On December 18, 2017, I-Kiribati fisheries observer Moanniki Nawii was reportedly found dead in his cabin while onboard the Taiwan-flagged tuna purse seiner, Yu Wen 301, owned by Yue Sung Fishery.

Nawii failed to appear for breakfast that morning, and the crew later discovered his body in his cabin. The Yu Wen 301 was operating in Papua New Guinean waters, but after his death, authorities directed the vessel to Honiara, where Solomon Islands police opened an investigation at Kiribati officials’ request. The investigators concluded that Mr. Nawii died of hypertension.

An account of Mr. Nawii’s death was published by the publication, “Stuff” in 2020. In the article, Mr. Nawii’s widow expressed skepticism of the investigators’ ruling on her husband’s cause of death in a Facebook post on the second anniversary of his passing, saying, “They said that he slept and never woke up but [I] don’t trust what they said.”[^1]

Publicly available information regarding Mr. Nawii’s death and the ensuing investigation was limited. Yu Wen 301 sailed under the name Full Fortune 301 and was registered to Asian Well Enterprises as of 2024, according to records of the Western and Pacific Fisheries Commission.[^2]