French Navy Ship Sails After 3-Day Suva Visit
French Navy ship F734 Vendemiaire left Fiji yesterday for New Caledonia after a three-day port call.
The Commanding Officer for the vessel is Commodore Alain Gaborit.
Operations officer Lieutenant Cyrille said they looked forward to travelling back to Fiji to work with the Fijian authorities.
“The ship is high endurance and not heavily armed because its main mission is sovereignty,” Lieutenant Cyrille said.
“In some cases we can also have the Fijian authority come onboard and sail across the Fiji EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) to make sure that all the fishing is up to date and there is no illegal fishing.
“The goal of the ship is to survey wide areas, but not to carry a lot of weapons.
“Since COVID, a lot of countries were closed and now countries are opening borders slowly and we are visiting Fiji since it has reopened.
“This is a friendly port call and we look forward to working with the Fijian authority to fight illegal fishing in its EEZ in the near future.”
Lieutenant Cyrille said: “Our mission is to fight against illegal trafficking, human trafficking, and drug trafficking and illegal fishing.
“We patrol day and night far from the coast to report illegal activities at sea.”
He clarified, that they do not have any legal powers inside Fiji’s EEZ, and if they see any fishing vessel, they would have to report them to the Fijian Navy which then deals with it.”
They have 95 personnel onboard and would arrive in New Caledonia after three days at sea.
About F734 Vendemiaire:
Vendémiaire is a Floréalclass frigate of the French Navy. She is the fifth ship of the class, and is named after Vendémiaire, the first month of the Republican Calendar. The ship was constructed at Saint-Nazaire, France, in 1992 and entered service in 1993.