Opinion Article
THE FULL STORY OF A TUNA FISHERMAN TAKEN HOSTAGE
The below story gives a very detailed and precise account of how an employee of a tuna fishing company was taken hostage in order to extort his company for money. The recent hostage taking of 3 Taiwanese vessels in Somalia, and regular reports about corruption and extortion by local fishing officials, shows that unfortunately this incident is just one of many threats that tuna fishing companies can be facing.
I am an employee in TS Marine Pte Ltd,
a Singapore registered company. TS Marine Pte Ltd is the manager of a fleet of 6
fishing vessels in the Indian Ocean, currently registered with the Comorian ship
registry. Our vessels have been operating in the Indian Ocean for the past ten
years and are fully aware of the significance of conservation and optimum
utilization of tuna stocks and encouraging sustainable growth. In this light,
the company has undertaken appropriate measures to be in the positive list of
the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC).
The IOTC is an intergovernmental organization which has been mandated to manage
tuna and tuna-like species in the Indian Ocean and adjacent seas. Its objectives
are to promote cooperation among its members and through appropriate management,
ensure conservation and optimum utilization of tuna stocks and encouraging
sustainable development of such fisheries.
With the view to adhering to the standards established by the IOTC, TS Marine
Pte Ltd was minded to register the vessels with an IOTC member. Comoros was
recommended by a ship registration agent in Singapore. At the time of
registration, the Union of Comoros Maritime Administration and their agents did
not specify that a fishing certificate was required for fishing in the Indian
Ocean though our company had on numerous occasions enquired regarding this
requirement. The company was especially cautious about this International
Fishing certificate because some Flag Administrations like Belize required it,
while others like Equatorial Guinea waived such requirement. In such
circumstances, the Ministry of Fishery and Flag Administration would have
together clearly listed out all requirements and procedures for newly registered
vessels.
After obtaining provisional registration of the vessels with the Union of
Comoros Maritime Administration in October 2004, TS Marine Pte Ltd asked, on
behalf of the owners, the Union of Comoros Maritime Administration to apply to
the IOTC for the vessels to be included under the White List of IOTC. The
Comorian ship registry duly did so. However, in late December 2004, the Union of
Comoros Maritime Administration was informed by IOTC that the vessels cannot be
registered because the vessels had no fishing certificate issued by the Comorian
Ministry of Fisheries. The Comorian ship registry then conveyed the information
to TS Marine Pte Ltd and told them for the first time that a fishing certificate
was required. This was the first time TS Marine Pte Ltd was told of the need for
a fishing certificate.
To my knowledge, such indecisiveness between the two ministries have violated 2
paragraphs of the International Plan of Action (IPOA)-Illegal, Unreported and
Unregulated (IUU) plan, which IOTC had adopted in the IOTC Resolution 01/07
Concerning its support of the IPOA-IUU Plan.
They are:
From paragraph 40, “Although the functions of registration of a vessel and
issuing of an authorization to fish are separate, Flag states should consider
conducting these functions in a manner which ensures each gives appropriate
consideration to the other …… Where such functions are not undertaken by one
agency, States should ensure sufficient cooperation and information sharing
between the agencies ……”.
And paragraph 41, “ A Flag State should consider making its decision to register
a fishing vessel conditional upon its being prepared to provide to the vessel an
authorization to fish …… on high seas ……”.
Notwithstanding the late notice, TS Marine Pte Ltd immediately proceeded to
apply for this certificate from the Comorian Ministry of Fisheries. Despite
numerous faxes and telephone enquiries by TS Marine Pte Ltd with the Comorian
Ministry of Fisheries, TS Marine Pte Ltd did not receive a single response from
the Comorian Ministry of Fisheries. There was an apparent disagreement or
dispute between the Comorian ship registry and the Ministry of Fishery.
Finally, through the recommendation of the Comorian ship registry, TS Marine Pte
Ltd enlisted the help of Mr Daoudou, a Comorian agent, to liaise with the
Comorian government. Following his correspondence with the Comorian government,
our company was invited to send a delegation to Comoros to discuss this issue.
By then, it was already April 2005.
A delegation of three, comprising our fleet manager, Mr E. Shport who is a
Russia citizen, an independent translator, Mr D. Fabien who is a Seychelles
citizen and my good self, a manager and Singapore citizen, traveled to Moroni,
the capital of Comoros. Mr D. Fabien is a managing director at Casamar
Seychelles and is a good friend of Mr E. Shport. The official language in
Comoros is French and Mr D. Fabien, who is fluent in English and French, had
kindly volunteered his services to act as our translator.
After the arrival in Moroni on 11th April 2005, the first sign of
trouble emerged when I was informed by Mr Daoudou that he was unable to join the
delegation because he was too preoccupied with his work in Anjouan, a nearby
island. He sent his “right-hand man”, Mr Said Ali, whom we later found out had
not been briefed on the purpose of our visit and out of job for a month.
The first meeting with the Ministry of Fishery and Ministry of Transport took
place in the afternoon of 13th April. 7 government officials,
including the General Secretary of Fishery, Mr Hamidi Idaroussi, National
Director of Natural Resources, Mr Mohamed Halifa and General Secretary of
Transport, Mr Chakira Moegni were present at the meeting. Without warning, Mr C.
Moegni accused our vessels of illegal fishing in Comoros Economic Exclusive Zone
(EEZ) and claimed that our Flag was suspended on February 7th. This
alleged official suspension was clearly untrue as the ships received their
permanent registration with the Comorian ship registration on 28 March 2005. We
even showed the officials present at the meeting all our permanent Flag
certificates which we had received in March from their own ship registry but Mr
C. Moegni refused to recognize them and could not give any grounds to support
his position.
After some persistent arguments, Mr C. Moegni finally admitted that there could
have been some miscommunication within the Ministry of Transport and the Union
of Comoros Maritime Administration.
I was astounded at how lightly he had brushed this matter aside, especially when
allegations of illegal fishing were serious charges. If the Maritime
Administration had information regarding these accusations, why did it proceed
to issue Permanent Fag Certificates to our vessels in March? The company had
paid a huge sum of money for the Flag administration fees and these allegations
were not raised until the delegation was in Comoros.
Subsequently, Mr M. Halifa opened a file in his hands and claimed that the
Ministry of Fishery had received information from the European Union (EU) and
IOTC that our fleet had conducted illegal fishing in the Comoros EEZ.
We were taken aback by these accusations because our fleet never entered Comoros
waters. Our traditional area of fishing is not more than 6° South and usually
North of the Equator in International waters, while Comoros is located at 12°10
South 44°15 East. In addition, it would be detrimental for our fleet to fish in
Comoros EEZ when none of the masters of our vessels have experience fishing
there. We asked all parties to provide evidence to us so that we could
investigate these serious charges. As a matter of fact, all the 6 vessels in
question are equipped with Purple Finder Satellite Navigation system. This
system is operated from London whereby the position of each vessel is updated
through the internet every four hours and past record of vessels’ locations are
kept in the system and can be easily retrieved. In addition, TS Marine Pte Ltd
can collect all log books from the vessels to verify. Therefore, TS Marine Pte
Ltd was very confident that there was no basis for the Comorian government’s
allegations regarding the illegal fishing charges. Moreover, the delegation had
no mandate to answer to these charges and we were only there to discuss the
issue of the International Fishing Certificates.
To our surprise, they refused to hand us any documents or evidence which they
claimed to have in possession. Finally, Mr H. Idaroussi acknowledged that it was
all a misunderstanding and desired to unlock this stalemate. He made a proposal.
We had to pay a sum of 500,000 to 1.2 million Euros per vessel. As no legal
basis was given for this proposal and no evidence was given by the Comorian
government to substantiate the alleged illegal fishing charges, our company
could not even consider agreeing to the proposal.
The next morning on the 14th April 2005, after corresponding with the
Commissioner for Maritime Affairs, Mr Akram M.Shaikh, I received an email from
him explaining that the suspension in February was only temporary due to a delay
in the Deletion Certificate from the previous Flag Administration. However, the
matter was already resolved and Mr C. Moegni had been informed.
Strangely, on the second meeting during the afternoon, Mr C. Moegni was
conspicuously absent. The meeting was again locked in a stalemate because we
refused to admit to the illegal fishing allegations. Mr M. Halifa asserted that
he had spoken with Seychelles on several occasions and the authorities had
claimed our vessels had constantly illegally fished in Seychelles EEZ. We
frequently and repeatedly requested for all evidence or documents that
substantiated their accusations but we were rebuffed on all occasions.
Exasperated, we ended the meeting by agreeing to discuss with the company
directors back in Singapore and offered to continue this dialogue in the future.
We thought the meeting concluded amicably but it became apparent later that the
Comorian government did not share this same sentiment. The delegation retired to
the hotel, preparing for the trip home the next day.
On the 15th of April after midnight, two immigration officers knocked
on the hotel room of Mr D. Fabien, demanding his passport. Mr E. Shport rebutted
them and they left. On the same day at seven-thirty in the morning, Commissioner
of Immigration, Mr Madi and his colleague arrived at our hotel and requested us
to surrender our passports. We refused to as they had no valid reason to
confiscate our passports. Then, Commissioner of Immigration, Mr Madi threatened
tougher measures against us if we continued to resist. Fearing for our safety,
we succumbed to his demands but insisted on following him back to the
immigration office.
Our Comorian lawyer, Madam Harimia Ahmed Ali, arrived at ten and proceeded to
the General Secretary of Security, Mr C. Moegni’s office. She was initially
informed that our passports would be held by the security department till 18th
April, pending investigations on our national security clearance. However, after
the second confrontation, she was told that the two ministries were unhappy with
the progress of our meetings and insisted that we sign a document admitting to
the charges of illegal fishing. Without hesitation, we refused to heed such
preposterous demands.
Mr D. Fabien did manage to get his passport back the next day but that was
probably due to the fact that he was not an employee of TS Marine Pte Ltd.
However, it was not a smooth sailing affair as Mr C. Moegni had initially
resorted to locking himself up in his office, refusing to meet Madam H. Ahmed
Ali.
It did not surprise us when we were refused our passports on the 18th
of April. Both Mr E. Shport and I were ordered to court the next day (19th
April) to answer charges made against our company, TS Marine Pte Ltd for illegal
fishing. The court hearing itself was a farce, with the Ministry of Fisheries
alleging that TS Marine Pte Ltd had not registered the 6 vessels as fishing
vessels (which was not true), and also that the vessels had fished illegally in
the Comoros EEZ. The Ministry of Fisheries also claimed that a fine of 3
million Euros was payable though they never provided the Court or ourselves with
any evidence or any legal basis to support their allegations or to support such
a fine.
However, the court declared that it was not competent to hear the charges as we
were not the directors of the company and were not authorized to answer the
charges on behalf of the company. It was clear that if there were really any
such charges against TS Marine
Pte Ltd, the Ministry of Fisheries
should have served the court papers on the company at their address in Singapore
and the Ministry of Fishery was not entitled to hold the employees hostage. We
were not required to stay back in Comoros to represent the company in any claim
or prosecution filed by the Ministry of Fisheries. The hearing was not even
adjourned.
Despite the outcome of the court hearing on 19th April, the
immigration authorities refused to return the passports to us. That was
particularly frustrating as the General Secretary of Security, Mr C. Moegni, had
earlier indicated to our lawyer that court order of 19th April 2005
was sufficient to discharge our passports. When pressed with the required
document in hand, our lawyer was informed that he would now require a letter to
be issued by the General Secretary of Fishery, Mr H. Idaroussi, giving
permission for the release. This clearly does not address the issue that the
passports are the state properties of the respective governments of Singapore
and Russia and other countries have no rights to impound the passports without a
court order. The retention of our passports was therefore without any legal
basis under Comorian law and against diplomatic procedures.
On 28th of April, after numerous attempts in getting the Ministry of
Fisheries to issue the letter, Madam H. Ahmed Ali, together with another
distinguished Comorian lawyer we have engaged, Mr Fahmi Said Ibrahim, commenced
a law suit against the Ministries of Security and Fisheries by an application
known as Référé Voie de Fait and requested the passports to be surrendered at
the hearing itself.
At the second court hearing on the 29th of April, the lawyer for the
Ministry of Fisheries, Mr Sidi, professed that the Ministry had no knowledge we
were still stranded in Moroni, while the General Secretary of Security, Mr C.
Moegni, maintained that he had not received instructions from Ministry of
Fisheries to release our passports. The judge ordered the passports to be
surrendered to the Court. Only then were we able to catch a flight back to
Singapore on the same day.
This unfortunate incident has greatly diminished my confidence in the Comorian
government. On hindsight, the invitation from the Ministry of Fishery was
clearly a ploy to hold the employees as hostages and forcing them to consent to
fabricated allegations against the company. When that failed, they resorted to
prevent us from leaving indefinitely till we succumb to their demands. During
that period of time, both the Russian and Singapore Ministries of Foreign
Affairs had protested and demanded reasons from the Comorian government for our
detention. The response from the Comorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was slow
and dilatory. Such barbaric actions amount to clear violation of our human
rights.
Members of the Comorian Ministry of Fisheries had used the IOTC and the EU to
launch allegations of illegal fishing against TS Marine Pte Ltd. I find this
extremely disturbing because the main objectives of IOTC are to ensure
conservation, optimization and sustainable development of tuna stocks in the
Indian Ocean. EU is a huge funding member of the IOTC and also pursues the same
objectives. TS Marine Pte Ltd is fully aware of the importance of these
objectives and has taken all steps to follow these practices.
If the IOTC and the EU have evidence of any allegations of illegal fishing
activities carried out by our vessels in Comoros EEZ, as claimed by the Comorian
Ministry of Fisheries, it would only be fair and reasonable for the IOTC or the
EU to submit such proof in a court of law or at least to notify us of their
allegations and invite our responses. They would not hide behind a small African
state like the Comoros and manipulate such state to do their bidding? This would
only be true if the EU has vested interests in the IOTC in removing all
competition in the Indian Ocean. This suggestion sounds preposterous to me
because the IOTC and the EU are huge organizations and would never stoop to such
low levels. I refuse to believe this is the case.
Alternatively, it could well that small member states like Comoros are making
use of IOTC and the EU to exact bribes and financial payments.
To address this issue, there should be greater transparency regarding
dissemination of information from IOTC so that no one party can have the
opportunity to exploit the IOTC for their own selfish purpose. To prevent any
member country from abusing its authority, IOTC should also implement an
unambiguous set of regulations dealing with any allegation of illegal fishing by
any person. Such regulations must include a clear and transparent procedure
providing for all allegations to be supported by proper evidence, and also that
any allegations and supporting evidence must be given to the accused person so
that the accused person has a fair and timeous opportunity to defend itself.
Such procedure must be binding on all IOTC members.
Sadly, there is no international legal regime or international court system
permitting individuals or companies to commence actions for damages against
foreign governments for wrongful detention of foreigners or violation of human
rights. This is distressing since victims might not have recourse to a fair
trial in the event of wrongful detention by a foreign government whose sole aim
is to hold them hostages till a ransom is paid.
The last issue I wish to address is that of human rights. United Nations, the
United States of America and even the EU have always been staunch supporters of
human rights and are quick to condemn any nations that violate these rights. I
sincerely hope that members of the IOTC, especially the EU (since it is so
frequently mentioned by the Comorian authorities), will condemn the actions of
the Comorian Ministry of Fisheries if the IOTC or the EU did not provide the
Comorian government with any allegation of illegal fishing by any ships managed
by TS Marine Pte Ltd in Comoros EEZ.
Respecting the rights of a human being is the most basic principle of every
civilized person. Any disregard or contempt of human rights is an outrage to the
conscience of mankind. If no appropriate mechanisms exist, how could an
individual rebel against tyranny and oppression without being protected by the
rule of law?
If such provocations are left unpunished, would there be any guarantee that
these acts of human rights violation would not occur again to anyone?
The name of the writer - who was taken hostage - is known with the editor of atuna.com
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