Independent Observer reports

VALE is compiling all the IO Summaries and any reports obtained under FOI to analyse the voyages (looking much better than usual) and DAWR transparency (so far not looking any better than usual). Bear with us....this will take some time but we are underway.

Report 1: April 2019 MV Maysora; Adelaide, Fremantle, Turkey; 29 day voyage; sheep mortality 0.43%; cattle mortality 0.11%; 11 days of mild to severe heat stress noted in sheep and cattle (even pastoral cattle) but no mention in IO SUMMARY. Poor feed quality. One lamb born but not noted in IO Summary.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENT: see document
VALE COMMENTS: see document

Report 2: May 2019; MV Al Messilah; Fremantle, Kuwait, Qatar, UAE; 19 day voyage; sheep mortality 0.34%; cattle mortality 0; 16 days of heat stress noted in sheep but the IO did not refer to heat stress and nor did the IO SUMMARY. Ship temperatures not included and only taken once daily in the morning.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENTS: see document
VALE COMMENTS: see document

Report 3: May 2018; Bader III; Adelaide, Fremantle, Israel, Jordan; 30 day voyage;
0.27% sheep mortality (169 sheep ); 0.26% cattle mortality (15 cattle). Heat stress from Day 3. There is no mention of "heat stress" in the official IO summary despite it being noted in live sheep and that it was a documented cause of cattle deaths. Day 16 had 34 degrees Celcius wet bulb temperature. For Merino sheep, the DAWR's heat stress threshold is 30.6 and its mortality limit is 35.5.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENTS: see document 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
VALE SUMMARY FOI DOCUMENTS: see document
VALE COMMENT: official summary vs FIO documents: see document

Report 4: May 2018; Yangtze Fortune;18-day voyage. Sheep only and 0.30% mortality (46). Significant heat stress occurred from Day 5 for an unspecified duration. Twin lambs were born but euthanased due to expected high heat in feedlot. The description "heat stress" did not appear in the IO SUMMARY.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENTS: see document
VALE COMMENT: see document

Report 6: May 2018; MV Awassi Express/ MV Anna Marra; Broome, Panjang, Jakarta, Pasir Gudang;14-day voyage. Cattle only and 0.03% mortality (3).

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENTS: see documents
VALE COMMENT: pending

Report 7: May 2018, Al Shuwaikh, Adelaide, Fremantle, Kuwait, Hamad, Jebel Ali; voyage length 30 days (from Adelaide), 24 days (from Fremantle); sheep mortality from Adelaide 0.98%; cattle mortality 0; sheep mortality from Fremantle 0.39% (46); cattle mortality 0. Heat stress occurred. On numerous occasions, animals in some pens were left without water overnight. Food quality was quite poor on some decks and mouldy food was sometimes present in both sheep and cattle troughs. Inaccurate sheep numbers loaded. This voyage was only one month after the 60 Minutes program!

IO SUMMARY REPORT: not available so VALE has done its own! See document
IO FOI DOCUMENT: see document
 
NOTE 1: The FOI documents are heavily redacted but critical comments still remain. The sheep number from Adelaide is erroneous with 275 MORE sheep being unloaded than possible. The 0.98% figure thus cannot be accepted as being correct: it could be an under-estimate (if extra sheep loaded to cover possible deficits) OR, it could be an over-estimate (if the number of sheep loaded was truly less than stated). Number discrepancies for this exporter have been evident on other high mortality and routine mortality voyages.
 
NOTE: despite this voyage being in May and FOI documents available, there is still no official Summary Report. Is it because the DAWR didn't want to see a not very good voyage, with near reportable mortalities and incorrect sheep numbers occurring immediately after the Awassi Express exposure and independent observers instigated?  Is it the case that one IO refuses to back down and agree to a DAWR summary? DAWR made Moss and Lawler backdown…..could one IO possibly be holding out?

 Report 8: May 2018; MV Maysora; Fremantle, Turkey; 21 day voyage. Sheep mortality 0.23% (155). Cattle mortality 0. Heat stress occurred but the words heat stress not mentioned in the IO SUMMARY. 6 lambs born - not recorded in the IO SUMMARY.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENTS: see document
VALE COMMENT: see document

Report 9: June 2018; MV Al Messilah; Fremantle, Kuwait, QATAR, UAE; 21 days. Sheep mortality rate 0.53% (306); cattle mortality 0. Heat stress of uncertain duration described and illustrated with photos also but no mention of heat stress in the IO SUMMARY and no representative photos included. Blind sheep unloaded for transport in the Middle East.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENTS: see document
VALE COMMENT: see document

Report 10: June 2019; MV Bahijah; Fremantle, Israel; 22 day voyage;  sheep mortality 0.18% (17 mortalities); cattle mortality  0.03% (one mortality). This was the first voyage and heat stress described in the IO Summary. After this report, the DAWR never included "heat stress" as a description in any summary.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENTS: see document
VALE COMMENTS: see document

Report 11: June 2018; MV Jawan; Broome, Panjang (Indonesia); eight day voyage. Cattle only and 0 mortality.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI DOCUMENTS: none available
VALE COMMENT: see document

Report 15: August 2018; Gudali Express; Broome, Panjang, Belawan; 11-day voyage.
Cattle only and mortality 0.08% (3).

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
IO FOI Documents: none available
VALE COMMENT: see document

Report 23: October 2018; MV Ganado Express;Portland, Beihai (China);18 days.
Cattle only and 0.03% mortality (1). High heat and humidity for voyage with no mention of actual WBT or panting scores.

IO SUMMARY REPORT: see report
VALE COMMENT: see document