Fiji’s fishing ship graveyard highlights lax Pacific dumping controls

By Harry Pearl, BenarNews

Parts of Suva harbor in Fiji resemble a ship graveyard with more than two dozen rusting and unseaworthy vessels abandoned due to financial problems by their foreign owners and enabled by policy failures.

The ghostly fleet of 25 predominantly Chinese fishing boats has become an obstacle for passing vessels, risks leaking fuel and other toxic chemicals into the marine environment and is an eyesore for the capital's residents and tourists.

Fiji's problem with abandoned boats highlights unscrupulous operators exploiting weak regulations and enforcement in parts of the Pacific, and grey areas in international maritime law, leaving an unknown number of hulks in the region.

Lack of insurance and salvage cover on the boats means local authorities carry the cost of their disposal and clean-up.

Rust-splattered boats are visible from the waterfront in downtown Suva. Some are moored together in clusters of five or six, others lie haphazardly on their side in shallow water near a barrier reef or have rusted to the waterline.

The boats started stacking up in the harbour during the COVID-19 pandemic and "most of them are Chinese," Joeli Cawaki, CEO of the Maritime Safety Authority of Fiji (MSAF), told BenarNews.

Declining catches and cash flow problems were cited by fishing companies for abandoning the boats and the "owners and crew have already left," said Cawaki.

"Some of the owners came forward and said we can fund the scuttling. That is why the number has dropped from 44 to 25 [in the harbor]. A small number were able to sell."

Owners of the remaining 25 boats have simply refused to comply with removal notices, he said.

The cash-strapped MSAF estimates it would cost more than 1 million Fiji dollars (US$170,000) to scuttle all the vessels offshore.

Grahame Southwick, who until recently owned Fiji's largest fishing company, said poor fisheries management in the Pacific was the main cause of the problem.

He blames an influx of foreign fishing vessels from East Asia, especially subsidized boats from China, for "destroying" Pacific stocks and making the industry unprofitable for many private businesses, including his own.

"As catches fell off a cliff, that resulted in these boats all tied up in the harbour," said Southwick, a pioneering commercial tuna fisherman in Fiji, who once had 14 longline vessels, a cannery and close to 1,000 employees.

He estimated about 90-95% of commercial vessels operating in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean - home to the largest and most lucrative tuna fishery in the world - did not have insurance because "fishing operations were unviable."

"Besides, in most cases, it's impossible to find the real owners," he said. "To prevent those problems getting worse, there needs to be a cash bond or insurance for every boat to even come into harbor.

The International Maritime Organization's (IMO) database of registered ships records some of those abandoned in Suva were built almost 50 years ago and have changed ownership numerous times.

Pacific Islands states have some of the largest Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in the world and many rely on fisheries revenue from exports and licensing foreign vessels.

Almost 3,100 fishing boats are currently licensed to operate in the Western and Central Pacific, with China, Japan and Taiwan putting the largest fleets to sea.

"We struggle to look after our own domestic fleet, let alone visitors," said Anthony Talouli, the director of waste management and pollution control at the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program.

"There is a burden of looking after the EEZ that allows an opportunity for those operators that would like to cut corners."

He said the abandonment of vessels represented failure at three levels.

"Responsibility is primarily on the owner," Talouli told BenarNews. "(Secondly) Under the IMO conventions, the flag state is responsible to ensure that the vessel is flagged properly.

"Thirdly, the port state has a responsibility to ensure compliance to those conventions and those codes of practice."

IMO conventions for cargo vessels, oil tankers and cruise liners are stricter than for fishing vessels because they were below the size limitations, he said.

It is unclear how many derelict fishing vessels are strewn across the Pacific, but it was a "cause of concern for many countries," Talouli said, adding they posed an environmental and navigational hazard. Many were made of fibreglass that took decades to break down in landfills, he said.

Suva harbour has long been a dumping ground for fishing boats but the numbers escalated during COVID-19.

Two fishing vessels driven onto a reef in the harbor by tropical cyclone Sarai in 2019 remain aground despite Fiji Ports Corporation's efforts to make the owners salvage them.

The FPC has previously recommended the government legislate for all foreign and domestic ships to have protection and indemnity insurance - known as P&I - and wreck removal cover.

Fiji is not the only country struggling with the issue. At least 11 fishing vessels were abandoned and seized last year by the Samoan government, which is now suing their former owner while it tries to recover costs through the boats' forced sale, the Samoa Observer reported.

Last November, three caught fire at Salelologa Wharf in Savaii and are being removed by salvage companies. The Samoa Ports Authority did not respond to BenarNews enquiries.

A Chinese fishing boat that ran aground on Pocklington Reef in Papua New Guinea in May 2023 has not been salvaged, despite fears of an oil spill and assurances from government authorities, residents on nearby Tagula island confirmed to BenarNews.

The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC), which coordinates fisheries management for the region, does not have specific policies on the disposal of vessels or regulations related to wreck insurance, said executive director Rhea Moss-Christian.

"Since the matter has not been part of any of WCPFC's discussions, it would be fair to say that it's not a high priority for the organization," she told BenarNews in a statement.

"I would expect, however, that it's a high priority for some of the WCPFC members."

Cawaki, from MSAF, said lessons had been learned and regulations were being tightened to ensure vessels would not be dumped again.

"What I see is the lack of internal consultation between MSAF, fisheries and ports," he said. "We need to see that all these vessels are insured. Boats coming to Suva to be based in Suva, they need to be charged a bond.

"We are now working to ensure that all vessels that are registered and operate in Fiji have insurance."

He said it would cost about FJD$40,000 (US$17,200) to scuttle each boat offshore at 1,000 meters.

But because the Fijian government has not allocated any money for clean up, two private companies had been contracted to break the ships down for scrap, Cawaki said.

"What we are waiting for at the moment is for them to clear the scraping sites close to the shore with approval from the environment ministry, then they will say, 'Okay, you can do the scraping'," he said.

One vessel will be sunk at a depth of about 30 meters near a resort as a dive attraction, he added.

Sue Ahearn in Melbourne and Stefan Armbruster in Brisbane contributed to this story.

-This article was first published by BenarNews.