This has been the season of distressed fishing vessels in the Ross Sea and the Southern Ocean. New Zealand sells fishing permits to companies from all around the world so that they can catch toothfish (Antarctic Cod) in the waters surrounding Antarctica. Unfortunately, two of these vessels have run into problems this season and the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) has been expected to assist in rescuing and transporting stranded fisherman back to New Zealand. This support is at the US tax payers expense while New Zealand reaps the benefits of selling the permits. Some New Zealand media have been blaming the appetites of Americans and Japanese for these fish as the cause of the problem.
The latest mishap occurred on a Korean-owned fishing vessel, the Jeong Woo 2. The distress call came in early in the morning on Wednesday, January 11. The ship had caught fire and the 40 men on board had evacuated to the bow of the ship in little more than shorts, flip flops and t-shirts. Several of them had severe burns and three were missing and presumed dead. When a call like that occurs, the members of the McMurdo Emergency Operations response team are paged to convene in a conference room to discuss the USAP support of the incident.
The Korean sister ship picked up the men who were well enough to be rescued but the 7 with bad burns were picked up by the USAP research vessel, the Nathaniel B. Palmer, which steamed to pick them up and deliver them to the ice edge near McMurdo Station, where they were helicoptered to town and delivered by ambulance to our Medical Center. You can imagine the logistical and medical support this kind of operation required - much of which occured overnight.
Six of the injured fishermen spoke only Vietnamese and one spoke only Indonesian. (It is common practice for fishing vessels to hire personnel from different countries.) Luckily, there was someone on board the Nathaniel B. Palmer who spoke fluent Vietnamese and there is someone here in McMurdo who is married to an Indonesian woman, lives in Indonesia and speaks the language. These people played a crucial role as interpreters and calming influences.
The staff here took excellent care of the injured, provided them with all sorts of USAP swag - fleeces, polo shirts and pants from our store, and transported them once again back to the airfield for a flight to New Zealand for medical treatment. Way to go USAP!
Here's a link to one of the stories about the rescue:
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/complex-rescue-help-injured-korean-fishermen-4683872
