Beijing's South China Sea claims invalid: tribunal

Yahoo – AFP, July 13, 2016

Beijing raises rhetoric ahead of South China Sea ruling

Beijing (AFP) - Beijing's claims to a vast swathe of the South China Sea are invalid, an international tribunal ruled Tuesday, dealing a devastating diplomatic blow to its ambitions in one of the world's most important flashpoints.

China, which boycotted the proceedings at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, rejected the ruling, calling it "null and void".

But analysts said it was a "huge win" for the Philippines, which brought the case.

The resource-rich, strategically vital waters of the South China Sea are disputed between the Asian giant -- which claims almost all of them on the basis of a "nine-dash line" that first appeared on Chinese maps in the 1940s -- and several other countries including the Philippines.

The row has embroiled the United States, which has deployed aircraft carriers and a host of other vessels to assert freedom of navigation in waters through which one-third of the global oil trade passes.

China says that its fishermen have visited the area for centuries, but the PCA tribunal said that under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Beijing had not had exclusive control of it.

Any historic rights were "extinguished" when it signed up to UNCLOS, it said, and there was "no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the 'nine-dash line'," it said.

Crucially, it ruled that none of the Spratlys, a chain of outcrops in the south of the sea, were "islands" under the meaning of UNCLOS, meaning that whoever had sovereignty over them -- an issue it did not address -- they were not entitled to 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of their own.

'Branded as an outlaw'

Some sea areas were therefore definitely in the Philippines' EEZ, it said, as they were "not overlapped by any possible entitlement of China".

China had violated the Philippines' sovereign rights in its EEZ and the artificial islands Beijing has been furiously building in recent years -- reshaping facts in the water in an effort to bolster its claim -- have inflicted severe environmental damage, it added.

The damning decision was "as unfavourable to China as it can be", said Yanmei Xie, China analyst for the International Crisis Group.

The award by the five-member panel -- chaired by a Ghanaian -- "overwhelmingly favours the Philippines -- a huge win," said M. Taylor Fravel of MIT.

Manila welcomed the decision but Beijing reacted furiously, saying it "neither accepts nor recognises" the ruling.

"The award is null and void and has no binding force," China's foreign ministry said on its website, reiterating its territorial claims.

The official news agency Xinhua cited President Xi Jinping as saying the islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times, and Beijing will not accept any action based on the decision.

China has consistently said the tribunal does not have jurisdiction on the issue -- declaring the support of multiple countries for its stance, many of them poor but with significant trading relationships with it -- and Xinhua reported the ruling under the headline: "Law-abusing tribunal issues ill-founded award".

In Washington, the State Department said the ruling was an "important contribution" to resolving regional disputes and should be seen as "final and legally binding".

China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and has been seeking a greater role on the global diplomatic stage, and will not want to be seen as a violator of international law.

But how the decision could be enforced remains open to question. Richard Heydarian, a political analyst at De La Salle University in Manila, told AFP: "China has been branded as an outlaw in unequivocal terms. US, Japan and other major powers should now focus on enforcing this binding verdict if China fails to comply."

In the short term, the decision was likely to escalate the "war of words" but would not immediately change the geopolitical dynamics in the sea, said Xie of the International Crisis Group.

"We?re going to see a continuation of the chest thumping we've seen, especially from the China side."

'Tough reaction'

Beijing has held naval drills between the Paracels and the southern Chinese island of Hainan in recent days, while US Pacific Command said on Twitter that the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan had launched flight operations to support "security, stability" in the South China Sea.

Bonnie Glaser of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies told AFP: "I expect a very tough reaction from China since it has lost on almost every point."

China could choose to withdraw from UNCLOS, or begin building on Scarborough Shoal, which it seized from the Philippines in 2012 -- which Washington would view as a provocation.

Beijing could also declare an air defence identification zone over the South China Sea, claiming the right to interrogate aircraft passing through the airspace, or try to remove a ship grounded by Manila on Second Thomas Shoal for use as a base.

Xu Tiebing, international relations professor at Communication University of China, told AFP that Chinese would see the PCA decision as evidence of international opposition to their country.

"These international organisations were not absolutely neutral, and in fact they are still subject to the manipulation and influence of big powers," he said.

The Philippines, which had lodged the suit in 2013, welcomed the "milestone decision", and foreign secretary Perfecto Yasay said: "We call on all those concerned to exercise restraint and sobriety."

Nationalist demonstrations are not rare in China, sometimes apparently with the tacit backing of authorities, and the Philippine embassy in Beijing has warned its citizens to beware of personal "threats".

Chinese police sealed off the street where the mission stands.

pic.twitter.com/0Wk3BFnZkD

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 12, 2016

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Philippines willing to share South China Sea: Manila

Yahoo – AFP, Ayee Macaraig, Karl Malakunas, July 8, 2016

An activist holding a Philippine flag while a Chinese coastguard ship sails
close by at the Scarborough Shoal (AFP Photo/STR)

Manila (Philippines) (AFP) - The Philippines is willing to share natural resources with Beijing in contested South China Sea areas even if it wins a legal challenge next week, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay told AFP Friday.

Yasay said President Rodrigo Duterte's administration hoped to quickly begin direct talks with China following Tuesday's verdict, with the negotiations to cover jointly exploiting natural gas reserves and fishing grounds within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.

"We can even have the objective of seeing how we can jointly explore this territory: how we can utilise and benefit mutually from the utilisation of the resources in this exclusive economic zone where claims are overlapping," Yasay told AFP in an interview.

The Philippines, under Benigno Aquino's previous administration, filed in 2013 a legal challenge with a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague contesting China's claims to nearly all of the strategically vital sea.

China's claims reach almost to the coasts of the Philippines and some other Southeast Asian nations, and it has in recent years built giant artificial islands in the disputed areas to enforce what it says are its indisputable sovereign rights.

The Philippines' case enraged China, which repeatedly vowed to ignore the tribunal's ruling and is currently holding military drills in the northern part of the sea as a show of force.

Beijing claims nearly all of the strategically vital South China Sea (AFP Photo)

No provocations

China continued to steam on Friday, with foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei describing the case as "a violation of international rule of order under the cloak of championing it", and state-run media warning Beijing would not take a "single step back" in the dispute.

China has been further infuriated by the United States beefing up its military presence in the waters, with the US Navy Times newspaper reporting that three American destroyers had been sent into the hotspot areas ahead of Tuesday's verdict.

Duterte, who took office on June 30, has adopted a more conciliatory approach to China than Aquino.

The previous president refused to hold direct talks, and likened China's expansionist efforts in the sea to Nazi Germany's march on parts of Europe ahead of World War II.

Yasay signalled on Friday that Duterte would be making no such analogies, emphasising his administration would seek to ensure the best possible relations with China.

"The statements we will be making will be in the pursuit of strengthening our relationship with everybody and will be for the purpose of making sure there will be no stumbling block to our negotiating a peaceful solution to the issue," Yasay said.

Yasay said after the ruling is released, the Philippines would study it closely, discuss it with allies, and then seek to launch talks with China "as soon as possible".

Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a country's exclusive economic zone falls within 200 nautical miles of its coast. A nation has sovereign rights to exploit natural resources in that zone.

Beijing has built a runway on the Fiery Cross Reef, which is also claimed by

Vietnam and the Philippines (AFP Photo/DigitalGlobe)

Fish, drill together

Yasay said the Philippines was open to sharing Scarborough Shoal, a rich fishing ground within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone that China took control of in 2012 and has banned Filipino boats from entering.

"The resources there are God-given for all and for everyone to enjoy. We can work at joint benefit in so far as using the marine resources in the area," Yasay said.

Yasay said the Philippines would also consider jointly exploring a natural gas field at Reed Bank, which is similarly within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and far from China's nearest major landmass.

"I think it would be in the pursuit of our national interest to do that and that will be a big step forward if everyone can agree on proceeding on that basis," Yasay said when asked about jointly developing Reed Bank.

Yasay insisted the Philippines would not concede any of its rights in the sea.

But he said the dispute over sovereignty would not be solved for many years, describing it as a "generational issue", and that rival claimants must in the meantime work cooperatively.

Duterte and Yasay met with China's ambassador to the Philippines, Zhao Jianhua, on Thursday. Zhao was seen again at the Department of Foreign Affairs on Friday. 

Indonesia Declares War on Illegal Foreign Fishing Boats

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite, Nov 18, 2014

Susi Pudjiastuti, the minister for maritime affairs and fisheries, visits a dock
 where impounded illegal foreign fishing vessels are kept, in Kubu Raya district,
West Kalimantan, on Saturday. (Antara Photo/Jessica Helena Wuysang)

Jakarta. Sink or swim: That’s the message the Indonesian government, backed by the Navy, is sending out to foreign fishing fleets poaching inside the country’s maritime borders.

Poaching costs the world’s biggest archipelagic nation some Rp 300 trillion ($24.7 billion) a year, President Joko Widodo said at the State Palace on Tuesday.

“I said it yesterday: Stop arresting [poachers] already and sink 10 or 20 boats so that they’ll think twice,” the president said as quoted by Detik.com.

“But of course, we have to save the people first,” he added.

Fishing, and developing Indonesia’s vast maritime potential in general, is a central pillar of the new government under Joko, who has laid out a vision for Indonesia to become a “global maritime axis.”

His remarks on Tuesday echoed those on Sunday by Susi Pudjiastuti, the maritime and fisheries minister, who called on local authorities in the Derawan Islands, part of Berau district in East Kalimantan, to burn the foreign fishing vessels caught poaching in the area.

“Go to work, burn those boats so they won’t keep doing this. Don’t burn the people, though; arrest them,” Susi said, following a patrol that netted three Malaysian-flagged vessels suspected of illegal fishing.

“Mr. District Chief, Mr. Police Chief, don’t be afraid. If there are any human rights problem, I’ll take the responsibility. Conduct a joint operation with five boats and armed officers. Once you catch them, confiscate the boats. But if there are many boats, burn one or two. Never give the boats back.”

The Navy has responded in a more restrained manner, saying on Tuesday that it had previously carried out a campaign of sinking foreign vessels found poaching in Indonesian waters, but stressed that due legal process needed to be respected.

Adm. Marsetio, the Navy chief of staff, said in Jakarta that he oversaw the previous campaign when he commanded the Navy’s Eastern Fleet.

“It was effective. There were some protests from the ambassadors from the countries [in which the vessels were registered] but they saw that the boat crews were kept safe,” Marsetio said.

“We also worked together with the embassies to deport the crews. The campaign helped prevent similar acts,” he added.

The Navy chief was quick to point out that they could not do this to all vessels suspected of poaching, saying the legal process had to be respected. However, he said the Navy would sink boats caught red-handed “trying to take Indonesia’s natural resources without any proper documents.”

“There have been several instances where we’ve sunk boats illegally entering our waters. But that depends on their crime,” Marsetio said. “In the case of boats found without the proper documentation, we secure the crews first and then we sink the boats to stop them doing that again.”

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Melia Hotel Chain Praised for Taking Shark Fins Off Menus

Jakarta Globe, Abdul Qowi Bastian, Aug 05, 2014

People walk past shark fins drying on a road in Hong Kong on July 30, 2014.
Hong Kong and China is one of the world's biggest markets for shark fins where it
 is commonly served as a soup at wedding banquets and corporate parties, but
 conservationists say booming demand for fins has put pressure on the world's
 shark populations prompting calls for measures to restrict their trade. (AFP
Photo/Dale De La Rey)

Jakarta. One of the world’s biggest hotel chains, Melia Hotels International, said on Tuesday that it had removed shark fins from the menus of its restaurants around the world, including the Gran Melia Hotel in Jakarta, joining a growing global campaign against the popular delicacy in Asia.

“With the removal of shark fin as an ingredient, Melia is contributing to the protection of the important role sharks play in maintaining balance in the marine ecosystem,” the company said in a statement. “As predators, sharks are a key species in the food chain and also indicators of the health of our oceans. They eliminate the weakest prey, maintain balance with competitors, and guarantee the diversity of species,” it added.

Melia, which runs more than 350 hotels in 40 countries, making it one of the world’s largest hotel companies, said the ban on shark fins would also apply to all events held within its facilities.

Ratna Sjamsiar Idris, director of marketing and communications at Gran Melia Hotel Jakarta, said that the ban takes effect immediately.

“The order [of the shark fin ban] was carried out before the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan,” Ratna told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday. “We now no longer accommodate consumers who order shark fin soups in our establishment,” she added.

Prior to the ban, the delicacy was a popular dish for corporate functions or weddings, but not on individual orders, she said.

Environmental activists have for years campaigned against shark finning, during which sharks would have their fins sliced off — often while they are alive — before the fish are thrown back into the ocean to die.

Considered by many to be a powerful aphrodisiac, shark fin is popular in Indonesia and in other Asian countries such as China and Hong Kong, where, according to sharksavers.org, more than 70 million sharks are killed each year to fulfill the demand in the market.

Diver and environmentalist Riyanni Djangkaru appreciated the Melia initiative, saying it set an example for the country’s hospitality industry.

“What Gran Melia did was a breakthrough,” Riyanni, who is also the editor in chief of DiveMag Indonesia, told the Globe. “There were gentleman’s agreements among hotel chains in Indonesia to not serve shark fins to their clients, but those were unwritten. It’s time for a new public relations method like this, as customers these days care more about environmental issues,” she added.

A bowl of shark fin soup in Indonesia is priced at between Rp 400,000 to 1 million ($34 to $85), depending on the texture of the meat.

Indonesia, along with India, account for more than a fifth of global shark catches, according to 2013 data released by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC.

Both countries account for nearly 80 percent of the total shark catch reported between 2002 and 2011.

Melia is the latest among a string of companies to boycott shark fin consumption in recent years following lobbying by conservationists.

The first shop in Indonesia to remove shark fin from its menu was Crown Marine Products, located on the premises of Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2012, after a petition circulated online.

National carrier Garuda Indonesia last year banned the transportation of shark fins aboard all flights. Garuda previously transported some 36 tons of shark fins a year, according to environmental conservation group WWF Indonesia.

Additional reporting from Agence France-Presse

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Slavery in prawn trade: shoppers urged to boycott seafood sourced unethically

Marine Stewardship Council, Greenpeace and Marine Conservation Society say retailers must be called to account

The Guardian, Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent, 11 June 2014

The Marine Conservation Society warns that current labelling may not help
consumers identify sustainable and ethical sources of seafood. Photograph: CHT

Environmental campaigners and human rights groups have said the revelations of slavery in the prawn supply chain are a wake-up call for consumers. They are urging shoppers to boycott cheap Thai prawns and other imported seafood if supermarkets can not guarantee the goods have been sourced ethically.

The Marine Stewardship Council, which backs a labelling scheme to help shoppers buy fish ethically, said the other option was to buy cold-water prawns fished from the north Atlantic – which accounts for about a third of all prawns eaten in the UK – or Dublin Bay prawns from the Irish Sea.

An MSC spokesman said: "This is undoubtedly an extremely serious and important issue. We condemn the practices described in the Guardian investigation."

The Marine Conservation Society which advises consumers on fish to eat and fish to avoid on ethical grounds, urged consumers to try to find out, before buying, whether supermarkets were engaged with improvement projects in Thailand or the rest of south-east Asia. It said, however, that labelling was limited in its scope and might not help.

Willie Mackenzie, Greenpeace's oceans campaigner, said: "Cheap seafood trashes oceans and ruins lives. The Guardian's investigation exposing slavery in the seafood industry should be a worldwide wake-up call to retailers and consumers.

"Forced labour and human rights abuses are not just issues in tropical prawn farming, they are unseen factors in other fishing too. UK retailers are in many ways the best in the world on sourcing seafood responsibly, but there is clearly a lot more to do."

The six-month Guardian investigation established a trail between prawn products sold by US, British and European retailers and violent slave labour. The investigation found that the world's largest prawn farmer, the Thailand-based Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods, buys fishmeal, which it feeds to its farmed prawns, from some suppliers that own, operate or buy from fishing boats manned by slaves.

Supermarkets which have sourced cheap Thai "king" prawns supplied by CP Foods include the world's top four retailers – Walmart, Carrefour, Costco and Tesco – along with big UK supermarket chains Morrisons, the Co-op, Aldi UK, and Iceland.

Retailers refrained on Wednesday from adding to their earlier statements condemning slavery and human trafficking.

A spokeswoman for the charity Compassion in World Farming said: "Consumers should take the advice of the Environmental Justice Foundation; ask retailers about their supply chain, and when buying fish look for the Marine Stewardship Council logo to ensure wild-caught fish is sustainable.

"Consumers should also be aware that there are no animal welfare standards for prawns, while there are also questions of the long-term sustainabiliy of feeding fish meal to prawns, which takes away from the global food basket, rather than adding to it."

Owen Espley, economic justice campaigner at the anti-poverty charity War on Want, said: "This investigation shows how UK retailers are profiting from appalling labour rights violations within their supply chains. British [firms] need to come clean about their sourcing and ensure action is taken to protect all workers from such abuses. The time is long overdue for British ministers to step in where retailers' voluntary initiatives have failed and ensure that all companies take action to address the exploitation throughout their supply chains."

The chef and Guardian writer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who investigated Thai prawns for his Fish Fight series for Channel 4, said that CP Foods and UK retailers had "to use their buying power and political influence to clean up Thailand's fisheries, and fast".

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Philippine Airlines Quits Flying Shark Fins Amid Outcry

Jakarta Globe – AFP,  Apr 24, 2014

A family eats shark fin soup at Vancouver's Grand Honor Chinese restaurant
 in Vancouver, British Columbia, in this file photo. Philippine Airlines (PAL) said
on April 24, 2014 it has stopped flying shark fin cargoes. (Reuters Photo/Ben Nelms)

Manila. Philippine Airlines (PAL) said Thursday it has stopped flying shark fin cargoes, joining a number of other Asia-Pacific carriers in taking a stand for marine conservation.

The fins are used in shark fin soup, a much-valued delicacy in Hong Kong and China.

Conservationists say booming demand for such fins has put pressure on the world’s shark populations, prompting calls for measures to restrict their trade.

“PAL values the issue on protection and conservation of endangered marine life seriously, recognizing that the company’s long-term interest is and should be consistent with sustainable and responsible business practices,” a PAL statement said.

Air New Zealand as well as South Korea’s two largest airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, separately announced last year that they would ban shark fins from their cargo flights, a year after Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific also stopped shipping them.

Fiji Airways announced last year it would no longer carry “shark fins and shark-related products sourced from unsustainable and unverified sources”, and would only carry fins from species not threatened with extinction.

Agence France-Presse

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Fiji's Air Pacific bans 'unsustainable' shark fins

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Japan issues complaint after whaling vessel collides with Dutch protest boat

Deutsche Welle, 3 February 2014

Japan has asked the Netherlands to take "practical measures" against a Dutch-registered anti-whaling vessel. The boat collided with a Japanese whaling ship off Antarctica over the weekend. Both sides have traded blame.

Japan's government condemned the actions of the anti-whaling protest boat on Monday in the latest twist in the long-running battle between conservationists and whalers.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Japan's top government spokesman, said the anti-whaling group known as Sea Shepherd had orchestrated the collision, which took place in the Southern Ocean on Sunday.

"The sabotage activity was extremely dangerous," Suga told reporters.

The spokesman said Japan had urged the Netherlands to take "practical" measures to prevent a recurrence of Sunday's collision.

Sea Shepherd claim the Japanese vessel was responsible for the incident. The group alleged the Japanese ship hit their boat, the Bob Barker, in an effort to drive them away.

It said the harpoon vessel had spent hours prior to the collision dragging steel cables across the bows of the Sea Shepherd's ships in a bid to damage the rudders and propellers.

It was an "unprovoked attack" by the Japanese harpooners, carried out in a "ruthless" fashion, Bob Barker Captain Peter Hammarstedt said.

No one was injured in the incident, although both boats sustained minor damage.

The Bob Barker is named after the host of the US game show "The Price Is Right," who has donated millions of dollars to the group.

Whaling ruling expected

Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt ordered an investigation into the collision on Monday, issuing a warning to both groups.

"This must be a message to both parties - whalers and protesters - these are dangerous waters, nobody can play any games with safety, nobody can play any games with international law," Hunt said.

"Everyone must abide by the law and, of course, if there is evidence that either party has breached international maritime law, we will raise it."

Japan is legally permitted to hunt whales in Antarctica for scientific purposes under an exception to a 1986 ban on whaling. The country is reportedly planning to kill roughly 1,000 whales this year.

"Our research whaling is a legitimate activity allowed under the international treaty. Sea Shepherd's violent sabotage against it, which is threatening the lives of the Japanese crewmembers and causing damage to our ships and equipment, cannot be tolerated," the national Fisheries Agency announced in a statement.

Critics say Japan's whaling program is a guise for commercial whaling, as meat not used for study is sold as food.

Australia has appealed to the UN's highest court to outlaw the program. The International Court of Justice is expected to issue its decision later this year.

ccp/mkg (AFP, AP)

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Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon: I was wondering about the way I feel about whales and dolphins. I've had a feeling that I have to go to them sometime, but I don't know how or what I'm to do when I get there. Please help.

Question: Dear Kryon: I'm a Turkish/Islam woman of 57. I live in Ankara and work for the European Commission's project in Turkey. I've read almost all of the Kryon books twice, and I'm planning to read them once more. My question is about the whales. Why do they commit mass suicide? What is the reason for this very sad event? Is it a kind of protest against Human Beings?

Answer: Dear ones, we've channelled many times about the whales of this planet. In review, they're the living portions of an actual grid-system! They contain the "history of Earth" within their beings, and they're sacred for that reason. They coordinate and cooperate with the crystalline grid of your planet, which is currently being rewritten (see Kryon channelling on the Website: "What's Next?" December 8, 2002). Doesn't it strike you odd that these mammals are the only ones protected against hunting by more than 90 percent of the countries of Earth... even the places without oceans? Do you think that this is an accident or a coincidence? No. It's cellular information for all humanity to protect the whales and keep them safe. Dolphins are their cousins and support group, and they play a role in the whales' development. This is why you're so attracted to them.

Whales do not commit mass suicide. They have no consciousness to allow for this, and it has never happened. Instead, you see whales often beaching themselves and then being saved by Humans, only to re-beach themselves and die. This takes place mostly on the coastlines of your continents, and often on those areas of topography that "stick out," such as a peninsula or isthmus. Your Cape Cod is a good example in America, and is also a place where this has recently happened (up to 47 whales on a beach).

The reason is that whales, dolphins, amphibians, birds, and even insects all navigate to their breeding ground or migration areas each year via the magnetic grid of the planet! Each group follows the ley lines of magnetic influence, almost as if they had a built-in compass. In fact, they actually do!

The magnetic grid of this planet has changed so much, so quickly, as we told you it would in 1989, that there hasn't been time for the pods of whales to adjust with time to these changes. Instead, many simply follow the old magnetic lines of migration, only to find themselves on a beach instead of the open ocean, as the old magnetic direction used to take them. They're confused, and they simply line up and try again, just as they have for years. These things are temporary, and as tragic as you might see them, it's all part of "pruning" the system, and the calves will go around in the future, establishing new instinctive information for the new whales regarding the grid changes. This information has even now been validated this year (2003) by your scientists.

Orcas put on show as ferry transports tribal artifacts to Bainbridge Island

Killer whales have been thrilling whale watchers this week in Puget Sound. But
they were especially exciting Tuesday when nearly three dozen orcas surrounded
 the ferry from Seattle as it approached the terminal on Bainbridge Island. NOAA
Fisheries Service photo by Candice Emmons

Indonesian Fishermen Stranded in South Africa After Horror Story at Sea

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Stuart Graham, December 2, 2013

Two of the 75 Indonesian fishermen living on seven rusted Taiwanese-registered
fishing boats sit at Cape Town Harbor on Nov. 28, 2013. (AFP Photo/Rodger Bosch)

Cape Town. Dozens of Indonesian fishermen who spent months stranded in Cape Town’s harbor, sleeping in cramped and suffocating quarters, have been taken ashore to a repatriation center after being stuck at sea for years without pay.

The group of 75 fishermen tell of slavery-like working conditions aboard seven Taiwanese-owned vessels — an ordeal that only grew worse when South African authorities impounded their trawlers for illegal fishing.

The crew spent three months stranded in Cape Town’s Table Bay, sleeping crowded together in dirty, airless quarters that reeked of diesel, until they were moved to a repatriation center in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The captain has been arrested, but the men lacked the legal papers to go ashore, and had been living like prisoners on the trawlers, dependent on the compassion of locals for food.

Some of the men say they were recruited by agents in Jakarta with promises of earning up to $200 a day fishing tuna.

But once on board they were forced to work round-the-clock with little food and no pay.

“You can start at two o’clock in the morning and work all the way to 10 at night. And then two o’clock in the morning you start again,” one dejected worker told AFP.

Many of the fishermen did not want to give their names for fear of repercussions from the recruitment agents back home who lived near their families.

After local media began covering the men’s story, immigration officials took them ashore, said Miriam Augustus, who had been providing them with food and water.

“I asked the policeman why they are moving the fishermen,” Augustus said. ”He said, ‘This is what happens when you go to newspapers and say bad things about the country.’”

South Africa’s fisheries department did not respond to requests for information on the men.

The men said despite their horror story, they are determined to wait for payment, saying they cannot afford to go back home penniless.

“I have a wife and three children at home,” said one man. ”After all this time how can I return without even one cent to my name?”

Laundry hangs on seven rusted Taiwanese-registered fishing boats where 75 stranded
 Indonesian fishermen have been living at Cape Town Harbor, on Nov. 28, 2013
(AFP, Rodger Bosch)

‘Floating shanties’

A 44-year-old man said he had worked on various vessels for 37 months without pay, often transferred to other boats when his contract expired.

The men also claim that at times they were ordered to repaint the name of their vessel at least five times a day, in an attempt to evade fishing authorities.

Tuna was not the only fish caught during their lengthy stay at sea. Other catch included swordfish, dolphins and sharks, in contravention of local marine laws.

A fishing log from one boat showed a catch of 70 tones.

Cassiem Augustus, a ship inspector for the International Transport Workers’ Federation, said the trawlers were like “floating shanties.”

“This is a blatant case of abuse and human trafficking,” he said. ”They have been abandoned by their agents and no one knows who the owners of these vessels are.”

He said inside the vessel there was one toilet for 12 men and that they had been drinking out of a tap used to pump oil one day and water the next.

“The conditions were inhumane. None of these men have been paid a cent, despite working 20 hour days. It’s slavery at sea.”

A spokeswoman for the Indonesian consulate in Cape Town said the fishermen were mostly uneducated and were from rural areas.

“They have no jobs and when they are offered one they become excited,” she said.

Maritime lawyer Alan Goldberg, who has applied for the vessels to be auctioned on behalf of the crew, suspect that the trawlers were owned by fishing cartels.

“These tales of abuse are the ordinary course of business in the longline fishing industry,” he said.

He said he doubted the run-down fiberglass boats would fetch a high price.

Agence France-Presse

Vietnam upholds jail term for hero fish farmer

Google – AFP, Catherine Barton (AFP), 31 July 2013

Vietnamese fish farmer Doan Van Vuon (centre, front row) listens to the

verdict in Hai Phong, on July 30, 2013 (Vietnam News Agency/AFP)

HANOI — A Vietnamese fish farmer who became a folk hero after he used homemade weapons to resist forced eviction has lost his appeal against a five-year jail term for attempted murder, a court clerk said Wednesday.

Doan Van Vuon and his family rose to prominence when they armed themselves with makeshift shotguns and landmines to resist eviction by local authorities.

Land rights are a flashpoint issue in the communist country, where land is wholly owned by the state and rights of use are not always clear or protected.

Millions of rural tenants such as Vuon are vulnerable to the whims of local officials, who can reclaim land for vaguely defined "public interest" reasons. Experts say this leads to widespread corruption.

The rare act of defiance by the 50-year-old former soldier triggered a nationwide outpouring of support, with even Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung branding the family's eviction in January 2012 "illegal".

But Vuon and three of his male relatives still received between two and five years in prison during their trial in April this year, after seven policemen were injured in the stand-off at the farm in Tien Lang district, 90 kilometres (55 miles) east of Hanoi.

At an appeal hearing in Hai Phong City, which ended Tuesday, the court upheld Vuon's sentence -- and that of his brother -- for attempted murder, a court clerk told AFP.

Farmer Vuon told the court he was driven to take drastic measures after more conventional attempts to resist the eviction orders failed.

"I sent complaint letters -- some 100 kilograms worth of letters -- to local authorities, provincial authorities," but no solution was forthcoming, he said in court, according to a report Tuesday in a newspaper published by Ho Chi Minh City's Justice Department.

"I told my brothers not to injure the eviction forces... the guns, if shot from a distance of 25 to 30 metres, would not have killed people even with a direct hit," he was quoted as saying.

The appeal court reduced sentences for two of Vuon's relatives, the court clerk added, declining to give further details to AFP.

The court saw "no new details to eliminate the sentences, as proposed by Vuon and (his brother) Doan Van Quy," a report on the news site VNExpress said.

"At the trial, the defendants could not show evidence that they were attacked before (they retaliated)," a prosecutor said, according to the report.

The two other defendants at the appeal trial "were given a reduction for their honesty and regrets" of five and nine months, VNExpress said.

Vuon's five-year sentence was seen by analysts as surprisingly lenient -- attempted murder charges can carry the death penalty -- and an attempt by the government to diffuse public anger over the case in a country where more than 70 percent of all complaints lodged with authorities concern land.

"If a population is on the side of someone who has broken the law, then the magistrate or the judge is in a very difficult position," said Professor Adam Fforde, a Vietnam expert at Australia's Victoria University.

In the authoritarian country, where the government severely limits freedoms of expression and association, there are daily protests in the capital Hanoi over land grabs.

Twenty-year "land use rights certificates" issued nationwide in 1993, as the country introduced market reforms, will expire this year.

The government has not made clear what will happen next.

Public opinion is firmly on the side of the land protesters. One popular blog is named Farmer Vuon "Person of the Year 2012".

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