The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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WATERWAYS – Waterfront Business US regrets killing Taiwanese skipper In brief… US Coast Guard calls off search for missing six The United States Coast Guard called off a search on May 13 after spending over a week looking for a group of six youngsters who had been missing off the coast of Kiribati for over a week. The two 19-year-old boys and four girls aged from eight to 14 set out on a 3m canoe towing a smaller dinghy to collect palm leaves for roofing. They were last seen leaving their home village of Marenanuka on the northeastern side of Tarawa atoll on May 6 and are thought to have drifted out of a lagoon into the open ocean. The Coast Guard said a Hercules aircraft spent three days searching. The New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre and a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion also helped look for the group. Kiribati Police had searched the shoreline of atolls in the area, also without success. Fishing rivals played a dangerous game Maritime New Zealand has revealed that trawling gear from two rival New Zealand fishing boats operating in the Southern Ocean tangled during a dispute over the use of foreign-owned charter- fishing boats off the New Zealand coast. The incident occurred about 30km north of the Auckland Islands on March 15. Southern Storm Fishing reported the incident to Maritime NZ, saying a Talley's Fisheries boat, the Amaltal Explorer approached its boat, the FCV Oyang 77, and "shot" its net from the starboard side. Maritime NZ documents obtained by The Dominion Post show the Amaltal Explorer then veered through the Oyang 77's wake. The nets from the two boats collided under water and the Amaltal Explorer lost an otter board from the outside of the net. Maritime NZ investigator Dominic Venz said the authority found both vessels were engaged in fishing at the time, so both had equal rights with regard to giving way. Nelson lawyer Martin Logan, who is acting for Southern Storm Fishing, said his client had denied any liability for the losses. A spokesman for Talley's, Tony Hazlett, confirmed the incident but said he could not comment further. He said Talley's supported the ministerial inquiry into foreign fishing charter boats in New Zealand waters. "New Zealand fishing resources should employ New Zealanders." WASHINGTON "REGRETS" THE killing of a Taiwanese skipper who died in crossfire when the United States Navy attacked Somali pirates who had seized his boat, a detailed report into the incident said. The report, delivered to Taiwan's foreign ministry by the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy, described how Wu Lai-yu, the captain of the 80 tonne fishing vessel Jih-Chun Tsai 68, was killed by ammunition fired from a US ship. "As a result of its investigation, the US Naval Forces Central Command concluded that Wu had been killed inadvertently by ordnance fired from the US frigate USS Stephen W Groves," the report said. The frigate was operating under a NATO-led counter-piracy task force during an operation on May 10 against the fishing boat. Somali pirates had used the Jih-Chun Tsai 68 for over a year to launch attacks against civilian vessels off the Horn of Africa, the report said. Wu was a hostage on the ship. Members of the US operation found Wu's body in the cabin and buried him at sea on the ship, "which was unseaworthy after the exchange of fire and was sunk". Taiwan's foreign ministry, upset it was not immediately notified of the skipper's death and the sinking, had earlier requested the US to explain the incident. LONGLINER IN TROUBLE IN SOUTHERN OCEAN A NEW ZEALAND boat longlining for toothfish in the Southern Ocean was under tow on July 26 after an engine failed near Australia's Macquarie Island. The 45m FV Janas was under charter to New Zealand Longline, a joint venture between Sealord and Talley's. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said her crew were trying to repair the engine in increasingly difficult seas. They were all safe. Her crew radioed a distress signal from her position south of Macquarie Island early on July 25. The captain said her main engine FV Janas had broken down and they needed help before a storm came through. The Royal Australian Navy said its Antarctic research and supply vessel Aurora Australis got a line onto the Janas late in the day and was towing her to a sheltered area close to the island. The 18-year-old Janas was launched in the Soviet Union as the Kapitan Kartashov. Kiwi fishing threatens toothfish AN AMERICAN BIOLOGIST says commercial fishing of toothfish is threatening the future of the Ross Sea. David Ainley, writing in the journal Pacific Ecologist, says New Zealand is the largest fishing nation taking toothfish from the region. Using statistics from the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, Ainley said New Zealand took 1301 tonnes of the 3617 tonnes per annum of toothfish taken from the Ross Sea. The fishery had operated for 12 years, with five to 20 "industrial- level" vessels yearly, Ainley said. 48 Professional Skipper September/October 2011 "Incredibly, this remarkable and dynamic ecosystem is still almost wholly intact." As sharks were largely absent, the predatory toothfish played a key role in the ecosystem. Toothfish (Dissoctichus mawsoni) grow up to 2m long and fetch around US$70 per kilo. "Over a million of these large, carnivorous fish are now gone, along with 1000-year- old sponges ripped up in the longlining process," Ainley said. "An increasing group of scientists feel this fishing has to stop." See www.lastocean.com