The South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organization (SPRFMO) will keep fish factory vessel Damanzaihao – now named Vladivostok 2000 – on its list of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels following an investigation by Oceana.
As of 21 January, SPRFMO has also issued warnings to China, Panama, and the Cook Islands for providing assistance to the vessel, an act that has rendered the countries non-compliant with conservation and management measures to combat IUU fishing. Each of the countries has been issued “priority non-compliance” status, a reflection of violations to SPRFMO regulations, the organization said.
SPRFMO’s decision was well-received by Oceana, which has been investigating Damanzaihao’s movements using Global Fishing Watch’s mapping platform.
“Oceana applauds SPRFMO’s decision and views this as an important example of how transparency at sea can help enforce rules that combat IUU fishing,” said Beth Lowell, deputy vice president of U.S. campaigns at Oceana. “With the help of technology, we can see what vessels are doing beyond the horizon and take steps – like Oceana did – to hold the responsible parties accountable.”
The ability to track global fishing activity in real-time, for free, using Global Fishing Watch’s technology has added a whole new dimension to combatting IUU fishing, according to Liesbeth van der Meer, executive director of Oceana Chile.
“If we didn’t have Global Fishing Watch’s technology, we wouldn’t have been able to track this vessel and share this information, and it would have continued operating,” van der Meer said. “This would have been a huge risk to marine ecosystems not only because of the vessel’s huge capacity, but also because of its track record of being on the SPRFMO IUU List and changing names and flags.”
One of the world’s largest vessels with a history of changing names and reflagging to different countries, Vladivostok 2000 (formerly Damanzaihao) was originally designed as an oil tanker measuring 228 meters. It was rebuilt to function as a one-stop-shop fish processor, with the ability to store, freeze, process, and transfer fish. The vessel can process up to 547,000 metric tons of fish each year “if it operated every day,” according to a New York Times article.
Oceana mapped out the following timeline of Vladivostok 2000’s likely movements, up to SPRFMO’s latest decision:
- 6 February, 2015: Damanzaihao is listed on the SPRFMO IUU List.
- 6 July, 2018: Using the Global Fishing Watch platform, Oceana tracked the Damanzaihao leaving Peruvian waters and likely meeting with Cook Islands oil tanker ship Hai Soon 26 on the high seas. According to the SPRFMO meeting report, the two vessels “engaged in transfer activities” as the Damanzaihao was “without adequate fuel.” Also in the report, members noted that this refueling involved “a clear breach” of SPRFMO’s Conservation and Management Measures. SPRFMO regulations say that member country vessels should not assist in any way vessels on its IUU List.
- 13 July, 2018: Based on Oceana’s analysis using the Global Fishing Watch platform, the Damanzaihao entered Panama’s exclusive economic zone, where it remained for three days and according to the SPRFMO meeting report, “received port services in Balboa, Panama.” According to Panama’s comments cited in the report, “a private company working inside the harbor refueled the vessel without authorization by the Port Authorities...”; SPRFMO regulations say that members and cooperating parties such as Panama should prohibit the entry of vessels on the IUU List into their ports and their vessels should not assist in any way.
- 12 September, 2018: Based on Oceana’s information obtained from the Global Fishing Watch platform, Damanzaihao arrived at Port of Dalian in China, and SPRFMO’s meeting report similarly noted that this vessel traveled to Dalian, China. SPRFMO regulations say that members should prohibit the entry of vessels on the IUU List into their ports.
- December 2018: Oceana Chile sent information showing potentially suspicious activities surrounding the Damanzaihao to the SPRFMO.
- 19-21 January, 2019: SPRFMO’s 6th Compliance and Technical Committee Meeting was held in The Hague, where the SPRFMO reviewed all information surrounding the Damanzaihao. The SPRFMO decided to keep the fish factory vessel Damanzaihao (now named Vladivostok 2000) on its IUU List. SPRFMO also found that China, Panama, and Cook Islands were not in compliance with conservation and management measures to combat IUU fishing and issued them a “priority non-compliance” status, which reflects violations to SPRFMO regulations.
