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Update on Manu’a incident

An email to Samoa News over the weekend, says ASDHS info released during a press conference last Friday morning, of the reported Manu’a incident is puzzling — although it’s possible that the 4 vessels the department says were passing by Manu’a had their transponders turned off.  Samoa News was sent these screenshots from Global Fish Watch to show only one Taiwanese vessel was in the American Samoa EEZ, at the time of the reported Manu’a incident — the rest were American. Tui Samoa is not shown — and the clo
Questions abound over mystery — did it happen?
rhonda@samoanews.com

The reported Manu’a incident from a week ago, that lit up Facebook posts, and caused concern in the territory’s communities, continues to raise questions, despite a press conference held by the American Samoa Department of Homeland Security on the incident, on Friday, Apr. 28 at the ASDHS conference room.

Further, Samoa News received an email over the weekend pointing to another piece of the puzzle that conflicts with reports from ASDHS.

Samoa News reported on Monday, Apr. 24 about the incident, saying that according to FB posts, the incident involved a “large ship anchored off the coast of Ta’u and small vessels came ashore via Nuu gaogao.” One of the posts said, “All village men went to see who it is and women and children scrambling to safety. Shots fired rn [right now].” The post continues, “I just confirmed with homeland sec. n help is on the way from Tutuila. Coast Guard dispatched n on da way.” The post goes on to say, “PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR FAMILIES. Tutuila stay alert…”

As a result of such posts and phone calls from Manu’a, the DHS released a special bulletin on Saturday morning, at 5a.m., Apr. 22 — in both English and Samoan — advising the public “not to be alarmed, the alleged incident or unconfirmed sighting has been reported to the U.S. Coast Guard Office and the Department of Public Safety. There were no gun shots fired, no persons injured, and conditions are safe in Ta’u, Manu’a.” It said ASDHS would continue to monitor the situation.

The director of ASDHS Samana Semo Ve'ave'a said during Friday’s media conference that Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga was aware of the reported incident, as it was happening via FB postings, and monitored with the ASDHS the issue of the alleged sightings in Ta’u, Manu’a at the time it purportedly was happening — Friday evening-Saturday early morning.

The ASDHS director said it was the governor who advised that a public bulletin be issued early Saturday morning to allay the fears of the public concerning the reported incident, which alleged shots being fired.

Ve’ave’a said that they are still unable to confirm exactly what happened last Friday night-early Saturday morning in Manu’a, because they have only phone calls from Manu’a of the reported incident, some conflicting information, and no ‘photos’ or ‘credible’ evidence on hand. He said phone calls coming in include not only from Ta’u, where the incident was reported to have happened, but from other areas in the Manu’a islands.

He said, the US Coast Guard said last Friday that there were four fishing vessels in the area at the time of the reported incident — 3 Chinese and one Samoan (the Tui Samoa). Ve'ave'a said the vessels were on their way to American Samoa at the time of the incident, and were about 200mi off shore in Manu’a, coming from the North. He said the USCG confirmed that the vessels were not ‘large’ vessels, meaning not big enough to launch any other craft than life rafts.

Further, he said, the vessels arrived in Pago Pago Port this week — he was unable to give the specific arrival date, nor say if they were still in Port. Ve’ave’a said they identified themselves as “fishing” vessels; and credible sources are needed to ‘board’ the vessels to search.

The ASDHS director also noted that the USCG said it is also possible that the alleged vessel or vessels could have had their transponders turned off, not allowing them to be tracked.

Ve’ave’a said the next step in the investigation of the reported incident is to go to Manu’a — representatives of DHS, USCG and the Department of Public Safety — and ask residents directly about the incident.

He said it could be drug related, then it would be a DPS matter, but right now, no one can say for certain, and they will be ‘on the ground’ in Manu’a to piece together the incident.

Of interest, an email received by Samoa News over the weekend, from New Zealand writer Michael Field, whose book “The Catch” exposed extensive fishing violations across the South Pacific, said he was “fascinated” by our story on Manu’a, published over the weekend on our samoanews.com website, and attached a couple of screen grabs from http://globalfishingwatch.org. (See screenshots on front page)

Field said, “Afraid there are no Chinese boats in the likely dates and area — unless they turned off their transponders. Here is my FB posting on it all.”

“This Manu'a, American Samoa, incident its strange. Homeland Security's Samana Semo Ve'ave'a said their were four fishing vessels in the area at the time of the reported incident — 3 Chinese and one Samoan (the Tui Samoa).

“But on Global Fish Watch there is only one Taiwanese vessel in the American Samoa EEZ — the rest are American. Tui Samoa is not shown — and the closest vessel to Manu'a is Fetuolemoana.

“So were the three Chinese boats moving without transponders on? Or did they simply not exist. It’s clear from Fetuolemoana's track that it did not go to Manu'a and is plainly engaged in fishing,” he said.

(In the 1970s, Field was the press secretary to Prime Minister Tupuola Efi in Apia, Samoa and authored a major study of the Mau.)

ASDHS director, during the media conference last Friday morning, said the alleged incident has highlighted the lack of resources on hand in the Territory to quickly respond to possible threats such as was reported from Ta’u, Manu’a.

The ASDHS director said, even the USCG had to go via Hawai’i to get the information needed — re satellite imaging from vessel transponders for tracking — and that was finally received on Friday. USCG did contact Hawai’i at the time the reported incident was allegedly happening.

He added that the ASDHS does not have the equipment on island to launch such an investigation — vessel, aircraft, etc. — and neither does the DPS or the USCG; and he will definitely be asking for ‘resources’ to enhance the Territory’s security. He mentioned drones would help in such investigations.