MARITIME M&H | France may have to pay damages to Vanuatu-flagged Chinese fishing vessel -Captain Zheng Kui, 49, spent four months in prison. The Hu Yu 911 was kept wharfside for seven months in New Caledonia whilst the captain was imprisoned. -He said he was fishing in Vanuatu’s territorial waters and respected Vanuatu’s EEZ boundaries. -He was also fishing in the French EEZ, according to the Montego Bay Convention, in the area where coastal waters overlap. -Zheng Kui, was charged in the Caledonian court of first instance and given a fine of 5 million Pacific francs for illegally fishing in New Caledonian waters -The Montego Bay treaty was signed by France when it was brought into effect and France was therefore unable to hold the Vanuatu flagged vessel and will likely have to pay damages. Read more below by Bob Makin. Source: DP The Vanuatu convenience flagged vessel, of Chinese ownership, the Hu Yu 911, has been released in New Caledonia and is legally permitted to go ahead fishing in the area between the two countries where their economic zones (EEZs) overlap. This has been stated in the principal New Caledonian newspaper, Les Nouvelles. The vessel’s captain, Zheng Kui, was charged in the Caledonian court of first instance and given a fine of 5 million Pacific francs for illegally fishing in New Caledonian waters. It was said the vessel was illegally in French waters. The captain then spent four months in prison and part-paid his fine by 27,000 francs per month for the illegal fishing. However, on 1 July he was released by order of the New Caledonian Appeals Court. He was fishing on a Vanuatu fishing licence, apparently available to any foreign owned vessels carrying the Vanuatu convenience flag authorised by the Vanuatu Maritime Services international registry. (This is the New York based organization headed by the MP for Epi Robert Bohn.) [Whilst the judgement makes no pronouncement concerning the Matthew and Hunter ownership dispute, from the map published in Les Nouvelles, these two islands are still considered by the French Government as French territory. The darkest area on the attached map shows the overlapping area of the two countries’ EEZs.] The Hu Yu 911 was kept wharfside for seven months in New Caledonia whilst the captain was imprisoned. Captain Zheng Kui, 49, said he was fishing in Vanuatu’s territorial waters and respected Vanuatu’s EEZ boundaries. Indeed he did. However, he was also fishing in the French EEZ, according to the Montego Bay Convention, in the area where coastal waters overlap. When two countries are in close proximity, both have equal access to the overlapping area, except when there is a bi-lateral agreement covering the “joint” area. There is no such agreement between Vanuatu and France (for New Caledonia or Kanaky). So effectively fishermen from both countries are legally able to fish in this area. The Montego Bay treaty was signed by France when it was brought into effect and France was therefore unable to hold the Vanuatu flagged vessel and will likely have to pay damages. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea applied from 1982 and 165 countries have joined. France now faces the possibility of significant damages to the owners of the ‘Vanuatu’ vessel. That aside, the mariners of the Vanuatu Government vessel Euphrosyne, which first hoisted the Vanuatu flag on Hunter Island in 1983, will this month be presenting the new Vanuatu Prime Minister from Tafea with the last printed French map from Condominium times showing the disputed Matthew and Hunter islands as being part of the New Hebrides Condominium. Vanuatu considers these islands are thus now part of Vanuatu and Tafea. The map concerned contains a topographical representations of Aneytioum, Foutouna and Matthew thereon. It is the last French map in the series produced for “Travaux publics et des transports de la Republique francaise”.
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 23:03:55 +0000
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