Tuvalu: Government borrows vessel from conservation charity to arrest illegal Chinese fishing boat
“Tuvalu uses conservation NGO to arrest Chinese longliner”, 27 July 2026
Tuvalu has arrested a Chinese tuna longliner, borrowing a vessel from a wellknown conservation charity to do so.
On the evening of 9 July, Tuvalu Police Force maritime trackers picked up something strange about a vessel they were watching. From there, they boarded the Allankay, a vessel owned by Sea Shepherd International, and went to investigate.
According to Sea Shepherd, police found the crew of the Lu Rong Yuan Yu throwing illegally caught shark fins overboard while stockpiling tuna and keeping essentially no records.
Experts say it is a "quite exceptional" kind of arrangement, where developing countries, particularly in Africa, lean on an NGO for law enforcement. But Sea Shepherd says it is a model that has proven successful, and they hope to bring it to the Pacific.
Sea Shepherd's chief campaigns officer Peter Hammarstedt told RNZ Pacific that Tuvalu had come to them with a partnership in mind after their lone patrol boat, the Te Mataili II, was destroyed by cyclones Judy and Kevin in 2023.
"When somebody comes into the waters of Tuvalu and fishes illegally, it is a direct assault on the livelihoods of Tuvaluans," Hammerstedt said.
"Tuvalu asked us if we could send our ship there to help fill that law enforcement vacuum…
As they searched, they found piles of tuna, and witnessed crew members throwing shark carcasses overboard. Records going back months made no mention of sharks, which are illegal to target and must be logged whenever there is any bycatch. With that, Tuvalu arrested the captain and crew, and detained the boat in Funafuti.
"They'll make a decision in the next few days whether or not to prosecute the ship and lay charges."...