TARAWA – A Marshall Islands-flagged Taiwanese purse seine fishing vessel, Marshall 203, has paid a whopping $US2million ($F4.27m) in court fines and donation to the Kiribati Government for illegal fishing activities in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA) on June 23.
Based on the vessel tracks extracted from the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS), the vessel was confirmed to have fished along the borderlines to the South-West of the PIPA area and into the PIPA area approximately 104.8 nautical miles to McKean Island.
A report from PIPA said the vessel was chased for four days and was finally arrested on June 29 by Kiribati’s only patrol boat RKS Teanoai.
The Marshall Islands-based Central Pacific Fishing Company which owns the Marshall 203 has also made a special goodwill arrangement with the Government of Kiribati.
