A Taiwanese fishing boat has been fined 100-thousand US dollars for failure to comply with conditions for licensed foreign fishing vessels operating inside Kiribati's 200 mile exclusive economic zone or EEZ.
Pacific Magazine reports the crew Fong Seong 779 was arrested for failure to comply with the regional Rukuruku Operation agreement signed by Pacific countries for foreign fishing boats operating inside their waters.
The Rukuruku Operation requires all foreign fishing boats fishing in the waters of signatories to record their daily activities in log books, including the date of their entry into a particular EEZ.
The Kiribati Maritime Fisheries Enforcement Committee says while the vessel is licensed to fish in Kiribati waters, its log didn't show the entry date, is written in Taiwanese and two days of activities were not entered.
The captain of the purse seiner also failed to present the vessel's licence when inspected last Sunday near Nonouti Island.
