December 10, 2025

Death at Sea Film Illuminates Plight of Fisheries Observers

In March 2020, Tekarara Kabangaki would receive news that would change the course of her life forever: her husband, Eritara Aati Kaierua, was found dead aboard the fishing vessel he was working on.

Now, more than five years on, questions remain concerning his death and the subsequent investigation.

Death at Sea is a short documentary film directed by Sara Pipernos (Human Rights at Sea) that chronicles the life and death of Eritara Aati Kaierua through the eyes of the family he left behind.

Eritara was a fisheries observer – a job that is fraught with danger and required him to hold vessels to account for regulatory offenses, such as overfishing or shark fining. He had been scared for his life before. In some cases, he had to live alongside the very people he reported on (and were made aware of such reports), thousands of miles from land. He was found dead on the Taiwanese flagged fishing vessel, the WIN FAR 636. His death, initially ruled as a homicide via blunt force trauma, was overruled as death by natural causes. The Death at Sea Justice Campaign (deathatseafilm.com), which advocates for compensation for the family, a renewed investigation into Eritara’s death, and the development of rigorous international policies that serve to protect observers, was launched in 2023. In the last two years, the film has been screened across the globe, at closed-door government meetings in Bangkok, in front of British seafood and grocery retailers, and even at a late-night club in New York City. The film and campaign have won accolades from the Royal Television Society and the Maritime Media Foundation and been selected at numerous prestigious film festivals, including Jackson Wild. More than 10 observers have died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances since 2015. The film was supported by Human Rights at Sea, Blue Marine Foundation, the Sustainable Fisheries and Communities Trust, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Fishmongers Company with original 2021 contributory funding from The Seafarers Charity.

Eritara was a fisheries observer – a job that required him to hold vessels to account for regulatory offenses, such as overfishing or shark fining.

He was found dead on the Taiwanese flagged fishing vessel, the WIN FAR 636.

His death, initially ruled as a homicide via blunt force trauma, was overruled as death by natural causes.

The Death at Sea Justice Campaign (deathatseafilm.com), which advocates for compensation for his family, a renewed investigation into his death, and the development of rigorous international policies that serve to protect observers, was launched in 2023.

In the last two years, the film has been screened across the globe, at closed-door government meetings in Bangkok, in front of British seafood and grocery retailers, and even at a late-night club in New York City.

The film and campaign have won accolades from the Royal Television Society and the Maritime Media Foundation and been selected at numerous prestigious film festivals, including Jackson Wild.

More than 10 observers have died or disappeared under mysterious circumstances since 2015.

The film was supported by Human Rights at Sea, Blue Marine Foundation, the Sustainable Fisheries and Communities Trust, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Fishmongers Company with original 2021 contributory funding from The Seafarers Charity.