty Chinese skippers who slipped unnoticed out of East London port on Thursday turned off their vessels’ tracking devices soon after departure.
The vessels departed under a cloak of official silence, despite being chased down and arrested in the full glare of the public by navy and fisheries patrol vessels on May 15.
The arrests took place during a public furore over rapacious illegal trawling off the Eastern Cape coastline, especially in Wild Coast marine protected areas.
Yesterday keen-eyed angler Murray du Plessis, of the Border Deepsea Angling Association, said: “The last tracking signal was received at noon and then no further signal.”
He said Fu Yuan Yu 7881 was heading into the shipping channel south of Madagascar “which is their route home, or they will rendezvous with allies on the high sea. I have no idea as to the position of Fu Yuan Yu 7880”.
He said the vessels’ AIS trackers showed they left port at 7am on Thursday and by midnight were 140km to the north-east, which is roughly off Cwebe nature reserve.
Yesterday the whistle-blowing role played by the public was acknowledged by Daff spokeswoman Bomi-kazi Molapo who said: “We urge all South Africans to continue to report any suspicious fishing activity in our EEZ (exclusive economic zone).”
However, Du Plessis cautioned fellow anglers to not make false reports.
“Okes must not drink a ton of beer and report seeing an illegal vessel and then it comes around the point and it is a sailing ship.”
Hein Engelbrecht, writing on the vocal and popular Salt Fishing South Africa Facebook site, yesterday posted that only one of the vessels had its tracking device on.
Last week, the vessels’ skippers pleaded guilty in an East London court to illegally entering SA fishing waters and disobeying lawful instructions.
Yesterday, East London Transnet port authority responded via corporate affairs head Terry Taylor saying: “All communication regarding these vessels has been coordinated through Samsa, (SA Maritime Safety Authority), Daff (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) and the Hawks.”
The Dispatch’s regular shipping notice published yesterday on page 2 reported that the trawlers sailed from berths F and G “to China at 8am”.
Samsa spokesman Sicelo Fayo said the departure delays were caused by “a poverty of communication between the ships’ agents and the principals (owners). They needed to sort out their oil discharge system. They had tampered with it and there was a threat of oil spillage.”
Waste oils had to be discharged into a tank onboard “not overboard”.
Molapo said all Daff fines were paid “in full”.
The exercise was a success and there were no new cases.
She said: “The department will continue with its working relations with other law-enforcement partners as well as the concerned communities to deal with this challenge.”
Hawks East London spokeswoman Captain Anelise Feni said they were monitoring the vessels “via satellite and their own vessel tracking system”. — additional reporting by Brendon Brown/ mikel@dispatch.co.za
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