MAJURO, Marshall Islands (9 June 2003) -- A Majuro-based shark fishing company is expected to be hit with a substantial fine for violating the terms of its fishing agreement with the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority, MIMRA deputy director Glen Joseph said Thursday. All five Edgewater Fisheries Inc. shark fishing vessels were recalled back to port for inspection, following allegations of illegal fishing at Jaluit and Bikini atolls. Scuba dive operators provided fisheries enforcement officials with video footage of and eyewitnesses to Edgewater longline vessels fishing close to the reefs of Bikini and Jaluit — fishing specifically prohibited in its two-year-old contract with the Marshall Islands. The closest Edgewater vessels are allowed to fish is 12 miles from islands in the country. Dive operators have reported a huge decline in shark populations at both atolls and blame Edgewater vessels for the damage that they say is reducing the tourism attraction of these islands. After 10 days of investigations, a decision has been reached to fine the company, and MIMRA director Danny Wase is expected to issue the fine notice in the next few days, Joseph said. Edgewater is a Hong Kong-registered company that established a base in Majuro two years ago. It is fishing for the entire body of sharks but the fins of the sharks are the extremely high value item in the Asian market, where they sell for hundreds of dollars per pound. Edgewater's vessels will not return to fishing operations until the Marine Resources Authority board wraps up its annual review of Edgewater's fishing contract and decides whether or not to renew the pact for a third year, Joseph said. Bikini Atoll's local government is pressing the government for action against Edgewater. Jack Niedenthal, Bikini Atoll's trust liaison, says that fines for illegal shark fishing are not enough. He says the company's license should be revoked. | | Bikini Sen. Tomaki Juda has called on the government to terminate Edgewater's license to fish for sharks in this central Pacific nation's waters. Juda said that reports from Bikini's divemaster show "our shark population at the world famous Shark Pass has been devastated by the Edgewater Fisheries company." Edgewater manager Jimmy Ng said earlier this month that while Edgewater vessels have been in the vicinity of Bikini they were only drifting and not actively fishing. Eyewitnesses, however, provided ship names, hull numbers and other identification to fisheries officials. Juda says that Bikini officials have caught Edgewater vessels near Bikini on three occasions since last year. "Bikini Atoll's Shark Pass had the largest known population of gray reef sharks anywhere in the world," Juda said. "Shark Pass was featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine in 1995, and on the Discovery Channel's opening broadcast for Shark Week in 1998, where they spent in the neighborhood of $3 million for the broadcast: many local companies benefited from this project. We have been in negotiations with Al Giddings, a world famous underwater cinema photographer, to do an IMAX movie about the sharks. Now, this project will probably not occur." SOURCE - Marianas Variety |
