Sea Rescue at Reef in Niue

[grantmc]

Reported by TV1 New Zealand:

Taiwanese fishing boat grounded in Niue, rescue operation underway

A rescue operation involving the New Zealand air force is underway near Nuie to save 11 crew on board a Taiwanese fishing vessel that has grounded on a marine reef.

The boat, a FV CHUAN I SHIN, is grounded at Beveridge Reef, 125 nautical miles south-east of Niue.

The Beveridge Reef is part of Niue’s marine protected area, the Niue Nukutukulea Multiple-Use marine park.

The vessel is understood to be afloat with the crew safe on board.

The Niuean Government said the priority is to rescue and save the lives of everyone on board and is working closely with New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Centre.

A Royal New Zealand Air Force C-130 Hercules is also on its way to help with the rescue operation.

Weather conditions in the Beveridge Reef area have been fine with clear skies and a swell of 2.5 metres, Niue's Met Office says.

[JPA Cate]

That's a marine park, they oughtn't to have been fishing there.

Ann

[PippaB]

Perhaps they are using horribly outdated CM93 charts? Until the recent updates by LINZ, Navionics, and a few others the actual location of Beveridge was known to be significantly different from that shown on charts. A brief search at CF or Noonsite would provide chartlets prepared from GPS tracks that show the actual location

Regardless of any other considerations, here's hoping that everyone gets off safe and sound, I sure wouldn't want to be in their position - aground on a reef with no land on which to step.

[GordMay]

1 in 5 fish caught globally believed to be stolen

About one in five fish, consumed globally, is either caught illegally, without proper reporting, or regulations, to protect the sustainability of fish populations, according to a British study [1].
It's an enterprise worth up to $50 billion US annually, depriving some of the world's poorest coastal communities of crucial nutrition, and income, exacerbating declining stocks, and threatening endangered species.

[1] “Estimating the Worldwide Extent of Illegal Fishing” ~ by David J. Agnew et al

”... We estimate that the overall loss from our studied fisheries is 13–31% (lower and upper estimates) with a mean of 18%, and that this was worth some $5-11 bn in 2003 ...”

➥ https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ar...l.pone.0004570

[thannever]

from the information posted, it is not clear if they were fishing at the time or just transiting. It does seem likely that they were sailing without a watch who might have noticed breaking waves.

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by PippaB

Perhaps they are using horribly outdated CM93 charts? Until the recent updates by LINZ, Navionics, and a few others the actual location of Beveridge was known to be significantly different from that shown on charts. A brief search at CF or Noonsite would provide chartlets prepared from GPS tracks that show the actual location
...

Your point is well made. Typically small Pacific nations don't have the budget to keep all their nautical charts updated. There are still many charts that were created using sextant and sounding. Similar issues exist for lights and beacons. I understand that LINZ, through the NZ Navy, only prepares updates of charts for NZ the dependencies that include Cooks, Niue, Tokelau and the Ross Antarctic territory.

Another issue of course is that several such low lying atolls or reefs are disputed. The North and South Minerva Reefs are examples of disputed territory/ownership between Tonga and Fiji. British Admiralty charts are seemingly still the best source of accurate charts?

Originally Posted by thannever

from the information posted, it is not clear if they were fishing at the time or just transiting. It does seem likely that they were sailing without a watch who might have noticed breaking waves.

There are many many isolated reefs and islands. And even keeping watch you'd never spot them. You have to read the chart carefully, and note down potential hazards in passage plans.

Between New Zealand and Fiji or New Caledonia, one reef in particular has a seemingly magnetic attraction, Ceva-i-Ra. An uninhabited reef, owned by Fiji, it's located about 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) southwest of the main archipelago of Fiji. Also called Conway Reef, it's a great place to play cricket as friends of mine experienced as the youtube video portrays (about 50 seconds in).

But you'd never spot this little reef at night as it's only just above the water. And of course many such reefs aren't above the water at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3Pzx8WwU0U

[Freedom45]

I’ve been to Beveridge, plenty of wrecks there. You can’t see it until you’re on top of it.

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by Freedom45

I’ve been to Beveridge, plenty of wrecks there. You can’t see it until you’re on top of it.

That's a great reminder for me (in a bad way), thanks Chuck & Lauri. Five years ago, 28 August 2017, a British family of 4, sailing their 15m catamaran the Avanti hit Beveridge and were rescued. They were fortunate as a NZ research yacht was working nearby and heard their distress signal. Could easily have been a tragedy, as for the most part that area is a very empty ocean. Fortunately the family was saved, but lost virtually everything.

A few pics of the Avanti and her circumstance below In the map, top right, the little red triangle shows the location of the reef.

There was of course a crowd funding campaign. A full report is available here.

And for many years the wreck of the Nicky Lou was the head quarters of the Beveridge Reef Yacht Club, a somewhat sick joke I guess, but sailors huh, they still think fart jokes are funny

There's a really lovely story of a visit to the reef here penned by the cruisers on Chasing Stars.

PS and for those that want to view what I feel is a stunning videos of a little visited island by cruisers,

checkout Freedoms youtube of Rotuma

. You've given me inspiration to sail north!

[P3sailor]

I worked a tuna boat (super seiner) as the helicopter mechanic, in the Pacific. The waste is disgusting. I saw tons of sharks, marlin, dolphin, and other species of fish caught and if it wasn't a tuna, it was thrown overboard, of course with the sharks the fins were cut off, dried, and sold to Japanese restaurants. I could go on about what I witnessed but these commercial fishermen will do just about anything to catch a boatload of fish, that includes illegally fishing in protected waters. I'd be willing to bet the crew knew exactly where they were.

[hpeer]

I have heard other similar first hand accounts.