French say trawler sunk was not fishing

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 34

French say trawler sunk was not fishing

NZPA-Reuter Paris The French Defence Minister, Mr Andre Giraud, says a ’ trawler fired on by the French Navy and whose Australian master and first mate escaped from the island of Reunion after being sentenced had not been illegally fishing. The Panamanian-flag trawler Southern Raider sank in mysterious circumstances in the Indian Ocean in October after being fired at by a French patrol boat. ■ Its master, John Chadderton,. and his first mate,

Alistair Annandale, were sentenced by a court in St Denis, capital of the French island, Reunion, to six months jail and fines for illegally fishing in French waters and avoiding arrest. New Zealand crew members were detained then freed without charges. , Mr Giraud said recently: “The information obtained after the rescue of the crew showed that it was not fishing.” He declined to say what the trawler was doing.

Chadderton and Annandale escaped from Re-

union about three weeks ago. They made their way to Asia by way of Mauritius where they obtained temporary travel documents from the Australian Embassy, French officials said after the incident that they believed the crew had deliberately scuttled the Southern Raider. French commentators have suggested that the trawler may have been looking for signs that France was searching for a new nuclear blast test site.

France tests its nuclear devices on Mururoa Atoll

in the South Pacific, a policy which has strained

relations with a number of Pacific nations. There has been speculation that France may switch its nuclear test site to Kerguelen Island, a French possession deep in the Southern Ocean. This has been denied by the French.

Mr Giraud repeated that France was not looking for a new test centre on Kerguelen.

“France is at Mururoa, it is fine there and has said it will stay, full stop,” he said.