Huge Spanish fishing vessel seized off Somalia

After a month of a lull of activity along the coast of the Horn of Africa, a group of Somalis captured on Friday around 06h30 the Spanish-flagged FV ALAKRANA hunting for tuna in the Indian Ocean.

The Alakrana had set sail on 31st August 2009 from her Spanish home harbour at the Basque port of Bermeo in Biscay.
It is allegedly the second time in a month the ship has been subject to such an attack.On Sept. 4 the Alakrana narrowly escaped another attempt.

As calmer waters at the end of the monsoon season make ocean-going vessels more accessible targets, a Basque Government councillor stated that the vessel was captured at 5.30am Spanish time (=04h30 UTC/GMT=07h30 local time Somali coast).

The Crew

The Spanish company Echebastar Fleet, which owns the industrial purse seiner, said it had since the alarm was raised been unable to contact the 36-member crew, which comprises 16 Spaniards, ten of whom are from Galicia (in Northwest Spain), eight Indonesians, four Ghanians, three Senegalese as well as two sailors from Ivory Coast, two from Madagascar and one from the Seychelles. The Seychelles Coastguard has been informed that the Seychellois is named Wilson Pilate of Union Vale.

According to the owner, it is believed that one of the crew has been injured in the attack, but Spanish commissioner Unzalu said none of the crew members were believed to have been injured. It is unclear whether the vessel had armed private guards on board, in line with a Spanish government permission.
Unfortunately the crew of 36 men is not in a good legal position, since the vessel is not covered by ITF Agreement

The Attack

"The captain launched a radio warning: « pirate attack. » He just had time to give his position. Then all the electronic equipment of the ship has been extinguished," said the source, when questioned at sea by telephone from Nairobi.

The fishing crew had just seven minutes to communicate with other vessels until the communication was interrupted. Detailed information on the situation is still "scarce" since the captors had then cut off all forms of communication.

Apparently, a second fishing vessel from the same company (the FV ALAKRANTXU) reported the attack to a military frigate.
Sources of the Basque tuna fish sector said the Alakrana was hijacked in international waters and was being taken by alleged pirates towards the Horn of Africa country.

Sources from the shipping company said the ship was being taken to the Somali coast.

A Spanish military official confirmed to AFP in Madrid that FV ALAKRANA sent a distress call to another Spanish fishing vessel in the vicinity which in turn alerted a frigate with the European Union's anti-piracy naval force under Operation Atalanta.

The Response

Josu Erkoreka from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) criticised Defence Minister Carme Chacon for not placing Spanish marines on board Spanish vessels fishing in the Indian Ocean.

In Spain Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party rejected the accusations, saying such a measure was not judicially possible.

EU NAVFOR apparently launched a security operation upon the alert and two Luxembourg military planes flying over the vessel observed armed people on board as well as a a fuel-laden skiff in tow.
The British-based EU anti-piracy organisation said the patrol planes had not found a mother-ship in the vicinity, which the captors could have had used to launch the attack.

In the Seychelles the High Level Committee responsible for Piracy made contact with the vessel owners and has already established contact with other anti-piracy forces in the region for a response to the incident. "The NATO surveillance aircraft stationed in Seychelles was already mobilized since this morning and has now a confirmed sighting of the vessel," a government release stated.

According to the Spanish state spokesperson for Defence, the Ministry ordered the armed frigate Canarias and the combat aircraft specialised in maritime patrol, the P3-Orion, to head towards the area of the attack in order to carry out observation of the ship. The warship, however, is still a day away from reaching the vessel.
Basque commissioner Unzalu assured that the Basque Government was in constant contact with the Fishing and Environment Ministries and that they had also created a commission to oversee the case. In accordance with this, a 24-hour hotline (+34 900 840 120) has been set up for relatives of those aboard.

In the Seychelles the Ministry of Community Development, Culture, Youth and Sport is tasked with family support, and in the absence of Minister Vincent Meriton, Minister MacSuzy Mondon has contacted the family of the sole Seychellois sailor on board the Alakrana.

The Spanish government created a coordinating commission to monitor the affair and formed a crisis committee to tackle the situation.

The owner Echebastar Fleet sent representatives to the country's embassy in Nairobi in Kenya.

The Location

In Lisbon, Major Stefano Sbaccanti of NATO's Ocean Shield anti-piracy operation said: "We received information on the possible hijacking of a vessel in the Somali Basin. "The vessel was last observed at about 400 nautical miles northwest of the Seychelles"
The Marine Rescue and Coordination Centre (MRCC) of the Seychelles Coastguard announced that the Spanish purse seiner was captured around 400 Nautical Miles North West of Mahé. The Seychelles government stated in a press release that the the incident occurred outside Seychelles Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The vessel had transited through Port Victoria two days before.

The vessel was seized between Somalia and the Seychelles, maritime officials told AFP.

"The ship was captured this morning. We do not know the exact location yet," said Andrew Mwangura head of the Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Programme, which monitors pirate activity.
"The alakran was stopped in the waters of the Indian Ocean, midway between Somalia and the Seychelles," confirmed the captain of another Spanish fishing vessel in the area.

Allegedly nearly 20 Spanish fishing vessels were in the same area as the Alakrana at the time of the hijacking.

"Pirates hijacked a Spanish fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean about 600 km off the Somali coast," Basque regional agriculture and fishing
Councillor Pilar Unzalu Pilar Unzalu said in a press conference.
Sources of the Basque tuna fish sector said the Alakrana was hijacked 350 miles off the Somali coast in international waters and was being taken towards the Horn of Africa country.

Situation Questioned

An official with Ecoterra International, an environmental group that also monitors piracy, said they were looking into the circumstances of the capture. "We are trying to establish if this is a case of illegal fishing within the Somali waters or an act of piracy," said the official who spoke to AFP. "We would like the Spanish authorities to share information concerning the whereabouts of their fishing vessels to be sure that they are not fishing in Somali waters," he added.

"These huge purse-seiners with their detrimental fishing method producing masses of bycatch and hauling whole shoals of tuna out of the water, must stay out of Somali waters," ECOTERRA, which promotes only tuna caught by pole and line or other dolphin-friendly and socially responsible methods, added.

The 104.3 m (358-feet) long FV ALAKRANA with a tonnage of 3716 GT is a sophisticated, industrial purse seiner and in the Spanish national register listed with No.: 3-BI-21-05 and IMO number 9335745. It is also registered with the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC000907) and operates as part of a fishing fleet and links to the Seychelles.

As such the vessel is only permitted to fish in the area of the Southern Indian Ocean agreement, whose area ends at least 200nm off the Somali coast. The recently also for Somalia registered interest zone with the International Seabed Authority extends to 350nm off the coast and establishes certain exclusive rights for the sovereign nation of Somalia.

In April 2008, another Spanish fishing vessel, FV PLAY DE BAKIO, was captures for illegal fishing off Somalia, and its crew was held for about a week, until a large fine was reportedly paid.
Outlook

ECOTERRA Intl. could in the meantime establish that the captors of the vessel are said to be from Harardheere at the central Somali coast and it is assumed that they would return there. However, the present course of the vessel points to a more southern direction.
Spanish First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the priority was "preserving the safety of the crew".

She said the committee wanted to resolve the situation as soon as possible but noted the vessel "was fishing beyond the agreed perimeter".

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