Handfull Marine Company Limited is a Fiji-registered business licenced to fish in the Cook Islands maritime zone.

Local authorities have not indicated whether the fine has been paid, though the judgment was reportedly served via email to a staff member.

The court found that on June 24 and 25, 2022, Handfull twice fished commercially within Papua New Guinea’s Exclusive Economic Zone without PNG’s authority and contrary to its Cook Islands licence. The company failed to respond to legal papers served on it and was unrepresented when the sentence was given.

On June 28, 2022, the company’s fishing vessel, Kema, falsely stated in its SPR Longline Log Sheet that it had only transited that zone. Kema’s master did not disclose its catch. The ship landed in Suva on July 19, 2022, where it was recorded that Kema had caught 40 pieces of frozen Skipjack Tuna, weighing 400 kilograms.

The court ruled that the offence involved a Cook Islands-flagged vessel operating contrary to the law of another Pacific state, undermining the convention framework on which Pacific states depend to conserve and sustain highly migratory tuna and other fish stocks. It eroded the Cook Islands’ reputation as a responsible flag state.

Cook Islands News searched records at Fiji’s Ministry of Justice’s Registrar of Companies office. This newspaper was informed that the company has a registered office in Walu Bay in Suva and the residence of its director Xin Gang is listed as 17 Nailuva Road in Suva.

The Walu Bay area was searched extensively, but no trace of an office belonging to Handfull Marine could be found. The phone number listed with the Registrar of Companies has also been disconnected.

An email was sent to Xin, the listed owner of the company, asking if the company accepted the ruling and had carried out illegal fishing. He was also asked if the company would appeal the decision. The emails remain unanswered.

Furthermore, at least three trips were made to the residential address of Xin. The location, 17 Nailuva Road, houses a preschool on the ground floor of the double-storey house called the Hi-5 Preschool. The top floor was locked, and lights were turned on even during the day.

Fiji’s Ministry of Fisheries stated that it was unaware of the Cook Islands High Court ruling. It stated that it would look into the matter as it was clearly a violation of laws if the fishing vessel had done that.

Handfull Marine was convicted of four offences under the Marine Resources Act 2025 – two of illegal fishing on June 24–25, 2022 in a foreign jurisdiction, the Exclusive Economic Zone of Papua New Guinea and two of falsifying records, first on June 28, 2022, and secondly between June 7 July 19, 2022.

According to the High Court, Handful Marine Company Ltd owns the Cook Islands–registered fishing vessel Kema, as documented in a registration certificate issued on September 7, 2021, under the Cook Islands Ships Registration Act 2007.

Cook Islands News has reached out to Maritime Cook Islands and the Ministry of Marine Resources for comment on the vessel’s ownership and operational status.

Meanwhile, a surveillance crackdown by 11 island nations this month saw more than 100 vessels boarded across 28 million square kilometres of ocean between August 3 and 14.

Pacific island authorities arrested a number of Chinese and Indonesian boats for illegal fishing this month in a crackdown called Operation Island Chief across the vast ocean, according to the Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA).

Four vessels were detained or taken to port by authorities in Kiribati, Palau and Papua New Guinea for illegal fishing or breaches of fishing licences, FFA said.

Half of the world’s tuna is caught in the region, but only 15 per cent of this catch is processed or handled by Pacific Island countries, fisheries officials said.

The fish generates US$500 million in access fees and US$1.2 billion in export earnings for the Pacific islands annually while also supporting the livelihoods of a third of Pacific households, the FFA said.

Most tuna is shipped to Asian markets by the long-distance fleets that ply the exclusive economic zones of small island states for a licence fee.

An annual meeting of 18 Pacific Island leaders in Palau this week is expected to discuss a new strategy to protect fishing rights and lift revenue as climate change threatens stocks.

Between 2008 and 2026, 278 penalty notices were issued to Chinese fishing boats by inspectors for the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, the second-largest tally behind Taiwan with 319 infringements.