ROTOITI On Patrol: 1
By POET John Laughton
Our mission: an ongoing Ministry of Fisheries (MFISH) patrol covering of the east coast. Our goal: to seek out all fishing vessels in the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone (NZ EEZ) then monitor and inspect them for any illegal activity.
An overnight passage from Devonport to North Cape in September saw the first set of fishing vessels to be boarded. Several of the ships were still at anchor waiting for bad weather to subside. For safety reasons, a ship at anchor is a good ship to board. Several tonnes of fish can cause great strain on equipment and can make vessels very dangerous for people who don’t know what to look out for.
Boarding, with our MFish personnel, proved fruitful—a Purse Seiner, in the act of bringing in a catch, then two trawlers at anchor. On completion, the ship guided the RHIB four miles south to another contact. This proved a good test of our new RHIB in a high speed transit in choppy weather, with a full crew. The RHIB handled it well and we boarded our first Long Liner of the patrol. This covered the upper east coast, so round the corner we headed for a look into the Tasman.
As we altered to the south, a Cray Potter was spotted loitering a few miles off the coast. A quick brief and the RHIB was off for another boarding. This vessel was well known to the MFish team and was a good find. The crew showed us their live catch, held in a built-up vat to the rear of the catch deck. Their catch was not the red crayfish but its bigger cousin the Packhorse. A closer inspection of the books showed some by-catch that they should not have had—the MFish team promptly informed the ship of the infringement and indicated follow up action would be taken.
We learned of more vessels to the nor-west of our position, towards the Three King Islands. With the RHIB recovered, it was hammer down to intercept those vessels. Unfortunately the weather deteriorated and only one fishing vessel was boarded before ROTOITI anchored for the night. Three Kings is an interesting area and the rumour is that ‘Brutus,’ a 30 metre Great White shark, lives around and rubs against fishing boats at anchor. Thankfully during our stay nothing was sighted!
Heading towards North Cape again, HQ JFNZ advised us our tasking was to change. NZ Customs Service (NZCS) knew of a vessel of interest (VOI) tracking down from Fiji. A quick re-supply and change out of personnel at Maunganui enabled our MFish officers to be swapped for six Customs officers, before ROTOITI was vectored from Cape Brett to Tauranga.
We covered the search area several times before the VOI was spotted by OSCS Maxwell. Then we played the waiting game. The CO eased ROTOITI into a slow pursuit astern the vessel, while we kept a constant lookout for any suspicious activity.
As the VOI approached the Port of Tauranga under the cover of darkness, ROTOITI deployed the NZCS team by RHIB to tail the vessel into Tauranga; from there NZCS and NZ Police took over. The RHIB returned to ROTOITI and we started our passage home across the restless Bay of Plenty.
So next time you think about smuggling drugs by boat, or think that catching one more fish won’t hurt, be aware that over the horizon could be our 400 tonne warship with Customs, MFish or Police on board. We are cruising the NZ EEZ looking for you!
ROTOITI On Patrol: 2
By SLT Alexander Daprini RNZN
ROTOITI ended 2009 with a successful patrol working in conjunction with the Ministry of Fisheries (MFish) and the New Zealand Customs Service (NZCS). We had sailed from Devonport in late October and our first task was to stand in for HMNZS CANTERBURY (at the time on disaster relief ops in Samoa) for the opening of Timaru’s new war memorial. Our passage south was into very rough seas; the hands were piped down, and except for watch keeping, most spent the 36 hour passage in their pits.
At the ceremony in Timaru our ship’s company led the combined Services’ parade, and the CO, LT Hogg, had the honour of opening one of the sections of the memorial, alongside the Chief of Army.
We sailed from Timaru for Lyttelton with a number of RNZNVR sea riders from HMNZS PEGASUS embarked—it was an excellent opportunity for them. While in Lyttelton we attended the Seafarers service at Christchurch Cathedral.
Two MFish officers were embarked for our patrol up the east coast of the South Island, spending the majority of the time in the Marlborough Sounds. After a successful week of boarding operations, ROTOITI returned for a weekend to Lyttelton. This coincided with Christchurch’s big race day, and many of us spent the day at one of the city’s best annual events.
We sailed for Wellington where another two MFish Officers came aboard by boat, before our ship made its way north to New Plymouth, patrolling and conducting boarding operations on the way. A highlight in New Plymouth was ‘Sundowners’ held on board, when our Wardroom was presented with a painting of the original ROTOITI by an ex-Sailor who had served in her.
From New Plymouth our patrol took us north to Cape Rienga to support Customs. Using information received, we intercepted yachts coming down to NZ from Fiji, Tonga or New Caledonia. Those activities eventually took us into the Bay of Islands, where we held a sporties afternoon: swimming, fishing and diving. The next day, 27 November, ROTOITI sailed for DNB in company with HMNZS ENDEAVOUR, conducting screenplay overnight before a formation entry with ENDEAVOUR and HMNZS MANAWANUI.
Since that patrol, we undertook some harbour and sea training just before Christmas. Now we are in a docking and maintenance period and we will be back on operations during March.