GIFF JOHNSON
Twenty-two fishermen and one fisheries observer were rescued Sunday morning April 14 as their vessel was sinking in the South Pacific.
The FV Marielle, a purse seine fishing vessel owned by the Caroline Fisheries Corporation in Micronesia, put out a distress signal Saturday night after one of its engines caught fire and the boat began taking on water.
Fisheries observer Tupa Taoa on board the vessel put out a distress signal about the vessel Saturday late afternoon. He reported a fire in one engine broke out and while the vessel had no engine power while the crew was working to put out the fire, the vessel took on water, causing the crew to put the vessel’s skiff into the water and get in it, fearing the fishing boat would soon sink.
The Marielle was in Tuvalu waters when it sent out the distress signal Saturday night. The Pan Pacific Foods (PPF) tuna processing company in the Marshall Islands received a call for help from the Pohnpei-based Caroline Fisheries Corporation. PPF operates six purse seiners flagged in the Marshall Islands that were out fishing.
“After receiving the (call) for help, Pan Pacific Foods reported the situation to the parent company, got a positive response, and immediately assigned our tuna purse seiner Jin Hui 18 to the rescue,” said a report issued by the rescue vessel Sunday morning. Pan Pacific Foods is part of a China-based fisheries company.
When the Jin Hui 18 received the directive to assist the Marielle, its huge net was in the water mid-way through a set, loaded with tuna. “In order to save time, the captain decided to release the fish in the net,” said the report. It took about four hours to reel in the large net and then the Jin Hui 18 headed to the last known position of the Marielle in Tuvalu waters, said the ship’s report.
The Jin Hui arrived at the location transmitted by the vessel the night before at about 6am Sunday. “The Marielle was found to be flooding and sinking, and all the crew were on board skiff waiting for rescue,” said the Jin Hui’s report. The Marshall Islands-based purse seiner quickly rescued the 22 crew. No one was injured despite the engine fire and the slow sinking of the fishing vessel.
“Vessel is either sunken or partially sunken,” said Carline Fisheries Corporation Manager Marko Kamber Monday. The details of the vessel’s condition were “not yet confirmed” as of Monday, but the damaged vessel was abandoned Sunday morning as it listed, deep in the water.
The FV Marielle had been fishing for a month and was reported to have 500 tons of tuna on board.
Several hours after the dramatic Sunday morning rescue, the Jin Hui transferred the 22 crew members and the fisheries observer to the vessel Nivaga3, which took the rescued crew to Funafuti, the capital of Tuvalu, for repatriation by plane.
The crew is made up of one from Mexico, two from Croatia, seven from Philippines, 12 Micronesians and the independent fisheries observer from Papua New Guinea, according to PPF Manager Wanjun “Young” Yang, who assisted his company’s vessel with the rescue.
The FV Marielle was 57 years old, built in 1967. It was the second oldest purse seiner registered in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission’s vessel register. Its owner, the Caroline Fisheries Corporation, estimated its value at $4 million.