FISHING : HOW PNG FISH OBSERVERS ARE 'GOING OVERBOARD'

 

STRANGE DISAPPEARANCES

The serene vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean is a truly majestic creature.

Dotted with palm fringed islands here and there, its beauty is awesome and unimaginable.

Its waters also hold the key to survival for the islanders and ensure their security from domineering outside forces.

Its foamy waves and swirling currents also also hide its dark secrets.

Beyond its boundaries, growing economies are plundering its seas for marine life, and this is coming at a brutal expanse for its fishermen.

None more so than the South Pacific's biggest country Papua New Guinea.

PNG has a huge fisheries stock, of the most prized tuna. To catch it, it has sold licenses to foreign fishing vessels.

To monitor these catches, it puts onboard each Foreign Fishing Vessel (FFV) a trained and recognised Fisheries Observer known in PNG as National Fisheries Officers (NFO).

It is the NFO's job to observe and report on catches in all area of operations.

Hundreds of young Papua New Guinea undergraduates vie for this job but only a few get selected for this busy job, which includes training at the Fisheries College in Kavieng, New Ireland.

Travel, fishing, friendships and storms come with the catch. And therein lies the stormy future of an NFO.

Since 2017, the strange and mysterious disappearances of PNG NFOs onboard FFVs has risen to 18.

It is an enigma that remains unsolved to this day. How do PNG men suddenly vanish from Asian fishing boats in the darkness of the Pacific night?

No-one, not even the captains of the boats, know or care about 'man overboard'. This is an intriguing scenario that causes great pain for relatives of the missing persons.

PNG's Post-Courier newspaper reports that yet another NFO went missing off a FFV recently in the Dogleg Patch in the Coral Sea on August 18.

The Papua New Guinean NFO was said to be on the FV WARI SURAT, said Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources Jelta Wong. 

He says an investigation is currently underway into the alleged disappearance of the man, adding no proper investigations have been conducted into past cases.

“The disappearance of the crew member was reported immediately through the NFA Command Centre on the 18th of August, and a call put out for nearby vessels to assist in the search.

 “National Fisheries Authority was unable to provide assistance as all licensed fishing vessels from the area were in Port Moresby, while NFA Surveillance Operation surface craft were operating too far away to be effective in the search,” Mr Wong said.

 “The nature of the incident is under investigation by PNG police, with support from NFA, seeking to establish the circumstances around the man’s disappearance he added.

 “Further information is being sourced from the missing man’s employer, Wari Surat Fishing Limited.”

An online search shows the Wari Surat fishing company to be a owned by Papua New Guinean Dr Wari Lea Iamo and a certain Surat Hongkoo.

Minister Wong said: “While there is always hope of survival, the prospects of finding this man alive appear slim. On behalf of the maritime community at NFA, I offer our condolences to this crew member’s family.”

The latest case of the missing man has brought back the recent question raised by East Sepik Governor Allan Bird who asked in Parliament a few years back that four Papua New Guineans had disappeared without a trace while out at sea.

At the time Gov Bird said: “It is understood that before [2017] there had been 18 Papua New Guineans lost at sea without a trace or any witness and as far as I know, no one has been found guilty of any foul play and this is strange.”

His question also brought to light the lack of PNG government intervention or inquiry so far into these disappearances and purported murders.