Sydney –

Vanuatu police and officials said that after local police inspected six Chinese fishing boats, they found that six Chinese fishing boats violated Vanuatu’s fisheries laws. The fishing boats are the first U.S. Coast Guard vessels to patrol Vanuatu waters.

The violations included failing to record catches in logbooks, a fisheries official told Reuters, noting it was the first time in years that police had inspected a Chinese vessel fishing in Vanuatu’s exclusive economic zone before offloading the catch. to other countries.

A Reuters review of ship registration details and company filings showed that police said one of the Chinese vessels that violated the law belonged to the Chinese state-owned Zhongshui Distant Ocean Fisheries Company, which has a joint venture called Sino-Van with the Vanuatu government.

Yakar Silas, chief monitoring, control and surveillance officer of the Vanuatu Fisheries Department, said penalty notices will be sent to several Chinese companies and their local agents in Vanuatu.

He said most violations were committed by Chinese fishing fleets that fished in Vanuatu waters but were stationed overseas.

“The patrol has the opportunity to inspect foreign vessels that fish in Vanuatu waters but do not enter the port and unload their catch to foreign ports such as Fiji,” he added. “They are all Chinese vessels.”

The Chinese embassies in Vanuatu and Fiji, where some Chinese ships are based, did not respond to requests for comment.

Huasheng director Zhang Junwei said in an email to Reuters that Vanuatu Prime Minister Charlotte Salwai “supports the Huasheng project.” He added that the CNFC vessel depicted in the US Coast Guard photo does not belong to the company’s Vanuatu branch.

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Harriet Lane patrolled waters off Vanuatu for the first time last week. Last year, a Coast Guard vessel patrolling for illegal fishing was denied entry to a Vanuatu port.

China is Vanuatu’s largest external creditor, and Beijing and Washington are vying for influence and security ties in the strategically important Pacific island region. Political instability in Vanuatu last year led to the resignation of two prime ministers within weeks.

A decade ago, CNFC formed a joint venture with the Vanuatu government, promising to open a local tuna cannery and bring more revenue to the local economy in addition to license fees from foreign fleets fishing in Vanuatu’s exclusive economic zone.

A company director said the cannery has not yet opened and Sino-Van only sells frozen fish to the local market.

Salvai and Chinese Ambassador Li Minggang visited Sino-Van on February 27, a day after the CNFC vessel was boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard and police on February 26.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman confirmed that Vanuatu police boarded one of the six Chinese ships that discovered violations, and it was the CNFC ship “Zhongshui 708”.

“The Government of Vanuatu will be the deciding authority on violations,” a U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said.

Vanuatu Coast Guard inspector Bianca Simon, who boarded the fishing vessel, said half of the vessels inspected had violations. “They didn’t report the catch properly in their catch logs,” she told Reuters.