The issue of false flags continues to grow and promises to take center stage in an upcoming meeting of the IMO Legal Committee scheduled for the last week of April. Citing the dangers and the required steps, France and the Netherlands submitted proposals which are drawing attention as they highlighted two previously unheard-of registries. France’s note to the IMO Secretariat calls out the “Maritime Administration of Matthew Island” citing it as the latest example of fraudulent registries. It has sent everyone scurrying to the Internet and reference sources to answer the question: where is Matthew Island? Turns out it is an uninhabited island in the Southern Pacific east of New Caledonia. France claims it as its territory, but Vanuatu has sought to challenge the rights saying it belongs to the indigenous people of its country. It does not much matter, because it is a volcanic outcropping and most sources note the size of the island changes due to volcanic and ocean activity. The Netherlands at the same time is warning of another fraudulent registry posing as the registry of Sint Maarten calling itself the MSTA Registry operated by International Maritime Registries & Regulatory. Sint Maarten is the Dutch side of the Caribbean Island shared with the French who call it Saint Martin.
– The Maritime Executive
