‘It’s a mystery for us’: the puzzling death at sea of a Tongan fisheries observer

Arnold Latu was found dead in his berth - one of numerous deaths of monitors who ensure fishing boats follow the rules

On the morning of Monday 27 September, a crew member on board the Hsinlong 1 fishing vessel went to fetch his friend Arnold Latu for breakfast.

Latu, in his mid-30s, was the monitoring officer of the Chinese-owned, Fiji-flagged vessel, employed by the Tongan government to check that the amount of fish caught on its three-week voyage was legal and correctly recorded.