Monrovia — A FrontPage Africa's investigation has uncovered that the only Liberian-owned fishing vessel, 'Global 8', was among three vessels impounded by the Ministry of Defense through the Liberian Coast Guard for breaching Liberian fishing law and falling short of safety requirements.
The other vessels were F/W GUO JI 832 and F/W GUO JI 828.
However, a joint inspection team of Liberia Maritime Authority (LiMA) and the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) exonerated Global 8 and the other two vessel of all wrongdoing.
In a communication dated April 15, 2022 to Madam Emma Glasco, the Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA), the Acting Minister of National Defense, Mr. Olando Dickson, Sr. said Global 8 was detected via radar by the Liberian Coast Guard trawling within Liberia Inshore Exclusion (IEZ) on April 10, 2022 at 06 23.
Dickson, in the communication, which copy is in the possession of FPA, stated that, the Liberian Coast Guard immediately boarded the vessel for inspection and compliance. And during the inspection, the boarding party noted multiple violations of Liberia's fisheries and maritime law.
The Acting Minister stated in the letter that, as the relevant authority clothed with the administration and supervision of Liberia's fishery industry, the Ministration of National Defense was officially informing NaFAA of these violations and ordering the Liberian Coast Guard (LCG) to turn over the impounded vessel for NaFAA to authenticate the LCG's report and to subsequently impose relevant fines.
FPA gathered that LiMA and NaFAA constituted a joint inspection team and launched an investigation on April 18, 2022.
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Communicating the team's finding to NaFAA's Director General, the Deputy Director General of NaFAA for Technical Services, William Y. Boeh said the fact that the vessel was found in the IEZ, in no way proved that it was fishing.
On the safety measures, the team outlined series of recommendations. Among them, it called on the owners of the vessel to address all of the issues raised in the previous inspection conducted in February this year before going to sea.
Although the team did not outlined the issues raised during the previous inspection, Boeh stated that the problem of lack of crew documents on the vessel was purely a maritime issue while the problem of alarm on the bridge and engine room has been solved.
However, he added that the pyrotechnic (used onboard the vessel to send distress signal from the crew in danger) on board the vessel is expired but it is due to the fact that it can be renewed internationally.
Meanwhile, when contacted, a representative of the vessel's owners said there were no faults found with the vessel, and the issues raised during the previous inspection have been addressed by management.
The vessel, F/V GLOBAL 8, owned and operated by a Liberian couple, Stanley and Roseline Giah experienced a mechanical fault nearly two weeks ago while at sea and ran aground at the back of Sophie Community in Congo Town.
Since then, the owners and operators have been making a frantic effort in calling on authorities of the marine sector including LiMA, the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority (NaFAA) and the APM Terminals, among others.
