Navy ‘deep sixes’ Phuket probe into missing IUU trawler

PHUKET: The Royal Thai Navy this week formally declined to reveal any findings of the investigation into how the seized Antarctic trawler Taishan, also known as the Kunlun, and its crew and illegal cargo managed to escape Phuket earlier this year, or name any of the officers who may be responsible.

The missing illegal Antarctic fishing trawler Kunlun, previously registered as the Taishan, after it fled Phuket on Tuesday (Sept 8)

“The results are not for publication,” Vice Admiral Sayan Prasongsamrej, Commander of the Royal Thai Navy’s Third Naval Area Command, based at Cape Panwa, on Phuket’s east coast, told The Phuket News on Tuesday (Nov 24).

The Taishan dropped anchor off Phuket’s Deep Sea Port on March 6 and unloaded its illegal cargo of Patagonian toothfish, poached from protected Antarctic waters, after outrunning the New Zealand and Australian Navies.

Phuket officials seized the boat and its cargo, which was falsely reported as grouper. (See story here.)

Yet, while the boat and the crew were reportedly being “held” in Phuket, the 35 crew managed to board the vessel, reload their cargo of 182 tonnes of illegal fish, and “disappear” on September 8.

At last report, an international search was underway for the missing Taishan as an illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) vessel (See story here.)