MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Maya V”, conflicting versions

The captain of the Uruguayan flagged longliner “Maya V” apprehended last Saturday January 24 for allegedly illegally fishing in Australian waters denies any wrongdoing and insists the Australian frigate boarding party “was invited onboard to check because we have nothing to hide” in the vessel.

Late Tuesday evening Uruguayan Fisheries (DINARA) Director Captain Yamandú Flangini revealed he finally managed to contact "Maya V" captain, Charles Thomas who reported that, "we'd finished operating in zone 47 (international waters) and were waiting for instructions when an Australian frigate approached us".

Apparently in the first attempt to board the "Maya V" one of the Australian sailors fell overboard and then the dinghy sent to rescue him turned over.

Captain Thomas insists that 48 hours later it was him who wanted the Australians to check the longliner, "I didn't want to give the impression I had been arrested".

However without any warning a helicopter appeared out of the blue and armed Australians fast roped to the deck of the "Maya V".

"They read our rights and told us they would be escorting the vessel to an Australian port for fishing in Australian jurisdictional waters", said Captain Thomas whose vessel is expected to arrive in Freemantle early February.

According to an official report from the Australian Defence and Fisheries ministries the frigate HMAS Warramunga "on patrol in Australia's southern oceans battled extremely bad weather and high seas to intercept and board the Maya V".

"It is a credit to their skill and professionalism that they were able to overcome dangerous conditions to successfully board the vessel. These types of operations are always dangerous, but our sailors have exceptional training and extensive experience in environments ranging from Antarctic waters to the Persian Gulf."

"The Navy boarding party first made contact with the Maya V on Thursday, 22 January and an attempted boarding was abandoned after the prevailing weather worsened".

"The Maya V was issued with a legal direction to proceed to Fremantle and when weather conditions permitted late yesterday (Jan. 24), the Navy took control of the Maya V after sailors fast-roped to the fishing vessel's deck from Warramunga's Seahawk helicopter".

"The Maya V has a Navy steaming party embarked and is now under escort by HMAS Warramunga to Fremantle where it is expected to dock in early February. The Australian Fisheries Management Authority also has officers onboard and will investigate the vessel and its suspected illegal catch further once it reaches Australia".

"This joint Defence Force-AFMA apprehension marks another blow to illegal fishers and proves once again that Australia has the capability to act decisively in all sorts of locations and conditions to protect our fisheries resources and territorial waters".

Uruguay's Fisheries Captain Flangini points out that the "Maya V" is equipped with a Vessel Monitoring Satellite, (VMS) system besides having a Uruguayan observer from DINARA, so we should be able to determine precisely where she was sailing.

However he also admitted that the Uruguayan government is drafting more rigorous regulations for the awarding of licences and the Uruguayan flag since in the last five months "we've had problems with seven vessels, the two allegedly caught illegally fishing in Australian waters, "Maya" V and "Viarsa 1" plus another five that have been suspended from the Uruguayan Registrar".

Uruguay has a fishing fleet of 136 vessels, mostly coastal in the River Plate and twenty that operate in international waters.