Taiwanese fishing vessel FV Chuan I Shin ran aground on Niue's protected Beveridge Reef in 2022. Photo:
One of the final tasks the New Zealand Navy ship Manawanui undertook before it sank off the coast of Samoa at the weekend was surveying another vessel stranded on a Pacific reef.
In 2022 Taiwanese fishing vessel FV Chuan I Shin ran aground on Niue's protected Beveridge Reef.
Eleven people were rescued.
Until now, RNZ Pacific has been unable to obtain any substantial details from the governments of Niue or New Zealand.
One week after the grounding, RNZ Pacific spoke with a government official who wished to remain anonymous and they confirmed the Niue government was concerned about the vessel's activities.
The project manager for a Niue ocean trust known as NOW says work is needed to ensure this never happens again.
That work was started by the now-defunct Manawanui.
"The activity undertaken recently, or last year, with the New Zealand Navy warship Manawanui, doing a site survey for the installation of radar reflectors [in Niue's Beveridge Reef]," NOW project manager Brendon Pasisi told RNZ Pacific.
About 5000 square metres of reef has since been damaged by Manawanui as it went down in a marine reserve off the southern coast of Samoa.
Niue PM wants answers on Taiwanese ship
Two years on, the prime minister of Niue still wants to know what the Taiwanese fishing vessel was doing in a protected marine area before it got stranded.
"We're in the middle of the big blue ocean," Dalton Tagelagi told RNZ Pacific.
"We [are] still asking the questions of why did they end up there?"
Niue prime minister Dalton Tagelagi Photo: RNZ / Lydia Lewis
A new documentary by National Geographic looked at possible illegal shark fishing.
Brendon Pasisi told documentary makers the reef was littered with chunks of metal from the burnt out ship.
While diving at the site, he saw a big bundle of wire which is primarily used to de-fin sharks.
He said shark fishing was illegal in Niue's waters.
"There were hooks with wire tracers, which is actually something that can be used for fishing for sharks," Pasisi said.
"It's not actually permitted to carry that kind of equipment."
Pasisi said the findings have garnered national and regional interest.
Tagelagi said it would be "very concerning" if proven.
"We haven't received a final report of that incident, so I can't really confirm," Tagelagi said.
"We're disappointed that it took a while."
Tagelagi said the report was crucial and so was evidence.
Illegal activity in Niue's pristine waters?
Beveridge Reef is a central feature of Niue's marine protected area - the Niue Nukutukulea Multiple-Use marine park.
Forty percent of Niue's Exclusive Economic Zone is off limits for fishing.
But teetering on the edges of Niue's precious no fish zone is essentially a highway for commercial fishing activity.
Pasisi, a NOW Project manager, told National Geographic filmmakers the Taiwanese "long line vessel ran straight into the reef".
When a team arrived to assess the situation at the time, "the vessel was on fire suspiciously", he said.
"When that first happened it was really gut wrenching."
An initial assessment pointed to an innocent incident.
"The vessel was under sort of innocent passage. It was traversing our EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) to go fishing down in the high seas, given that it wasn't a licensed vessel to Niue and it just ran straight into the reef," Pasisi said.
The vessel's track and speed married with surveillance footage from the New Zealand Royal Air Force, which showed that it appeared that all the vessel's fishing equipment was stowed, indicated to Pasisi in the early days that they were not fishing illegally.
But there were some red flags.
"After sort of three days or more, sitting there and then suddenly, coincidentally as the last person is safely removed a vessel catches fire," he said.
"Just seems too much of a coincidence.
"Definitely sends up red flags."
The final report has not yet been released.
The Fisheries division of the Niue Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and the Forum Fisheries Agency will be undertaking [the report], Pasisi said.
For now, all he could do is wait.
"We've done what we can, we've agreed to live with what is there."
Even if it is found that there was no illegal fishing activity, Niue's protected reef would still be damaged.
"A significant contribution to the (NOW) trust effort would be one way of compensating for the damage caused," Pasisis said.
"Anywhere over NZ$500,000 would be something considered significant."
Two years on and Niue's prime minister is waiting for confirmation as to what happened.
"We [would] really love to have the report," Tagelagi said.