8 Longliners Re-Flagged From Sierra Leone To India To Fish In IOTC Areaff

By Atuna

After facing rejection by the European Community and other IOTC member countries, by including eight tuna longliners on the Commission’s authorized list to operate in the area, Sierra Leone announced the re-flagging of the exact same vessels to Indian’s nationality. Before having the Sierra Leone flag the vessels were flying the Indonesian flag.

The eight longliners have been operating from the Sri Lankan port of Colombo, and are owned by the company Sky Ocean International Pty Ltd of Nevis, West Indies.

The main reason that lead to the non inclusion of Sierra Leone’s vessels was the fact that the country didn’t meet the eligibility criteria listed in Article IV of the IOTC Agreement, which requires the country to be a coastal state situated in the IOTC area of competence and to have reported any fishing activity in this same area in recent years.

Even though the eight longliners were deleted from Sierra Leone International Ship Registry last June 2^nd, the Commission hasn’t received any communication from India yet.

India is a member of the IOTC since 1995 and it has 61 authorized vessels currently fishing in the Indian Ocean.