Tonga has successfully received a payment of $500,000 pa'anga from the owners of the Taiwanese fishing vessel FV Chu Huai No. 638 that was prosecuted for illegal fishing in Tongan waters in January.

Peni Vea, the Director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Forests and Fisheries (MAFFF) confirmed today that a $500,000 pa'anga penalty had been received from the Taiwanese.

Tonga was initially seeking $2.5 million in penalties.

In October Tonga's bid to get the owners of the vessel prosecuted and penalised was supported by the members of the Forum Fisheries Agency during the Fourth Regular Session of the Technical and Compliance Committee of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission WCPFC held in Pohnpei.

The FFA said in a statement that the Taiwanese fishing vessel was detected to be fishing in Tonga by a New Zealand P3 Orion aircraft on January 28 this year. Reports indicated that it had been illegally fishing for 13 days between January 15-28.

Chinese Taipei took action by suspending the fishing licence of the vessel for three months, the fishing license of the captain for six months and required him to return to Chinese Taipei for training.

However, the FFA stated that Tonga did not consider this as adequate severity for the violation of its sovereign rights "because as set by article 73 of the UN Law of the Sea Convention, the right to enforce the national law of Tonga should be taken into account."

Fine

"According to the law of Tonga three offences were committed and it amounted to a fine of $2.5 million Tongan Pa'anga."

The Head of the Tonga Delegation Viliami Mo'ale told the gathering that under Tonga's Fisheries legislation, illegal fishing is treated seriously.

"Tonga believes the measures taken by the Chinese Taipei towards the fishing vessel are not severe enough for the offences committed. Our rights to enforce the law with adequate severity under article 73 of the UN Law of the Sea Convention must be respected in this case."

FFA Deputy Director Transform Aquorau said that the FFA supported efforts of it members to use the WCPFC process to pursue its national and regional interests.

"We are pleased to see the regional solidarity of FFA members in backing Tonga's efforts at this meeting and the practical assistance that has been provided by New Zealand as Tonga seeks to list this vessel on the IUU vessel list in the 5th WCPFC session in December in Korea."

WCPFC and FFA members include Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, PNG, Samoa, Solomon Islands Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.