Six fined, ship forfeited

By MIRIAM ZARRIGA
SIX members of the crew of the vessel FV Min Shi Yu 00368 pleaded guilty to withholding information with intention to delay the arrest of another person under the Fisheries Management Act 1998, according to National Fisheries Authority executive manager monitoring control and surveillance Gisa Komangin.
They were each fined K5,000 and given seven days to pay, with the ship and its equipment forfeited to the State.
Failure to pay the fines by deadline, will mean a year’s jail with hard labour for them.
Charged with a count each of withholding information, the six appeared last week in the Kavieng District Court and pleaded guilty.
The case was between NFA and Zhang Zhong, Ye Changcal, Wu Jusheng, Xue Yuxi, Zhou Chen Keng and Ye Li Xiang, all from China.
They were crew on board the foreign vessel Min Shi Yu 00368.
Komangin said the court also ordered the forfeiture of the vessel and all items on board.
“The six crew were ordered to remain on board until the fine is paid within seven days and their IDs and passports to be returned,’’ he said.
“The other three crew members – the captain, second in command and another crew member.
They will return to court tomorrow for a trial proper if they maintain a not guilty plea to their charges. “We will have to find a place to put the crew members or take them to the Kavieng prison camp, now that the vessel has been forfeited to the state,’’ Komangin said.