The government has sought assistance from Palau, the Philippines and other countries to locate a fishing boat in the western Pacific Ocean that the owner has been unable to contact since early on Saturday, the Fisheries Agency said in a statement on Monday.
The automatic identification and vessel monitoring systems of the tuna long-liner Sheng Feng No. 128 stopped transmitting at 2am on Saturday, when it was 414 nautical miles (767km) northwest of Malakal Island in Palau, the agency said.
Vessel monitoring systems have been mandatory for long-liners since 2009, the Overseas Fisheries Development Council said.
Photo courtesy of the Fisheries Agency
Other nearby vessels in the area were also unable to contact the 40-tonne ship, which sailed off with a Taiwanese captain and five Indonesian crew members from Yanpu Port in Pingtung County’s Donggang Township (東港) on Feb. 8, the agency said in a statement.
After the Fisheries Monitoring Center received the report about the vessel from the owner, the agency sought help from several countries active in the region, including the US, the Philippines and Palau, it said.
It also contacted five Taiwanese vessels in the area to help with the search, it added.
The wife of the captain, surnamed Hsu (許), said she last spoke with her husband by satellite phone on Friday.
He told her the vessel was operating at a slow speed because of strong winds and waves at the time, she said.
He told her he did not expect to begin fishing until Sunday, but his family has not been able to reach him by radio or satellite phone since Saturday, the Donggang Fishery Communication Radio Station said.
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