The paua pirates

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33128, 19 January 1973, Page 8

The paua pirates

Only an inscrutable Occidental welfare State would: (a) pass stem laws to control fishing by foreign vessels off its shores, then fail to provide adequate naval vessels to police those laws; (b) break diplomatic relations with a country with which it had been friendly for years, then arrest one of that country’s boats because it was one of the few trespassers slow enough to be apprehended; and (c) impose a deterrent fine, then open a public subscription to help the crew pay so that they could have their junk back and go home. But the case of Captain Kim Kian Tan and the good ship Ming Poh is hardly typical of the serious despoliation of New Zealand fishing grounds which the ships of some other more prosperous nations have carried out. Even the magistrate in Whangarei was impressed by the Ming Poh’s epic voyage of “ discovery ”, made at walking speed with an ancient engine, with rice and salt pork provisions, and with only the barest navigational aids. If Captain Tan had set out from sixteenth century Europe his fortitude would have guaranteed him a place in history; as it is. he will go home to disgrace and penury. The best outcome might be to have the fines paid by public subscription, assisted, perhaps, by the sale of the pirated pauas " recaptured ” by New Zealand But Captain Tan would be wise to honour his undertaking to discourage other Taiwanese from fishing or diving in New Zealand waters. And fishermen from other nations should not expect the same public sympathy, whatever their courage, if they break the law.