International group Greenpeace has listed fishing vessels owned by at least two Filipino fishing companies as among those allegedly involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the tuna-rich Pacific seas.
In its newly-updated online database of fishing vessels involved in IUU or pirate fishing, Greenpeace said it has placed vessels owned by TSP Marine Industries and Frabelle Fishing Corporation on the “IUU blacklist.”
“These Philippine-flagged tuna fishing and fish carrier vessels were found pirate fishing by Greenpeace in the international waters of the Pacific earlier this year,” the group said.
TSP Marine Industries is owned by the family of General Santos fishing magnate Domingo Teng, while the Navotas-based Frabelle Fishing is considered one of biggest fishing companies in the country.
Greenpeace’s IUU blacklist is reportedly the first fully public, one-stop, independent record of fishing vessels, support vessels and companies involved in pirate fishing.
The new Greenpeace database supplements the IUU database launched in 2007, which contained only those pirate fishing vessels officially blacklisted by regional fisheries management organizations and governments.
Lagi Toribau, Oceans Campaigner of Greenpeace Australia-Pacific, said they launched the blacklist to coincide with the 4th session of the Technical Compliance Committee meeting of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia.
He said the meeting is focusing on discussions regarding the increased regulation of tuna fishing in the Pacific, where pirate fishing of the regional tuna stocks is reportedly rampant.
“Transfer of fishing catches at sea should be banned and marine reserves created in international waters which are bound by Pacific Island countries, as off limits to all fishing,” said Toribau. “This would close off a safe escape route currently open to pirates illegally fishing adjacent to national waters.”
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