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The
Rainbow Warrior recently completed a tour of the Russian Far East to
find, intercept and document driftnet fishing operations in Russian waters
- (within the 200 mile economic zone).
Below are updates from the deck of the ship while they toured this remote
region and investigated this little known but
much exploited fishery
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The main objective
of the two weeks designated to work on Russian fisheries is to find, intercept
and document driftnet fishing operations in Russian waters - within the 200
mile economic zone. Onboard we have three Russian fisheries inspectors. The
Rainbow Warrior is officially flying the Russian Fisheries Inspection Flag (a
white flag with a purple dolphin in a blue circle) under the Russian flag. We
are seeking vessels with permits which we can officially stop and inspect to
find out if they are within official limitations (permitted areas, sizes of
nets, by-catch etc.) as well as vessels without permits conducting pirate fishing.
JUNE 10 OFF THE NORTHERN TIP OF ETORHU TO, SOUTHERN KURILS
INSPECTION TEAM
FINES JAPANESE DRIFTNET FISHING VESSEL FOR VIOLATIONS
At 04:50 on the radar screen we sighted four vessels, we stopped in the water
awaiting daybreak. By the time we arrived in the area three of the vessels had
departed possibly due to our presence on their radar. The fourth vessel the
'Umitaka 15' HK1-1296 was a Japanese driftnetter had a permit and responded
to radio calls from the Russian Fisheries inspectors stating it should halt
and allow them to board for inspection. The inspection took one and a half hours
no violations were found by the inspectors.
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Four hours (11:30) later we found a driftnet outside of the legal zone. The driftnet was 8km in length 4km, is the legal limit in the Russian EEZ. Each net has a beacon either end which has markings identifying ownership. We placed two inflatables in the water to check the beacons, no markings were on these beacons.
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The inspectors again boarded the driftnetter this time the vessel was forced to haul the net in. In the net was 34 pink salmon, 543 keta (chum) salmon, 4 king (chinook) salmon, 6 red salmon; in addition a northern fur seal, one shark, and three guillemot birds. The vessel was fined US$32,934 for violations under federal law on wildlife for violations of fishing regulations; the law of the Russian Federation Economic Zone; and breaching a year 2000 protocol on salmon fishing by Russian vessels in the EEZ. The vessel was fishing outside the legal zone, not marking the driftnet and the length of the driftnet exceeded the legal limit. |
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Later the same day we stopped two additional Japanese driftnetting vessels in the same region, inspection teams were sent to each vessel but no violations were found.
JUNE 11 ILLEGAL DRIFTNET HAULED BY RAINBOW WARRIOR
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At 05:30 (it always seems to happen at early hours) the RW sighted a driftnet in the water in an area NE of Etorou To, in an area where fishing is illegal. This area is particularly sensitive as it is between islands where salmon migrate to the rivers of Sakhalin to spawn most of the fish caught were 3-4 years of age. We launched inflatables to check the net which had no markings. Broadcasts were made over the radio in Russian and Japanese no vessels claimed the net. At 06:15 we commenced hauling the net onto the RW. |
| We had modified the winch system for this in previous days but despite our efforts the 4km net took us 12 hours to haul, everyone on deck did an outstanding job. It did mean that the driftnet did not catch further fish or wildlife. There were 1,833 salmon, 4.5 tons, one bird - a crested auklet, and a squid. We released the live fish back to the ocean and have gutted and frozen what fish we can for distribution to worthy causes once back on land. |  |
JUNE 12: OSTROV
RAYKOKE RAINBOW WARRIOR FINDS GHOST DRIFTNET
| Presently we are in the Kuril Islands a dramatic chain of islands spreading from the north of Japan up to the Kamchatka Peninsula. At this moment the Rainbow Warrior is surrounded by tens of thousands of birds, Orca whales, dalls porpoises and we have in view a sea lion colony on the small island of Ostrov Raykoke. |  |
Late today two inflatables were launched for Raykoke Island to document and retrieve ghost driftnets washed ashore. Around 100m from the shore, a ghost net with a series of small buoys connected to the top rope of the net as found floating on the surface of the water. The net is approx. 40 metres and 20m of it was on the surface.The end was connected to an iron poll which is approx. 1m long and the diameter is about 10 cm and was on the seabed. There is skeletons' of 10 small birds, some of which still had some feathers remaining; as well as crabs and small crustaceans.
According to the inspectors, you can always find 3-4 nets like this for every 1 km along the chain of islands from Kunashiri Islands to Paramuchir Islands. The wildlife on Ostrov Raykoke is outstanding. In a few hours we have seen dalls porpoise, sperm whale, Orcas, a colony of sea lions, a variety of bird species including puffins, gulls, fulmars, storm petrels and shearwaters. This island is a crater volcano with mist and snow on its peak.
JUNE 13 SKALY LOVUSHKI MID-KURILS, NW PACIFIC
06:00: We launch two inflatables to the island of to investigate ghost nets. The weather conditions are very foggy with large amounts of kelp in the water, as well as rocks making navigation difficult. We are unable to land but are surrounded by seals, some as close as one metre, as we are a one to two hundred metres offshore.
JUNE 14 RUSSIAN CUTTLE VESSEL CHECK
At 10:00 at 48.37N, 154.40E in the Russian Economic Zone (EEZ) the vessel was not fishing at the time and its hull was high in the water. Two marine inspectors boarded from our inflatable the vessel the 'Paramushir 101', home port Kholmsk on Sakhalin. The vessel although now Russian was built in Japan, the name 'Eiryo-Maru #5' can still be partially read on its stern.
The vessel had no fish onboard and had for 25 days been at sea, they had no license and said they were awaiting one. This year no permission for driftnetting has been issued to Russian vessels this year.
JUNE 15, YANKICHA ISLAND
We launched two of our inflatables to further investigate the fishing debris and ghost driftnets on Yankicha Island. AT 07:00 the inflatables landed at a stony beach on the southern side of the island.
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The lower part of the beach was filled with stones covered with large amounts of sea weed and twisted small shells. The amount of fishing debris on the island was appalling the crew collected what they could and retrieved it to the RW. The island was completely littered with driftnets and fishing debris. |
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On the upper part of the beach where floated logs were laying, we found the first drift net tangled with another net. No fish, birds or animals were seen in the net. Within 1 km along the beach, we found another one small piece of drift net, 3 big fishing net, many ropes, three drums/bins and more than dozen plastic bottles washed up on the beach. The team went further and found lots of fishing nets and buoys but no birds/mammals were seen entangled with it. |
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The crew were met by two polar foxes standing in the middle of a cliff as well as many bird species including northern fulmars, kittiwake, slaty backed gull, guillemot, thick billed murre, horned puffin, pigeon guillemot, ancient murrelet; as well as northern fur seals. This is the only island in the Kurils where the polar fox lives they were brought from Comandor Islands (east of Kamchatka) to the islands by Japanese merchants for the fur industry.
ANALYSIS OF DEAD BIRDS IN GHOST NET
Today on the deck of the Rainbow Warrior we analysed the ghost net we retrieved from the waters off Ostrov Raykoke. The number of dead birds tangled in the drift net was between 10-12. All of them were part of birds' body and none of them were complete.
RUSSIAN FACTORY TRAWLERS INSPECTED AT SPECIALLY PROTECTED AREA - SEA OTTER HABITAT
At 13:40 we found around 18 factory trawlers, all of which we presume to be Russian on the radar. Two were anchored at a sensitive area known to be a breeding ground of the very rare sea otter.
We launched an inflatable with two inspectors onboard to investigate. One vessel had 1500 squid onboard, the other was a vessel to which the cargo was being offloaded. The vessels were located off Ostrov Shimshir. The vessels were the 'Novy Mir' (New World), home port Nahodka and Molodezhny, home port of Vladivostok. The inspection took approximately 90 minutes.
They were both charged under a 1980 law which prohibits vessels to anchor within two miles of the island which is a sea otter habitat. The Kurillian Island sea otter is listed in the international red book as an endangered species. After three such infringements the captain of the vessel may lose his license.
JUNE 16 JAPANESE DRIFTNET VESSEL REFUSES PERMISSION OF MARINE INSPECTORS TO INSPECT VESSEL
Today a Japanese schooner ‘Wakashio 63’ was sighted on the radar by the Rainbow Warrior, at 11.05 a.m. The vessel refused to allow inspectors from the Marine Environment Service to go aboard to inspect their vessel. This was a violation of the Russian legislation.
It’s usual story here, in this region, when the Department of the Russian Border Guard Service, (who place an observer on Japanese vessels) and are responsible for controlling the catch try to conceal any illegal activity of Japanese vessels. The violations of different laws are common practise during the fishing period and we have witnessed a number of these violations already. The Border Guard observer on the ‘Wakashio 63‘ also refused access to the marine inspectors on the Rainbow Warrior.
According to the Russian legislation, the Japanese schooner may be refused the opportunity to get a new license in 2000 and 2001, because of breaking the Federal Law on Wildlife and the Federal law on the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Russian Federation. The captain of the schooner will face other penalties (which are up to current salaries (approx $6,000 USD) because the Codex of the Russian Federation on Administration violations was broken by his refusal to allow inspection by the Marine Fisheries Authorities.
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