Cablegate: Shiprider Agreement Nets Four Million Dollars for Kiribati

R 010347Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY SUVA
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 1447
INFO AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON
AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY
AMEMBASSY MAJURO
AMEMBASSY KOLONIA
AMEMBASSY KOROR
AMEMBASSY LONDON
AMEMBASSY PARIS
AMEMBASSY TOKYO
AMEMBASSY APIA
AMEMBASSY BEIJING
AIT TAIPEI 0044
USEU BRUSSELS
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
CCGDFOURTEEN HONOLULU HI
SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SUVA 000347

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EFIS SENV PREL KR
SUBJECT: Shiprider Agreement Nets Four Million Dollars for Kiribati

REF: 08 SUVA 000453

1. The High Court of Kiribati advised Deputy Chief of Mission
Pruett on August 27 that it had upheld AUD 4.7 million (USD
3,967,743 million) of a lower court's judgment of AUD 5.1 million in
fines against a fishing company for unlicensed fishing near
Kiritimati (Christmas) Island in the Northern Line Islands. The
hefty fines are the tangible first fruits of the shipriders program
between Kiribati and the U.S. Coast Guard (reftel).

2. Discussing the then-impending judgment, Kiribati Permanent
Secretary for Fisheries and Marine Resources Development Ribanataake
Awira had told DCM Pruett on August 24 that fishing vessels
operating in Kiribati are much more cooperative and compliant with
Kiribati law and regulations than before. He directly attributed
the improvement in compliance to the now-proven effectiveness of the
shipriders program, which allows Kiribati law enforcement officers
to patrol Kiribati waters embarked aboard certain transiting U.S.
Coast Guard vessels and aircraft.

3. Awira noted that his ministry has a memorandum of understanding
with Kiribati police to defray related police expenses and to
reinvest a share of all shiprider proceeds in a trust fund
established by Tarawa to help finance the operation of Kiribati's
lone patrol boat.

4. U.S. Coast Guard District Fourteen in Honolulu, Hawaii, has
entered into shiprider agreements with the Cook Islands, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Tonga, in addition to Kiribati.
Nauru and Tuvalu have expressed interest in concluding a shiprider
agreement with the United States, even though we cannot yet promise
patrols. These countries see immense value in having an agreement,
both as a deterrent factor and to increase revenue from fishing
licenses.

5. In addition, Australia, New Zealand, and France are reportedly
considering initiating their own shiprider programs, embarking
local law enforcement shipriders aboard their patrol vessels
transiting the region. Their programs would not displace the
State/USCG initiative or limit the countries with which we want
shipriders but would co-exist with the U.S. program to expand sea
and air coverage throughout the Pacific.

MCGANN

© Scoop Media