According to her owner, the Taiwanese fishing vessel FV FENG GUO 168 was allegedly seized on the 4th of October, 2010 at a position, which first was reported north of Mauritius and then stated as being 250 nautical miles from Antisiranana, Madagascar (quiet a discrepancy!), along with its 14 crew-members.
Fact is only that the fishing vessel departed from Port Louis, Mauritius on 1. October 2010 and was reported as well as confirmed captured by her owner after no contact for two days. From him it was reportedly also stated that aransom had been demanded for the vessel's release already, which is unusual at a time when a captured ship has not reached the shores of Somalia.
The European naval mission Atalanta under EU NAVFOR, which recently extended its area of operation towards Mauritius, confirmed the case on October 08, 2010 as a case of piracy, but only 6 hours later also reported the owner's allegations as false and the vessel as free.
The fishing vessel has a crew of fourteen seafarers, of which eight are Vietnamese, three Chinese, two Indonesian, and one Taiwanese captain. The vessel is not listed among those vessels, which have permissions by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission to fish in the Indian Ocean, though this can be an intended omission due to the struggle by China over Taiwan.
However, it so far could not be clarified if the vessel has a licence from Mauritius to fish within its 200 nm zone, and why it then allegedly went to Madagascar to fish. At present the vessel and crew are said to be not under duress, but the whole story is rather unclear and requires further investigation.
