A word about this entry: I've been meaning to start a blog for some time now, and have been told that I should probably have one. I never intended to start it out like this. I am promoting this entry heavily and in a manner that I normally would not; this is not about me. This is about a friend who has vanished, an apparent cover-up of the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, and an attempt to get the story some attention so that we might bring pressure to bear on the relevant authorities to find some answers for his friends and especially for his family.
My friend Keith Davis has
been missing at sea since September 10th, and the
circumstances of his disappearance are unusual and highly suspect.
Now, the Panamanian authorities appear to be interfering in an
investigation being conducted by the US Coast Guard and FBI into his
disappearance.
Keith is a colleague as
well as a friend; we met in Dutch Harbor, Alaska while we were both
working as fisheries observers assigned aboard crab vessels.
Inevitably, over the course of a few seasons, we spent a fair amount
of time together in port. We became friends pretty quickly, having a
good bit of common ground, and had some wonderful experiences
together.
Keith is one of the
most stellar human beings I have ever known. He is gentle and kind,
and passionate about his work. He also helps other people whenever
and wherever he can. Not long ago, he was involved in raising money
for the people of Nepal – a place that he loves – after the
earthquakes there. He is a world traveller, smart, savvy, and
resourceful, and I have enormous respect for him. And now he has
simply vanished, with no explanation, no rhyme or reason, and to all
appearances, the authorities do not want the circumstances of his
disappearance uncovered.
He was working on a large
transshipment vessel, the Victoria No. 168, a ship taking on loads of
tuna from longliner fishing vessels while underway to its final
destination. His employer is MRAG (Marine Resource Assessment Group)
Americas’ Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC)
Transhipment Observer Program.
Observers have died on
these vessels before. Their deaths have been ruled suicides or
accidents, but anybody who works in this job has no illusions about
how easy it would be for a crew to stage such a thing. It is, after
all, a dangerous occupation, involving a great deal of time at sea
under all conditions as well as working around heavy moving objects
and machinery. And we all know that circumstances sometimes arise
when the presence of an observer might be enough of a problem to
warrant getting rid of them by any means necessary.
At the time of Keith's
disappearance, they were about 500 miles east of Lima, Peru. The
second mate on the Victoria 168 (flagged in Panama) stated that he
saw Keith at 14:50 local time on Thursday, September 10th
onboard the ship. That is the last known sighting of him. At the
time, he was monitoring a catch transfer from fishing vessel Chung
Kuo No. 818 (Taiwanese, flagged in Vanuatu). The transshipment was
completed at 16:05 and at about 16:15 Keith could not be found to
sign the transshipment declaration.
The Chung Kuo No. 818
then departed. This should not have been permitted, and strikes me as
highly irregular while there was a missing person, particularly an
observer. They claimed that they were going to join the search in the
water.
The seas were said to be
calm that day. Keith and I have had several discussions about safety,
and he told me that he always wears his lifejacket on deck
(not all of us do, particularly in calm weather). If he went into the
water in calm seas while a transfer was taking place, and thus the
boats were more-or-less-stationary, they should have found him almost
immediately. Furthermore, this is not a guy who would simply fall off
a boat, particularly in calm water. He had a couple decades'
experience working as on observer, and often in far more dangerous
seas. He worked on the decks of crab boats in the Bering Sea during
storms, and (as we all do) considered it just another day at the
office.
The captain of the
Victoria No. 168 initiated a search at 16:30. Ultimately, the search
involved approximately 15 vessels, and covered 84 square miles of
ocean in a search pattern developed based on size and drift patterns.
The search concluded after 72 hours had passed, as is usual. No trace
of Keith was found.
Around this time, Keith's family received
conflicting reports of what may have happened to him. At one point,
they were told that he fell and hit his head, but were later told
simply, “We don't know.” If he had fallen and hit his
head, why was he not recovered? A statement like that implies that
someone saw it happen – in which case he should have been pulled
from the water (assuming he fell into the water in the first place)
and given appropriate medical treatment. Had he hit his head hard
enough to kill him instantly, his body still should have been
recovered and returned to his family. None of this was done, which
makes the entire story unlikely at best.
The Victoria No.168
was then ordered into port in Panama. However, the fishing vessel was
not ordered into port, nor was it located and boarded. This strikes
many of us in the observer community as strange; there may have been
witnesses on that boat, or some kind of evidence. Both the
transshipment vessel and the fishing boat really should have been
boarded and searched in international waters, then accompanied back
into port for a more thorough investigation. Nobody seems to be quite
sure as to why this was not done in this instance.
The treatment of observers
is often poor, but this is highly dependent on the fishery. The boats
in the Alaska fisheries generally treat observers pretty well,
although I am aware of a couple of incidents in which an observer was
attacked by crew, and a certain degree of harassment is a regular
part of the job, although it is illegal. Even up there, we all have
stories.
The Northeastern fisheries
are another matter entirely; observers have had their lives
threatened, have been confined, berated, harassed, assaulted, and in
one case an observer was thrown overboard in the middle of the night.
A woman I know who worked in those fisheries once barricaded herself
into her cabin until the boat got to port, because her crew was
threatening to kill her – and she believed them.
Transshipment vessels are
possibly the most dangerous vessels of all. They operate out of
various countries, and are often owned by people in one country but
flagged in another. Trips are long, spanning weeks. There is contact
with a great many fishing boats (usually longliners) and limited
communications with shore. All of Keith's communications had to go
through the captain, which meant there was really no way he could
have tipped someone off to whatever was going on there.
The
job of the observer on these vessels is to monitor transfers of fish
from the fishing boats, and to document any violations of the law.
There are huge amounts of money at stake – particularly in the tuna
industry – and an observer's report can potentially cost a vessel
quite a bit in fines, or even lead to jail time for the captain
and/or crewmembers if the offense is severe.
It is significant that
Keith mentioned to his father in an email earlier in the trip that he
felt “uncomfortable” on board. That jumped out to me as a huge
red flag, because Keith would have known that his communications were
almost certainly being monitored, and it isn't the kind of thing he
would say unless he felt really unsafe on that ship. He would not
have been able to say more than that. To me, knowing what I know of
Keith and of the vessel he was on, that one word was just short of a
distress call.
Moreover, sometimes
the boats are packing more than tuna. Shark fins, for example, may be
concealed among the fish. Shark finning is illegal, but extremely
lucrative, and the trade in fins remains strong; it is estimated that
200,000 sharks are killed every day, primarily for their fins.
Drugs, too, may be transported in or among fish. And these
activities, if discovered, could easily put the life of an observer
in danger.
I strongly suspect that observers are sometimes
bought off, paid to look the other way while illegal activities are
taking place. I know bribes are sometimes offered, even in the Alaska
fisheries when relatively little is at stake, and suspect that at
least one of my colleagues accepted one. One of my own captains once
tried testing the waters with me a bit, in case he stood to lose some
money on a load; fortunately, it did not come to that, though I did
want to see how much he would offer, so I'd know what I was turning
down. Then I would have reported him. But if the cost of not
accepting a bribe may be your life, I understand why some would
choose to do so. I also know that Keith is far too conscientious to
take hush money. I don't know if that was the case in this instance;
that is pure if somewhat informed speculation on my part, and is but
one possible scenario.
What I do know is that the
boat arrived in port on Sunday, and was boarded by Panamanian
authorities, who then allowed an American tech investigator on board.
The American authorities were allowed to download some – but not
all – of the information on Keith's laptop before the Panamanian
authorities seized not only the laptop, but all of Keith's personal
belongings as well. This would almost certainly have included his
journal, as he kept one religiously, if it was present. I have not
heard whether or not they recovered his logbook. If there are clues
to his disappearance, those are the most likely places that they
would be found, and the Panamanian authorities won't allow the
Americans access to them.
Additionally, the American
investigators have a “person of interest” in the case, and they
have not been allowed to interview said person. The Panamanian
authorities are actively hindering the investigation – why? Just
what the hell is happening that a foreign government appears to be
willing to assist in covering it up?
We - Keith's
friends, family, and colleagues - have far too many unanswered
questions, and would appreciate any assistance you might be able to
offer in terms of spreading this story far and wide, in hopes that we
might bring enough pressure to bear to get some answers.
#findkeithdavis
UPDATE: According to Keith's employer, the US authorities were, in fact, able to search Keith's computer and make images of the drives before the Panamanians took it back. Still no word about his logbook or journal. They say the Panamanians are cooperating with the US, and that interviews are still being conducted. I'm not sure why his family has or had different information. I honestly don't know what to think about this.
They also made contact with the fishing boat, although evidently they did not get anything beyond confirmation that Keith was there at some point during the fish transfer.
FURTHER UPDATE: There is a great deal of confusion regarding the investigation. I have been getting information from Keith's family, but the information that they are receiving may not always be correct. I want to emphasize the fact that the Panamanian government does seem to be cooperating with the American authorities, and the investigation is continuing. Last I heard, the ship was still in port. Everyone involved in this situation is doing the best they can, considering the difficulties inherent in getting information from official channels and the emotional devastation on the part of Keith's family.
Correction: I had the vessel listed as Vitoria No. 128; the correct designation is Victoria No. 168. This has been corrected in the text.
Some
links to a few stories already out there:
CNN
Politics
WCBV5,
Boston
birdlife.org-Disappearance
of Fisheries Observer from Vessel in the Pacific Ocean.pdf
