TIM eMagazine Vol.3 Issue 11
Oceana Investigation Keeps One of the World’s
Largest Fish Factory Vessels on Illegal, Unreported
and Unregulated Fishing List
C
hina, Panama, Cook Islands Found Non-Compliant
Following an investigation by Oceana, the
South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management
Organization (SPRFMO) decided to keep the
fish factory vessel Damanzaihao (now named
Vladivostok 2000) on its list of illegal, unreported
and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels, and issued
warnings to China, Panama and Cook Islands for
providing assistance to the vessel. The SPRFMO’s
Compliance and Technical Committee found that
these three countries 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.
“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.”
Oceana investigated the Damanzaihao’s movements using Global
Fishing Watch’s mapping platform, which harnesses cutting-edge
technology to empower anyone to investigate global fishing* activity in
near real-time, for free.
“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,” explained Liesbeth van der Meer, executive
director of Oceana Chile. “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.”
The Vladivostok 2000 (formerly named Damanzaihao), currently flagged
to Moldova, is one of the world’s largest vessels with a history of changing
names and reflagging to different countries. Originally designed as an
oil tanker measuring 228 meters, the vessel was rebuilt to function as a
one-stop-shop fish processor, with the ability to store, freeze, process and
transfer fish. According to a New York Times article, the vessel (named
Lafayette and flying a Russian flag when the article was published in 2012)
can process up to 547,000 metric tons of fish each year “if it operated
every day.”
Timeline of Likely Vessel Activities Based on Oceana’s Review of Global
Fishing Watch Data and SPRFMO Sources
• February 6, 2015: Damanzaihao is listed on the SPRFMO IUU List.
• July 6, 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.
oSPRFMO regulations say that member country vessels should
not assist in any way vessels on its IUU List
• July 13, 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,
Trawling
Vessel
Credit: wikimedia.org
“a private company working inside the harbor refueled the vessel
without authorization by the Port Authorities...”
oSPRFMO 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
• September 12, 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.
oSPRFMO 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.
• January 19-21, 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.
*Any and all references to “fishing” should be understood in the context
of Global Fishing Watch’s fishing detection algorithm, which is a best
effort to determine “apparent fishing effort” based on vessel speed and
direction data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) collected
via satellites and terrestrial receivers. As AIS data varies in completeness,
accuracy and quality, it is possible that some fishing effort is not identified
and conversely, that some fishing effort identified is not fishing. For these
reasons, Global Fishing Watch qualifies all designations of vessel fishing
effort, including synonyms of the term “fishing effort,” such as “fishing” or
“fishing activity,” as “apparent,” rather than certain. Any/all Global Fishing
Watch information about “apparent fishing effort” should be considered
an estimate and must be relied upon solely at your own risk. Global
Fishing Watch is taking steps to make sure fishing effort designations are
as accurate as possible.
https://usa.oceana.org/
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