What I Saw at Sea: Fisheries Observations from a Pacific Crossing - Duncan Copeland

Spending time at sea means you get to observe things you wouldn’t normally see.

Over the past year, my family and I have sailed across the Pacific - from Mexico to New Zealand via the Pitcairn Islands, French Polynesia, American Samoa, Samoa, Wallis, and Fiji.

While much of this voyage has centred on family life at sea and our work supporting ocean citizen science initiatives (see www.freerangeocean.org), it’s been impossible to completely take off my fisheries hat. Opportunities to observe at-sea fishing operations up close are rare. Doing so 1,000 nautical miles from land, even more so.

What follows is a set of observations gathered along 13,000 nautical miles of Pacific Ocean crossing, at sea and in ports. I’ve intentionally kept commentary light. They are shared primarily as they were experienced - but I’d welcome further discussion with anyone working in or thinking about these spaces.

1.       The Squid Fleet: Presence, Absence, and Evasion

We encountered the Chinese high seas squid fleet during our initial Pacific crossing from Mexico to the Pitcairn Islands - skirting the edges of the well-known squid fishing grounds west of the Galápagos.

In total, we physically sighted three vessels, with around ten more appearing on radar or AIS.

Only around one in three vessels appeared to be transmitting on AIS. This aligns with reports from other sailing vessels crossing at the same time. A lot of work has been done using AIS to track and estimate this fleet, but these observations potentially raise questions about how complete the maritime domain picture really is, and in turn how big this fleet really is. 

Avoidance behaviour was very consistent. At night, vessels would immediately extinguish lights upon detecting our presence, pause (presumably to retrieve gear), and then move away. During the day, they simply altered course to keep distance. They definitely did not want to be approached.

At first, I wondered if this was somehow specific to us - perhaps they were googling our vessel, saw my name and decided to keep clear? Ah well, it’s good to have that kind of hubris knocked out of you once in a while! It wasn’t me - other sailing vessels reported exactly the same behaviour.

Another observation: the smell. At one point we were 12 nautical miles downwind from a vessel, and the odour of rotting squid was almost overwhelming (particularly for those already feeling queasy from the rough conditions…).

Around all the discussions I have ever seen or taken part in on crew working conditions,

I’ve never seen this particular aspect of the working environment on squid boats raised - but it must be absolutely horrendous on board.

2.       Fishing Waste

If there is one thing that is impossible to ignore across the Pacific, it’s fishing waste.

This becomes most stark on remote islands. For example, we made landfall on Henderson Island in the Pitcairn Group after 22 days at sea from Mexico - a place that should feel entirely removed from humanity. It does, until you step ashore.

The beaches are covered in the debris the island is unfortunately infamous for. And a significant proportion of that debris is clearly fishing-related: lines, hooks, nets, buoys - in all various stages of degradation.

Alongside this was a lot of older, weathered plastic waste of various types, likely from land-based sources. But there was also material that appeared to be very recently thrown away. Food packaging, bottles, even entire bags of garbage - much of it with origins traceable to East Asia - was everywhere.

It is, of course, difficult to attribute origin with certainty. But while we were far from major shipping lanes there, it’s not so far from the fishing fleets.

3.       Longlines: Economics and AIS

Two things stood out most in relation to tuna longline operations.

The first observation relates to inactivity. In ports across the region - particularly American Samoa, Samoa, and Fiji - large numbers of longliners are sitting idle. Tied up at wharves or anchored in clusters, many appear to have been inactive for extended periods.

Conversations with crews and local officials pointed to one reason: economics. ‘It's not economical’ was a phrase repeated often. Fuel costs in particular seem to be a defining factor.

The vessels still operating were predominantly flagged to China and Taiwan, with a smaller number of Fijian and South Korean vessels. Those not active were invariable registered elsewhere, with local or Vanuatu flags being most common. 

Best guess, backed up by a few limited conversations with crews and officials, is that this situation is related primarily to fuel subsidies, with those vessels whose flag states provide support still able to make the fishery work economically. The current global fuel crisis must be pushing this inequitable situation even further.

The second observation is the common use of AIS for gear markers. Despite the 2024 ban, we observed AIS markers on set longlines extensively - particularly across the western

Pacific around Samoa and Fiji, and on the way south to New Zealand.

From a navigational perspective, this creates a cluttered and sometimes confusing picture, and many people not familiar with fishing activity don’t know whether they can go through or around these. More broadly, it offered a tangible sense of scale. One line we encountered stretched approximately 50 nautical miles (90km), with AIS markers at five-mile intervals — effectively spanning our entire course. Both beacons and the longliner itself frequently broadcast the same or very similar identity information, and on a chart plotter they all display as 'vessels'. For those unfamiliar with the phenomenon, it can be very unclear if these are vessels or not, and whether it is safe to pass between the beacons.

4.      FADs: Ubiquitous, and Increasingly Visible

Tuna Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) are everywhere.

At sea, sailing vessels are encountering them frequently enough for them to become a regular topic of conversation - particularly in relation to navigational risk.

More striking was their presence ashore. Transponders and FAD components are commonly found washed up on reefs, and sometimes they get collected up and end up in coastal communities. In French Polynesia, there are efforts underway to document these - though consistent reporting remains a challenge.

There can be some initial confusion when discussing tuna FADs with local fishers, as in many islands governments have set up anchored FADs to support local fishing efforts.

5.       Small-Scale Fishing and Reef Health: A Complex Picture

Across the Pacific, small-scale fishing clearly remains fundamental - for food security,

livelihoods, and cultural identity. There’s a broad diversity of methods: spearfishing, handlines, nets, traps.

Reef health and fish abundance, based both on conversations and observation, vary considerably.

One factor that stood out was ciguatera. In areas where it is prevalent, fishing pressure on reef species tends to be lower - and fish populations appeared correspondingly higher.

While we did observe coral bleaching and reef damage from major cyclone events, overall reef health appeared most closely linked to human pressure and water temperature. Reefs closest to population centres, runoff, and tourism were consistently the most degraded.

Those in cooler-water locations also showed greater resilience and diversity.

The Gambier Islands stood out - cooler waters, low population, limited tourism, and high ciguatera incidence combining to create some of the healthiest reef systems we encountered.

By contrast, reefs around Tahiti and Mo’orea showed clear signs of stress - warmer waters, larger populations, and cumulative pressure.

Final Thoughts

These are simply observations taken from the course of a single sailboat across the Pacific - but a small window into what’s happening far from shore or in local ports in that region.

Of the several hundred private sailing vessels that crossed that ocean last year, I was the only crew member of any that we met that had any kind of fisheries background. Many people were making similar observations without necessarily having the background to record or interpret them in any way. There remains significant untapped potential to bring more sailing vessels into providing observations, helping to build a clearer picture of these remote spaces, something that I’ll look to work on in the coming months.

If useful, I have a large number of photos documenting these encounters and would be happy to share or discuss any of these observations further.