“Animals are treated better” than the way fishermen are treated in the American Samoa Territory declared District Court Judge John L. Ward II, and he was “extremely concerned” about it after he made sure a Chinese fisherman had a place to stay and wasn’t going to receive any type of retribution from his employer for refusing to go on a fishing vessel because of its deplorable conditions.

After last week’s hearing in American Samoan court, the Chinese man, Shi Zuong Liu, will return to China next week, declining to accept a three-year contract to work as a fisherman on one of the longliners that fish for the canneries.

The longliner left Wednesday without Liu who refused to go on the vessel after arriving here the day.

Liu, who is sponsored by Samoa Packing, was taken into police custody, apparently for safe keeping Wednesday but an Immigration warrant was issued for his arrest.

Liu’s court-appointed attorney Assistant Public Defender Debra Bright said Liu described the fishing vessel as deplorable. He was to work in the freezer section of the fishing boat and he said the vessel didn't provide proper attire for him to work in there. He asked for some type of clothing but none was provided to him.

Bright said Liu hadn't eaten after traveling for about 20 hours from China and he wasn’t happy with the way things were handled and the responses he got from the vessel representatives.

Because of communication difficulties (his attorney had to get Liu’s statement translated), Bright said it was unclear whether her client was briefed about his job and the vessel, before Liu, who had worked on a fishing vessel before, accepted the contract to come to American Samoa.

Ward wanted specific details about Liu’s situation and after the hearing; it was revealed that Tri Marine, the fishing vessel's agent, will provide food and a place for Liu to stay until he leaves April 15.

Tri Marine will also pay for his return trip to China. The government will take care of the Immigration warrant issued against Liu.

Through a translator, Ward asked Liu if he was comfortable with being released from TCF and explained to him what was going to happen to him and what Tri Marine has pledged to do when he was released from jail.

Liu’s case is similar to previous cases involving foreign fisherman working from American Samoa.

The local Samoan press said to be ware of three cases involving fishermen who died while out fishing this year, one of them a Samoan and the other two were Chinese fishermen.

A few years back, there was a controversy surrounding a group of Chinese fisherman who claimed that the owner of the vessel had failed to pay them for months. In that case, government officials, including Congressman Faleomavaega Eni and the Chinese Embassy, stepped in and the Chinese group, about 30, returned home after StarKist paid for their airfares.

Source: American Samoan Press