Taiwanese fishing vessel delivers 22,000 litres of fuel to Manihiki
On Easter Monday a Taiwanese fishing vessel delivered 22,000litres of fuel to Manihiki.
The lack of a regular shipping service in the Northern Group has seen overseas fishing vessels being requested to deliver fuel supplies in the north.
Andrew Johns (AJ) of the Ministry of Marine Resources told the Herald on Tuesday morning there was no set policy or policy directive covering the handling of fuel shortages in the north. He would be contacted by the Island Secretary who also involved the Prime Minister’s Office and MOIP, for help. AJ would then see if there was a fishing vessel in the vicinity of the island and if it could supply fuel from its fuel tanks.
The concerns says AJ are that islands are running short of fuel because of the lack of a regular shipping service, also the pressure on Marine Resources in being diverted from marine related work and the lack of a policy for dealing with the issue.
AJ said Marine Resources is not involved in Customs matters and payment issues.
AJ said last week the fishing vessel “Grace” delivered 4,000litres of fuel to Manihiki. The request was initially for 5,000litres.
On Easter Monday at 8.30am, the Yuh Yow (of Taiwan)Fishing Company’s transshipment vessel Yuh FA No 201 delivered 20,000litres of fuel to Manihiki for the Island Council (about two months supply) and an additional 2,000litres for Manihiki Police.
The Yuh FA is 55metres long and is able to carry 250,000litres of fuel in its tanks.
The Yuh FA parked 1 mile out from Tukao and the barge went out and the fuel was unloaded by pumping it from the vessel’s fuel tanks into two 1,600litre tanks and four 200litre tanks. The job was completed by 1pm. AJ said the Captain parked the vessel out from Tukao because he thinks the Captain was not familiar with those waters.
The Yuh Yow company has 15 boats licensed to fish in our EEZ. It also has two transshipment vessels licensed to operate in our EEZ. Their job is to refuel fishing vessels at sea and take on board frozen fish for shipment back to Fiji or Pago canneries or fresh fish to Rarotonga where Yuh Yow supply a local fish processing plant that exports the catch mainly to the USA. Both these vessels carry an observer from the Cook Islands Ministry of Marine Resources. Corey Fisher was aboard the Yuh FA at Manihiki.
On Tuesday morning the Herald contacted the Prime Minister’s Support Office CEO Edwin Pittman to confirm if a policy on the use of fishing vessels to deliver fuel is being considered and at time of going to print at 9pm on Tuesday evening, no response had been received. -Charles Pitt

Herald Issue 608 21 March
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