'Ghost ship' washes ashore in Ireland after Storm Dennis

Yahoo – AFP, February 17, 2020

The 'ghost ship' washed ashore in southern Ireland after Storm Dennis lashed
the seas, bringing an end to her months-long voyage (AFP Photo)

Ballycotton (Ireland) (AFP) - A "ghost ship" drifting without a crew for more than a year washed ashore on Ireland's south coast in high seas caused by Storm Dennis, the Republic's coast guard said.

The abandoned 77-metre (250-feet) cargo ship MV Alta ran aground on rocks outside the village of Ballycotton near Cork, Ireland's second city, bringing an end to her months-long voyage.

The Alta's odyssey began in September 2018 when she became disabled in the mid-Atlantic en route from Greece to Haiti.

Her 10 crew members spent 20 days on board the listless ship as it floated 1,380 miles (2,220 kilometres) southeast of Bermuda, before they were taken off by the crew of a US Coast Guard cutter.

At the time the US Coast Guard said it was working with the then Tanzanian-flagged ship's owner to arrange a tug back to shore.

But the question of her subsequent movements then become clouded.

Maritime news site Fleetmon reported receiving correspondence from the alleged owner, saying the ship had been twice hijacked from Guyana in the process of being salvaged.

The next official sighting of the 44-year-old vessel came in August 2019 when British Royal Navy ice patrol ship the HMS Protector found the Alta floating crewless in the mid-Atlantic.

"We closed the vessel to make contact and offer our assistance, but no one replied," according to the ship's Twitter feed.

The Alta's journey ended on the rocks over the weekend as Storm Dennis raged, lashing Ireland with heavy rain and winds up to 110 kilometres (70 miles) per hour.

The Irish Coast Guard said a rescue helicopter was sent to the scene on Sunday but no crew was found.

Cork County Council said Monday there was no sign of pollution spills in the area around the ship and that a contractor would board the vessel at low tide on Tuesday for a further assessment.

"Consultations are continuing between the Irish Coastguard, Cork County Council, the Receiver of Wrecks and other relevant bodies in relation to the future of the wreck," it said in a statement.

Dutch pair charged in Britain after cocaine haul seized from boat

Yahoo – AFP, July 21, 2018

Officers discovered bales of cocaine in a compartment beneath the decking area
at the rear of the vessel, Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said in a statement
(AFP Photo/Erika SANTELICES)

London (AFP) - A pair of Dutch nationals appeared in a British court on Saturday after authorities seized one of their largest-ever hauls of cocaine, aboard a yacht off the south-west coast.

Maarten Peter Pieterse, 59, and Emile Adriaan Jeroen Schoemaker, 44, appeared via video-link at Bristol Magistrates' Court in south-west England charged with drug importation offences.

Pieterse did not enter a plea, while Schoemaker pleaded not guilty.

They have been remanded in custody and are due to appear next in court on August 20.

The two were arrested Thursday after the Netherlands-registered boat that they were travelling on was intercepted by a Border Force cutter 120 miles (193 kilometres) off the far southwestern county of Cornwall.

Officers discovered an estimated two tonnes of cocaine, wrapped in plastic bagging in a compartment beneath the decking area at the rear of the vessel, the SY Marcia, Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) said in a statement.

Its National Maritime Intelligence Centre aided the operation alongside a European analysis and operations centre for narcotics in Lisbon and law enforcement partners in Portugal, France and the Netherlands.

"This is a huge haul of class A drugs, one of the largest seizures of class A ever in the UK, and with a potential street value likely to be in the hundreds of millions," said Andy Quinn, NCA regional head of investigations.

"The criminal trade in drugs is driven by financial gain, and the loss of the profit that would have been made from this seizure it will be a major hit to the international criminal networks involved," he added.

The largest seizure of top category drugs in recent times in Britain remains the April 2015 capture of around 3.2 tonnes of cocaine, which was recovered from the tug boat Hamal, sailing off the coast of Scotland.

Turkish sailors Mumin Sahin and Emin Ozmen were later jailed for at least 20 years following a trial in the case.

US Coast Guard won't 'break faith' with transgender members

Yahoo – AFP, Thomas WATKINS, August 1, 2017

US President Donald Trump's announced ban against transgender people
serving in the US military has sparked protests, like this one in New York's Times
Square last month, as well as headaches for leaders of the armed services
(AFP Photo/Jewel SAMAD)

Washington (AFP) - The head of the US Coast Guard said Tuesday he would not "break faith" with transgender personnel, after President Donald Trump said they would be banned from the military.

In a series of three tweets last week, Trump upended an Obama-era policy of more than a year that allowed transgender troops to serve openly.

His tweeted announcement came with little or no coordination with the Pentagon and landed while Defense Secretary Jim Mattis was on vacation, leaving the astonished department scrambling to come up with a coherent response.

Speaking at a Washington think tank, Admiral Paul Zukunft, who is the commandant of the Coast Guard, said the service had reached out to the 13 Coast Guardsmen who have come out as transgender.

"Very small numbers, but all of them are doing meaningful Coast Guard work today," he said.

The Coast Guard is a branch of the military and generally follows the Department of Defense on personnel matters.

Zukunft said he had read a story in The Washington Post about a young lieutenant who had undergone gender reassignment surgery and was worried about Trump's tweets that transgender troops would not be allowed to serve "in any capacity" in the military.

"I reached out personally to Lieutenant Taylor Miller, who was featured on the cover of The Washington Post last week," Zukunft told the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Taylor's family has disowned her. Her family is the United States Coast Guard. And I told Taylor, 'I will not turn my back. We have made an investment in you, and you have made an investment in the Coast Guard, and I will not break faith.' So that is the commitment to our people right now."

Pentagon awaits guidance

When asked whether Zukunft's comments meant the Coast Guard would disregard Trump's tweets, spokeswoman Lisa Novak told AFP: "Those comments are made by the commandant, and those are his own comments."

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she had not yet heard Zukunft's remarks.

"I know that the goal is to work with all of the relevant departments, primarily the Department of Defense, to lawfully implement that new policy," she said.

In a statement, the Coast Guard said it "follows closely with the DOD on human resources policies. We are currently in contact with them on how those policies may be effected."

Zukunft added that the Coast Guard had stood up a team of military lawyers following Trump's tweets.

In the six days since Trump's tweets, the White House has still not provided the Pentagon with clear directives on how it should implement a transgender ban, so the current policy remains in place for now.

The Pentagon has not been able to say whether Mattis was even consulted about the ban ahead of time or merely informed after the decision was made.

Meanwhile, the Palm Center think tank, which focuses on sexual minorities in the military, published a statement signed by 56 retired generals and admirals.

"This proposed ban, if implemented, would cause significant disruptions, deprive the military of mission-critical talent, and compromise the integrity of transgender troops who would be forced to live a lie, as well as non-transgender peers who would be forced to choose between reporting their comrades or disobeying policy," the statement read.

African nations hail maritime deal

Yahoo – AFP, Emile Kouton with Sophie Bouillon in Lagos, October 15, 2016

A French Navy helicopter chases a boat carrying suspected Somali pirates as
part of an anti-piracy naval mission on May 3, 2009 (AFP Photo/Pierre Verdy)

Lome (AFP) - African leaders on Saturday signed a deal to boost security off the continent's economically crucial coasts, hoping to shore up development by tackling maritime crimes like piracy and smuggling.

Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso hailed the African Union agreement as "historic", while Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said it showed Africa's ability to put together a continent-wide strategy.

Sassou Nguesso said 43 nations had adopted the binding agreement -- which will see countries pay into a special fund for maritime security -- at a summit in Togo's capital Lome.

The deal is designed to improve information-sharing between African nations, a weakness that pirates and smugglers have benefited from in the past, slipping between territorial waters with little trouble.

The talks drew 18 heads of state -- an unusually high figure for an AU meeting of this kind, signalling the importance that governments have placed on the need to cut piracy and other crime in Africa's waters.

As he opened the summit, Chad's President Idriss Deby, the current AU chief, noted that some 90 percent of Africa's imports and exports are transported by sea, making maritime security key to the continent's economic future.

Of the AU's 54 member states, 38 have coastlines.

Deby said the charter would "allow the promotion of commerce and the exploitation of the huge potential of the maritime sector, as well as the creation of wealth and jobs in several industries".

Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso hailed the African Union agreement 

to boost security off the continent's coast as "historic" (AFP Photo/Marco Longari)

It would also "mark a decisive new step in the push to preserve the maritime environment", he added.

The deal will create new national and regional institutions to improve security in African waters, while the signatories pledged a string of measures to protect the maritime environment and fight trafficking in drugs, arms and people.

But Timothy Walker, a maritime security researcher at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), said the deal would allow countries to withhold information from each other if they judge this to be in the interests of national security.

"It's a big step but it can not be the final step. There is still a lot of work to do," Walker told AFP.

Piracy in focus

"African leaders have started to realise that the maritime domain is a source of economic opportunity for the future," Walker added.

Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told AFP ahead of the summit that there was a clear need for African countries to work together to combat an upsurge in piracy in order to make full use of the continent's maritime resources.

Piracy, smuggling and other crimes at sea have cost the African maritime sector hundreds of billions of dollars in recent decades, according to the AU.

Large-scale illegal fishing also helps drive piracy as it depletes stocks, reducing the legitimate economic activities of coastal communities.

Suspected pirates keep their hands in the air as directed by a patrol from the 

guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf, in the Gulf of Aden (AFP Photo/

Jason R. Zalasky)

In West Africa alone, the AU estimates that illicit fishing causes losses of 170 billion CFA francs ($285 million, 260 million euros) every year.

World piracy has been on the decline since 2012 after international naval patrols were launched off East Africa in response to violent attacks by mostly Somali-based pirates.

But the focus of concern has shifted to the Gulf of Guinea, where a new class of pirates -- mostly offshoots of militant groups from the Niger Delta -- have become active.

At least 27 attempted or successful hijackings and kidnappings at sea have been recorded off west Africa since April, according to the International Maritime Organization, compared to just two off east Africa.

The 17 countries lining the Gulf of Guinea have poor maritime surveillance capacities and have been trying for several years to boost cooperation to clamp down on piracy.

The deal will need to be ratified by at least 15 countries before it comes into force, and Barthelemy Blede, an ISS maritime researcher in Ivory Coast, said it remained to be seen whether there was "real will" to make the deal a reality.

"It's a historic act, but it's one thing to adopt a text and sign it, and another thing to ratify it," he told AFP.

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Couple rescued after searchers spot SOS on remote island

Yahoo - AFP, August 28, 2016

A US Navy photo shows two people signalling for help by writing "SOS" in the
sand on August 25, 2016 on uninhabited EasT Fayu Isalnd, Micronesia (AFP Photo)

Wellington (AFP) - Two people stranded for a week on a remote Pacific island have been rescued after a search aircraft spotted their SOS message in the sand, the US Coast Guard said Sunday.

The couple, who had "limited supplies and no emergency equipment", were found on uninhabited East Fayu island in Micronesia by a US Navy air crew, who discovered them on the beach near the makeshift sign, according to the coast guard statement.

The search team was responding to reports that someone on the island was using a flashlight to attract attention when they saw the survivors, the statement said.

"The search and rescue operation for Linus and Sabina Jack has been successfully completed," the US Embassy in Kolonia, Micronesia, posted on its Facebook page.

"Since the island was potentially uninhabited and knowing (they) had a flashlight in their boat, we directed our search aircraft to overfly the island."

A couple, who had "limited supplies and no emergency equipment", have been 

found stranded on uninhabited East Fayu island in Micronesia by a US Navy 

air crew (AFP Photo)

The couple had set out from Weno Island in Micronesia in a five-metre (16.4-foot) boat on August 17, but the alarm was raised when they did not arrive at Tamatam Island the following day as expected.

During the week-long search, the Coast Guard said it used 15 vessels and two aircraft to cover an area of nearly 16,600 square miles (43,000 square kilometres) of ocean.

The couple were picked up by a patrol boat and taken to Nomwin atoll.

Philippines willing to share South China Sea: Manila

Yahoo – AFP, Ayee Macaraig, Karl Malakunas, July 8, 2016

An activist holding a Philippine flag while a Chinese coastguard ship sails
close by at the Scarborough Shoal (AFP Photo/STR)

Manila (Philippines) (AFP) - The Philippines is willing to share natural resources with Beijing in contested South China Sea areas even if it wins a legal challenge next week, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay told AFP Friday.

Yasay said President Rodrigo Duterte's administration hoped to quickly begin direct talks with China following Tuesday's verdict, with the negotiations to cover jointly exploiting natural gas reserves and fishing grounds within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

"We can even have the objective of seeing how we can jointly explore this territory: how we can utilise and benefit mutually from the utilisation of the resources in this exclusive economic zone where claims are overlapping," Yasay told AFP in an interview.

The Philippines, under Benigno Aquino's previous administration, filed in 2013 a legal challenge with a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague contesting China's claims to nearly all of the strategically vital sea.

China's claims reach almost to the coasts of the Philippines and some other Southeast Asian nations, and it has in recent years built giant artificial islands in the disputed areas to enforce what it says are its indisputable sovereign rights.

The Philippines' case enraged China, which repeatedly vowed to ignore the tribunal's ruling and is currently holding military drills in the northern part of the sea as a show of force.

Beijing claims nearly all of the strategically vital South China Sea (AFP Photo)

No provocations

China continued to steam on Friday, with foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei describing the case as "a violation of international rule of order under the cloak of championing it", and state-run media warning Beijing would not take a "single step back" in the dispute.

China has been further infuriated by the United States beefing up its military presence in the waters, with the US Navy Times newspaper reporting that three American destroyers had been sent into the hotspot areas ahead of Tuesday's verdict.

Duterte, who took office on June 30, has adopted a more conciliatory approach to China than Aquino.

The previous president refused to hold direct talks, and likened China's expansionist efforts in the sea to Nazi Germany's march on parts of Europe ahead of World War II.

Yasay signalled on Friday that Duterte would be making no such analogies, emphasising his administration would seek to ensure the best possible relations with China.

"The statements we will be making will be in the pursuit of strengthening our relationship with everybody and will be for the purpose of making sure there will be no stumbling block to our negotiating a peaceful solution to the issue," Yasay said.

Yasay said after the ruling is released, the Philippines would study it closely, discuss it with allies, and then seek to launch talks with China "as soon as possible".

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a country's exclusive economic zone falls within 200 nautical miles of its coast. A nation has sovereign rights to exploit natural resources in that zone.

Beijing has built a runway on the Fiery Cross Reef, which is also claimed by

Vietnam and the Philippines (AFP Photo/DigitalGlobe)

Fish, drill together

Yasay said the Philippines was open to sharing Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone that China took control of in 2012 and has banned Filipino boats from entering.

"The resources there are God-given for all and for everyone to enjoy. We can work at joint benefit in so far as using the marine resources in the area," Yasay said.

Yasay said the Philippines would also consider jointly exploring a natural gas field at Reed Bank, which is similarly within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and far from China's nearest major landmass.

"I think it would be in the pursuit of our national interest to do that and that will be a big step forward if everyone can agree on proceeding on that basis," Yasay said when asked about jointly developing Reed Bank.

Yasay insisted the Philippines would not concede any of its rights in the sea.

But he said the dispute over sovereignty would not be solved for many years, describing it as a "generational issue", and that rival claimants must in the meantime work cooperatively.

Duterte and Yasay met with China's ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, on Thursday. Zhao was seen again at the Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday. 

South Korea vows to get tough with illegal Chinese fishing

Yahoo – AFP, Jung Ha-Won, 7 May 2015

A South Korean coastguard cutter arrives at the country's northernmost

island of Baengnyeong (AFP Photo/Danny Kim)

South Korean fishermen who work the flashpoint maritime border with North Korea tend to be a resilient bunch, but these days a larger, more powerful neighbour is making them lose sleep.

"North Korea is nothing compared to the Chinese fishing ships," said Choi Won-Jin, who has fished the crab-rich waters around his home island of Daecheong for decades.

Daecheong is one of five "frontline" islands whose proximity to the disputed border with North Korea means they are manned by thousands of South Korean soldiers and bristling with artillery units and bomb shelters.

A South Korean coastguard vessel patrols

 near the country's northernmost island of 

Baengnyeong (AFP Photo/Danny Kim)

But all that weaponry has failed to guard against what Choi sees as the biggest threat to the livelihood of the islands' fishing communities -- the "invasion" of Chinese trawlers.

According to official estimates, more than 1,000 Chinese fishing ships illegally accessed exclusive South Korean waters around Daecheong last year, with only four coastguard ships on hand to pose a deterrent.

The numbers have been growing every year as China's increasing affluence and appetite for seafood pushes more fishermen to venture beyond its overfished waters.

Smaller, wooden Chinese ships sneaking into South Korean waters were once tolerated in an area where the top priority has always been guarding against potential incursions from North Korea.

'Nothing left'

But in recent years, the small boats have given way to larger steel trawlers who engage in bottom trawling -- dragging a large, weighted net across the sea floor -- and sweep up "everything in their path," Choi told AFP.

"By the time they are gone, we have nothing left. It's all gone, including our fishing pots," he said.

Around 2,200 Chinese vessels have been stopped and fined by South Korea for illegal fishing in the past four years, and the number of arrested fishermen jumped from two in 2010 to 66 in 2013.

There were only five arrests in 2014, but coastguard officials said that was largely due to all resources being diverted to the lengthy rescue and recovery operation that followed the Sewol ferry disaster in April that year.

Chinese captains are well-organised, said coastguard commando Lee Kyung-Hak, and frequently chain their ships together "like a big floating city" in the event of a confrontation.

Crew members often arm themselves with steel pipes and knives, and have been known to throw burning gas canisters at officers trying to board their ships.

Overwhelming numbers

"We are trying our best to drive them off our territory... but the sheer number of them sometimes feels overwhelming," Lee told AFP.

Under growing domestic pressure to crack down harder on the Chinese fishing 

vessels, South Korean officials have signalled a tougher line with the start of this 

year's fishing season in April (AFP Photo/Danny Kim)

A recent study estimated that 675,000 tonnes of fisheries products were illegally taken from South Korean waters in 2012 by China -- with a value of around 1.3 trillion won ($1.2 billion).

"If anything, the situation has worsened since then," said Lee Kwang-Nam, head of the Fisheries Policy Institute in Seoul who authored the 2014 study.

According to Lee, the undermanned coastguard only manages to seize or arrest less than one percent of Chinese poachers.

"Our fisheries resources are relatively well-preserved thanks to strict regulations... but may face serious shortages if this pace keeps up," he told AFP.

Under growing domestic pressure to crack down harder on the Chinese fishing vessels, South Korean officials have signalled a tougher line with the start of this year's fishing season in April.

"We were greatly outnumbered and overwhelmed by them last year... but we've had enough," said Yun Byoung-Doo, the chief of the Incheon coastguard which guards the Yellow Sea border islands.

Yun said the coastguard would use firearms, including handguns and onboard cannon more actively "if deemed necessary."

China says be 'reasonable'

Beijing's foreign ministry, when contacted by AFP, did not directly comment on Seoul's toughened stance against illegal fishing, but urged it to "enforce the law in a reasonable way, and ensure the safety and lawful rights and interests" of Chinese fishermen.

"China will continue to strengthen the education and guidance for its fishermen," it said in a statement faxed to AFP.

China's increasing affluence and appetite

 for seafood pushes more fishermen to 

venture beyond its overfished waters

 (AFP Photo/Danny Kim)

Two Chinese fishermen have been killed in violent clashes with the South Korean coastguard since 2012, prompting angry protests from Beijing.

Seoul insists the violence is initiated by the Chinese crews and point to the stabbing death of a South Korean coastguard member in 2011 by a Chinese fisherman.

South Korean fishing vessels have not been blameless themselves when it comes to illegal fishing in waters as far away as the seas off West Africa.

But the government has moved to eradicate the practice and South Korea was taken off the US list of countries engaged in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in February, and then from the EU list last month.

The fishermen of Daecheong island hope the government can be equally effective in curbing the illegal activities of the Chinese trawler fleets.

"This is one of the biggest crises I've ever seen on this island," said Kim Neung-Ho, whose father and grandfather also made their living in the waters off Daecheong.

"At this point we're not really counting on them all going away, because that's just impossible," Kim told AFP.

"We just hope that there will be fewer of them. Just a little fewer," he said.

Related Articles:

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US man rescued after 66 days missing at sea: coast guard

Yahoo - AFP, 3 April 2015

A US man missing at sea for more than two months is celebrating a miraculous 

rescue after being picked up by a passing ship and airlifted to dry land, the 

US Coast Guard says (AFP Photo/Greg Wood)

Miami (AFP) - A US man missing at sea for more than two months was celebrating a miraculous rescue after being picked up by a passing ship and airlifted to land, the US Coast Guard said.

Louis Jordan, 37, who was reported missing on January 29, told family members he survived by catching fish with his hands and drinking rain water, according to the Coast Guard.

He was spotted drifting on his stricken sailboat -- a 35 foot vessel called Angel -- approximately 200 miles (322 kilometers) off the coast of North Carolina by the German-registered Houston Express tanker and taken aboard.

A US Coast Guard helicopter then hoisted him to safety back to a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia, a statement said.

Frank Jordan, the sailor's father, told CNN he did not know what had caused his son's boat to break down.

In an audio clip released by the Coast Guard, the father asks the son how he is feeling.

"I’m doing fine now," Louis Jordan says.

'Thought I lost you'

The son said he was not able to fix the boat and sail it back to South Carolina, from where he departed in January.

He said he worried every day that his parents were crying and believed he was dead.

"We were. I thought I lost you," the father says.

US media reports said the boat had capsized and Louis Jordan was found sitting on the upturned hull when he was plucked to safety.

Frank Jordan said his son was in good spirits during a brief conversation with him following his rescue. He told CNN he had not given up hope Louis would be found alive despite his inexperience as a sailor.

"I knew he had a good seaworthy boat," Frank Jordan said. "I felt the boat was going to keep him alive, so I had all sorts of worries because he's not an experienced sailor."

Louis had left the relative safety of the marina where the boat was moored to "go out and catch some fish".

How his son ended up so far off course was unknown, Jordan said.

"I called him at one point a few days after he left land... and he was a few miles offshore. As far as how he got off track, I don't know," he said.

He said his son's "strong constitution" and religious belief had kept him alive.

"He told me on the phone that he was praying the whole time, so I believe that sustained him a great deal," he said.

In an audio recording broadcast on US media, the father thanked the skipper of the German vessel effusively for saving his son.

The captain was not named.

"You are a good man, I swear. You did what you're supposed to do and I sure do appreciate it and I know my son appreciates it," Jordan senior said.

"It is a pleasure for us," the skipper responded.

"This is a beautiful world. If everybody would just do the right thing it would be great for all of us. I sure appreciate it, sir," Frank Jordan said.

The ordeal was certainly severe but probably less tough than the 13 months that Jose Salvador Alvarenga, a native of El Salvador who set out from Mexico on a fishing trip, endured until he was rescued more than 6,000 miles away near the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific in January last year.

Sinking Poachers’ Boats Doesn’t Float With Environmentalists

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, Feb 17, 2015

The detonation and sinking of illegal foreign vessels, such as this Thai-flagged
 boat, has proved popular with the public despite the environmental blowback.
(Antara Photo/Joko Sulistyo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s fisheries minister, Susi Pudjiastuti, has fast become one of the most popular ministers in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet, thanks in large part to her trigger-happy policy of sinking foreign fishing vessels caught poaching in Indonesian waters.

The sinkings began on Dec. 5 when three vessels flying the Vietnamese flag were scuttle off the Riau Islands.

Since then, the minister has been on a crusade, with the Navy behind her, to sink more boats, the most recent being on Feb. 10, when another Vietnamese vessel met a fiery fate in the pristine waters of the Raja Ampat archipelago in Papua.

But while the policy has earned Susi brownie points with the public (a survey last month identified her as the most popular minister in the cabinet), environmentalists are appalled at the gung-ho sinking of vessels, using explosives, in delicate maritime ecosystems.

“The debris of the vessels can end up becoming trash floating around in the sea,” says Arifsyah Nasution, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace Indonesia.

“The use of explosives to sink the boat disturbs and threatens the fish near the location of the explosion — in a way, it has the same effect as using dynamite to catch fish.”

There is also no indication that the Navy properly cleans out the vessels of their highly polluting diesel and bunker oil before sinking them.

“The bigger the boat, the more oil is left over in the tanks, and that oil will contaminate the sea,” says Anton Wijonarno, the manager of the marine protected area for fisheries program at WWF Indonesia.

Both Arifsyah and Anton conceded that there has been little research on the impact to maritime ecosystems of blowing up wooden boats, but say the explosions need to stop, at least for now.

“There should be a discussion among maritime ecosystem experts on this matter as a precautionary approach before the government carries on sinking more vessels,” Arifsyah says.

Anton says the government must consider several factors to minimize damaging delicate ecosystems, such as Raja Ampat, which is an important habitat for manta rays and other rare marine species that flock to its extensive coral reefs.

“Any explosion should be conducted in an area where the water depth is at least 40 meters, not in shallow areas where coral grows,” Anton says.

He notes that while sunken wrecks can and often do serve as artificial reefs in coastal waters, the “excessive use” of explosives by the Navy can end up “destroying the vessels completely, thus rendering them useless as artificial reefs.”

President Joko claims that destroying illegal foreign fishing vessels has proven an effective deterrent against poachers. There are, however, no statistics available on the proliferation of such boats in Indonesian waters before and after the sinkings began to corroborate this.

For her part, Susi claims the government has, through the new hard-line policy, managed to slash the number of illegal vessels operating in the country’s waters by 90 percent — another figure that cannot be independently verified — and prevented them from “stealing the archipelago’s underwater natural resources.”

Greenpeace’s Arifsyah said that no matter how effective the government made the policy out to be, it should still consider sinking boats in the middle of the sea using explosives as an act of last resort.

“There are two other ways: sinking them without any burning or use of explosives, or towing them back to shore and breaking them up and selling the parts,” he says.

13 Chinese fishing boats expelled in Taiwan crackdown

Want China Times, CNA 2015-02-15

Coast guard personnel use high-pressure water cannons to expel
a Chinese fishing boat, Feb. 14. (Photo/CNA)

Taiwan's coast guard has intensified actions to crack down on poaching in the seas northeast of the island, expelling 13 Chinese fishing boats from its waters over the past two days, the Coast Guard Administration said Saturday.

The administration deployed seven vessels, including the 2,000-ton cutter Hsinbei, during the two-day mission around the islets of Pengjia, Huaping and Mianhua, together known as the "three northern islets."

Coast guard personnel used high-pressure water cannons to deter poachers in waters around the islands as it is beltfish season and fishermen are seeking to meet demand in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday next week, according to the administration.

Indonesia Steps Up Fight Against Illegal Fishing With 4 New Ships

Jakarta Globe, Jan 12, 2015

Jakarta. Indonesia will have four new surveillance vessels at its disposal this year to fight illegal fishing in the country’s waters, an official with the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry said on Monday.

“This year, the ministry will strengthen its surveillance force by adding four 60-meter vessels made by the Indonesian Fisheries Inspection Vessel System [SKIPI],” Asep Burhanuddin, the director of the ministry’s Maritime and Fisheries Resources Monitoring Task Force (PSDKP), said on Monday in Jakarta, as quoted by state-run news agency Antara.com.

Asep said that the plan was part of the government’s push to eradicate illegal fishing and other activities threatening the country’s maritime resources.

According to Asep, the four new surveillance vessels will operate in various parts of the archipelago.

“Two will operate in the western region, while the other two will watch over the eastern area —  likely in the Arafura Sea, North Sulawesi waters [both in the east], Natuna Islands and Malacca Strait [in the west of the archipelago],” he said.

According to Asep, the four vessels cost about Rp 238 billion ($18.8 million).

Previously, the Indonesian Air Force said it would buy Russian-designed multipurpose amphibious aircraft to help prevent illegal fishing.

“This Beriev Be-200 Altair is very reliable to monitor aquatic areas. The amphibious aircraft can land on the sea so it can help us catch illegal fishermen,” Marshall Ida Bagus Putu Dunia, the chief of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU), told reporters in December.

Indonesia has recently also scuttled a number of foreign fishing vessels caught in its waters.

Helicopters and lifeboats rescue 25 crew from stricken car carrier in Solent

• Transporter ship ran aground near the Isle of Wight
• Four lifeboats also involved in rescue effort

theguardian.com, Press Association, Sunday 4 January 2015

Coastguard helicopters scrambled to rescue the crew from the stricken car
carrier on Saturday 3 January. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/Guardian

All 25 crew members of a car carrier run aground in the Solent have been rescued by a coastguard helicopter and lifeboats.

The Singapore-registered Hoegh Osaka had just left Southampton for Germany when it became grounded on Bramble Bank near the Isle of Wight at around 9.20pm on Saturday and began listing to one side.

A 50-degree list is never good. Car carrier HOEGH OSAKA tonight in the Solent UK. https://t.co/FRiKhch85L pic.twitter.com/SCaHqbiEFm
— Chris Cavas (@CavasShips) January 4, 2015

HM Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said a helicopter mounted a rescue for the crew while RNLI lifeboats from Yarmouth, Calshot and Cowes were also sent to the scene.

National Maritime Operations Centre commander Steve Carson said: “All of the crew have been accounted for and other then a couple of non life-threatening injuries, everyone is safe and well.”

4 Lifeboats & Helo currently rescuing crew in Solent pic.twitter.com/nidCjquAha
— RNLI Girvan Lifeboat (@GirvanRNLI) January 4, 2015

A statement from the MCA added: “The crew who were on board the car carrier Hoegh Osaka have all now been accounted for. Some were airlifted off the ship by coastguard helicopter and others were rescued from the sea by the three lifeboats that were on scene.”

Three crew members who remained on board the vessel to assist with salvage operations have also been airlifted off the vessel.

A spokesman for the RNLI said: “Currently four RNLI lifeboats from Calshot, Cowes and Yarmouth are in attendance alongside the Solent coastguard helicopter, Southampton patrol and four tug boats, two from Esso and two from Southampton Docks.

“The ship’s crew are being rescued from the water and from on board the stricken vessel, which is at a list of 45 degrees.”

It is not yet clear how the 51,000-tonne vessel got into difficulty.

Carson told the BBC the ship, which was leaving Southampton bound for Germany, had started to list again during the rescue operation.

He added plans for salvage were under way and would not comment on how the ship ran aground.

“The salvage operations have commenced, not the removal of the vessel but the plans for its removal. We will have to wait until daylight to fully assess. The owners have appointed salvage operators and did so quite swiftly.”

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