Correspondence
Email sent to two contact addresses for Zhoushan Hongpu Ocean Fisheries Co. Ltd.
The email said that The Outlaw Ocean Project's investigation into the Chinese squid fishing fleet found that, since 2018, squid fishing vessels owned by Zhoushan Hongpu Ocean Fisheries Co. Ltd. have had transmission gaps and one, called the Hong Pu 16 (弘普16), was detected fishing illegally inside Argentina’s exclusive economic zone. Crew from another squid fishing vessel owned by Zhoushan Hongpu, the Pu Yuan 898 (普远898), have said that an Indonesian crew member died on board in 2018. The email asked for comment.
A representative from Zhoushan Hongpu Ocean Fisheries replied by email, saying: “Our company has always strictly complied with the relevant conservation measures of various regional fishery management organizations, and with international marine conventions. On 4 May 2020, Argentina confirmed that the positional coordinates of the ship Hong Pu 16 was at latitude 42°12′48′′ south and longitude 58°10′54′′ west. Between Argentina and our company, we disagreed over the determination of markings on the oceanic map of an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles. Our company accepted the penalties meted out by Argentina and paid all the fines to Argentina on 11 June 2020. This incident was fully resolved on 27 June.
In 2018, while the ship Pu Yuan 898 was entering a Peruvian port for ship repairs, an Indonesian crew member, Mustafa Waleulu, passed away from an illness. After reaching the Peruvian port, Ruiyang Shipping Co Ltd handled the air transportation of the deceased back to Indonesia and other relevant matters. Zhoushan Peide Labour Services Co. Ltd. handled the follow-up matters. Our company then handled all other related matters in accordance with the contract and other agreements, and fully completed everything in July 2018."
The Outlaw Ocean Project replied to Zhoushan Hongpu Ocean Fisheres, with follow-up questions: "Thank you very much for your email and for replying to our questions. Regarding the deceased crew member of the Puyuan 898 (普远898), Mustafa Waleulu, can you provide any further details about his illness? What symptoms did he have before his death? Was he seen by a doctor or given any medical treatment on board the Puyuan 898? Separate to the issues concerning the Hong Pu 16 (弘普16) and the Pu Yuan 898 (普远898), we have found that the Hong Pu 17 (弘普17) and the Jin Hai 866 (市金866) had gaps in the transmission of their Automatic Identification System (AIS) in 2020 and 2019 respectively. Does Zhoushan Hongpu Ocean Fisheries Co. Ltd. have any explanation for these gaps? Thank you again for your time in answering our questions."
A representative from Zhoushan Hongpu Ocean Fisheries replied by email, saying: “While the fishing vessel was entering Peru for ship repairs, Indonesian crew member Mustafa (Mustafa Waleulu) started displaying symptoms of appetite loss and swelling in both of his legs. As medical support on board the ship was limited, we attempted a long-distance telemedicine consultation but could not determine his medical condition accurately. He had to be sent to a hospital on land for treatment. The vessel accelerated to the Peruvian port, but his condition rapidly deteriorated, and unfortunately he passed away.
The AIS of our company’s fishing vessels are all operating normally. Furthermore, our country’s regulations and performance requirements for fishing vessels are much higher than the prevailing standards of relevant regional fishery organizations. If you have any more questions in future, please contact the relevant departments of my country.”