EXTRACT FROM DIARY OF SULIASI TAGILALA, NOVEMBER 2011

SATURDAY

12/11/11

When I woke up this morning, the crew was busy outside cleaning the fish storage tank on the second deck and doing some maintenance on the vessels equipment outside. We started our search at 1000 hours but there were no free school sighted or detected today.

At 1856 hours we investigated and retrieved a group of GPS buoys all tied up together and drifting. Some buoys were marked/numbered in Chinese and the rest of the buoys number could not be determined.

We continued our search again until dinner. The sea was calm throughout the day and there was no special sighting or special incident observed today.

SUNDAY

13/11/11

We were drifting when I woke up this morning to take my position. We started our search at 0620 hours. The helicopter took off to search at 0635 hours and returned at 0818 without finding any school.

There was not much activity on board for the day, some crews were painting and servicing winches on the upper deck. There were nothing sighted until 1757 hours when we investigated a floating object (abandoned “SEA Fox” GPS buoy) and retrieved it. We continued our search again. At 1900 we investigated a drifting FAD marked with GPS buoy and fish were detected underneath the FAD using sonar. We deployed a GPS buoy #81 and a fish aggregating light to be attached to the drifting FAD.

The vessel cruised away from the FAD after deploying the buoy and fish aggregating lighted and drifted at around 2 nautical miles away.

The sea was calm throughout the day with an average wind speed of 8 km per hour. There were no vessel sighting or any other special incident or sighting observed today.

MONDAY

14/11/11 

I was woken up by the sound of the hydraulic pump this morning. When I went to the bridge to take my position, the vessel was closing in on a FAD marked with beacon. Two ancillary boats were deployed into the raft with fish aggregating lights. We made the set on the raft at 0535 hours and a total of 3 mt of tuna was retained from the set. We continued our search after the set.

There were no free schools sighted today. We retrieved three of our own GPS buoys during our search and they were not attached to any FADs and it seems that the GPS buoy was detached from the FADs and abandoned by some other vessels.

We continued our search before returning at day’s end but the vessel continued in its course heading 270 degrees on the compass bearing and judging from the track plotter, we should be entering the Nauru EEZ by later tonight.

The sea was calm throughout the day with an average wind speed of 7 knots. There were no special incidents observed today.

TUESDAY

15/11/11

We started our search from the morning. The helicopter took off to search two times today. There was no school sighted and no floating object encountered today. .

In the afternoon, a group at spinner dolphins was sighted at 1835, just as the helicopter was taking off to search. The 851 were swimming unassociated and they were swimming about 200 metres from the vessel. The helicopter returned from the search for the second time today and the fishing master ordered the crew on the crow’s nest to retire for the day, as it was almost dark. The vessel stopped and drifted at 1952 hours within the Nauru EEZ.

The sea was calm throughout the day and there was no special incidents observed today.