POHNPEI, Federated States of Micronesia (STPNS) -- On August 5, four days after they were lost in the open Pacific Ocean, the deputy mayor of Oneop of Chuuk and three other passengers (see The Kaselehlie Press, Vol. 6, Issue No. 17) who were adrift in the Pacific Ocean said that they motored with reserve fuel to a place within 40 feet of a fisheries support vessel which according to court documents is alleged to have been the vessel Hai Shun.  Crew members according to an affidavit from Mr. Tender Haser Ricky Sach ?stood on her side and looked down on them.?  As they tried to ask for help the ship steamed away from the hapless castaways who spent another 29 days at sea.



A cooperative and intensive search involving the FSM National Police, the US Navy, the US Coast Guard, and Chuuk Police departments was conducted.  After a full week of search and the absence of any sign of the boat or the drifters, the search was called off. According to the FSM National Police Press Release the cost of the search was reported to be in the vicinity of one million US dollars.

The Chuukese castaways were rescued in waters off Majuro by a Chinese fishing vessel.  Ritako RickySach, wife of Tender and fellow castaway said in a phone interview, that vessel also nearly left them but turned around and came back for them.

On Tuesday, November 21, the FSS Micronesia, one of the Pohnpei based Pacific Class Patrol Boats under the command of Lt. Kodak David, boarded Hai Shun, which is registered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  The vessel was boarded in the vicinity of Sapwuahfik (Ngatik) Atoll approximately 80 miles south of Pohnpei in the FSM and was escorted to the port of Pohnpei on suspected fisheries violations.  The Hai Shun was apprehended based on information from the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) aboard the Hai Shun that the vessel was in violation of FSM laws.

As of last year VMS must be in use at all times on fishing vessels within FSM waters.  VMS are electronic devices that utilizes Automatic Locator Communicator (ALC) and  Global Positioning  System (GPS) tracking to pinpoint the journeys of vessels utilizing an.  Information from the VMS is downloaded to a computer  located  at the Police Maritime  Wing Headquarters in Pohnpei.  Officials say the information is held in strict confidence in order to protect the proprietary commercial interests of a vessel?s company and owners.  Locator information is strictly used for monitoring and enforcement and only shows a vessel when it is in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the FSM or in waters where the FSM has agreements.  When a VMS is switched off or has a malfunction within the EEZ, National Police in Pohnpei know about it because a computerized alert is issued.  An alert showing that the Hai Shun had switched off their VMS caused the scramble to Sapwuahfik to intercept the ship.  It alleged that the ship?s VMS may have been switched off several times for extended periods during recent voyages through the FSM?s EEZ.

RickySach on November 9 gave National Police Officers a description of the vessel that abandoned them in the open ocean which matched the description of the Hai Shun.  In the course of the investigation into the suspected fisheries violations, officers discovered, in the ship?s log book, information that corroborated the story that Rickysach had given them.  Master of vessel Zhang Xiaohui was charged on November 29th with failure to render assistance to persons in distress within the FSM Exclusive Economic Zone.

The Hai Shun received a permit to operate in the FSM as a fisheries support vessel on June 20.  The permit requires a vessel to operate within the boundaries of FSM law when in FSM waters.  Zhang Xiaohui faces a penalty of $100,000 and/or one year in jail if he is convicted of the offense.  It is not clear whether the passengers of the abandoned vessel will additionally have civil recourse for the alleged abandonment.  None of the National Government officials we spoke to could remember a similar prosecution any where in the world saying they are extremely rare.

The vessel ?Hai Shun? is owned by Hua Heng Refeer Company (a member of the China Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association), and was licensed as a carrier vessel in the FSM by Lianoning Foreign Trade.

It?s not clear how often Micronesians or other Pacific Islanders are abandoned by vessels fishing or supporting fishing within the FSM EEZ when they are adrift which happens frequently.  Nemensio Sardis was a Chuuk State Police Officer in 1986, when he and his wife Susan were adrift in the open Pacific Ocean for a period of seven days.  During the time they were adrift, Sardis says they came into contact with fishing vessels throughout the EEZ.  He said they had contact with at least 10 vessels during their trial at sea.  The description he gave sounds more like dozens.  He said that whenever their small open boat came near a fishing vessel sometimes in groups of three or four, each one of the vessels left them to their own devices.  Even when the contact was at night and by flashlight they were left.  The message seemed to be clear then, ?deal with your own problems, we?re busy making money.?  Nemensio said that he was ?really lucky? because their open boat drifted within sight of Onari, an island approximately 100 miles from where they started in Chuuk and that there was enough fuel left to motor there.  

Larry Adams said that in 1997 the crew of one of his fishing boats was set adrift with no radio when they used their emergency batteries to try to start the engine which they failed to do.  There was no battery to power their radios or the GPS.  The crew of 8, consisting of Koreans, Filipinos, and Kiribati, drifted for 10 weeks and was found in Palau waters.  The crew had already been presumed to have been dead.  Adams said that during their drift the crew came into contact with a Chinese fishing vessel that steamed away and made no attempt at rescue.  He said that he didn?t know that charges against the vessel could have been made or he would have asked for them to be made.

Royal Australian Navy officials say not all fishing vessels leave  stranded Islanders when they encounter them at sea.  This year there has been a number of Kiribati islanders who have been rescued by fishing vessels in FSM waters and brought into port. .

Colonel Pius Chotailug, Chief of FSM Police issued a strong statement:

?This matter is one of the most deplorable and disturbing incidents I have ever had to deal with during my 21 year career as a Police officer.  All Pacific islanders should be justifiably concerned when visitors to our islands who we welcome in partnership abuse our trust by breaking the law.  What is even worse is failing to render the most basic humanitarian assistance to our islanders in obvious need at sea and this should be condemned very strongly.  This is a very clear breach of not only national and international law but it is a fundamental obligation of all mariners to render assistance to one another in distress.?  

?All mariners should take heed that the FSM Maritime Law Enforcement authorities will not tolerate breaches of our maritime law and as we have done in this case, take quick and effective action to locate, track  and apprehend anyone or any vessel  who breaks the law.?

?This matter has been a very positive example of inter-agency cooperation between NORMA, FSM Justice Department, National Police and Pohnpei Ports Authority but also with significant assistance and cooperation with the Forum Fisheries Agency, The United States Coast Guard and the Australian Navy Maritime Surveillance Adviser to the FSM  for which we are very grateful indeed?.

At press time the Attorney General?s office was in the process of researching whether or not charges could be filed against the vessel itself for the VMS violations.  The question seems to be whether or not fishing support vessels are required to utilize a VMS within FSM waters or whether the law applies just to fishing vessels.