# Fishing Vessels Tarumen & Cap Favel



## oceangoer (Jan 3, 2008)

You can find pictures of this fine pair in the Gallery.

One of the two ex-pirate fishing vessels that left Hobart last week bound for India has sunk. 
The small fishing trawler, the Kap Favel, set off its emergency satellite beacon on Sunday (16/11/08) afternoon after it started foundering about 160 nautical miles off Tasmanias west coast.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority confirmed yesterday that the Kap Favel,  which was being towed by the larger pirate fishing ship, the FV Taruman, had sunk in 4000m of water.
AMSA spokesman  Nick Spinks said its crew had been safely transferred to the FV Taruman and that there had been no oil or fuel spill.
Both rusty ships left Hobart nine days ago, after an inauspicious start to their long voyage to India when the FV Taruman lost power in the Derwent River and off Bellerive Bluff.
Concerns were raised at the time that both ships were not seaworthy enough to sail safely to India. 
Hobart based sailing master, Captain Roger King, warned that if the Australian government allowed the ships with their flags of convenience registration to sail from Hobart, it would put the Australian marine environment at risk.
The FV Taruman, which was bought by Indian citizen Ahishek Khallar, is registered as a North Korean vessel for its voyage to India, while the Kap Favel was allowed to sail as a private boat.
Their value as scrap metal has plummeted in recent weeks by as much as 70 per cent, as the global financial crisis has seen demand for steel plummet.
Last night, Captain King said he took no pleasure in having been proved right that the two vessels were unseaworthy and a danger on the sea. 
He demanded to know what they had been doing in the past week to only be 160 miles off Tasmanias west coast parallel with Cape Grim, when they should have been close to Perth by now.
We need to know where those two vessels were for the past week; were they anchored somewhere or drifting in Australian waters broken down,? Captain King enquired.
AMSA confirmed yesterday that the FV Taruman had now changed its sailing plans since the sinking of the Kap Favel and was last night heading for the Victorian port of Portland. 
The FV Taruman has been rusting on Hobarts Macquarie Wharf since June 2005, when it was seized by armed customs officials for illegally fishing for Patagonian toothfish in the Southern Ocean.
In 2006 Spanish fishermen from the FV Taruman were fined $118,000 for illegal fishing. Their catch was sold for $1.5 million by the Australian government. 
The Kap Favel was also an illegal fishing trawler that was confiscated by New Zealand fishing authorities before finding its way to Australia and Hobart.


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