Posted on 08/27/2003 3:19:21 PM PDT by Notforprophet
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - Armed South African officials were hoping Wednesday for another attempt to board a Uruguayan ship chased for 20 days through Antarctic seas on suspicion it has been poaching the rare Patagonian Toothfish, also known as Chilean sea bass.
A South African salvage tug, the John Ross, came alongside the Uruguayan-flagged Viarsa late Tuesday, but waves of up to 33 feet and heavy snow prevented a boarding, according to Australian and South African officials.
"We think it might happen (the boarding) at around 1600 our time (10 a.m. EDT) but we will see what happens. The weather has been really terrible," Phindile Makwakwa, a spokeswoman in South Africa's environment ministry, told Reuters.
The Viarsa, suspected of illegally fishing for the valuable catch also known as Chilean sea bass, has been pursued by an Australian customs ship through treacherous Antarctic waters since Aug. 7 when it was spotted in a remote Australian fisheries zone.
The powerful John Ross tug, hired by Australia and carrying armed South African fisheries officials, and a British fisheries vessel based at the Falkland Islands, joined Australia's Southern Supporter in pursuit of the Viarsa.
The vessels were about 1,800 nautical miles southwest of Cape Town.
Australian Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald said earlier that Australia would step up pressure on Uruguay to convince the Viarsa to surrender, calling in the ambassador in Canberra to lodge protests.
But the ambassador, Pedro Mo-Amaro, said his government had cooperated with Australia and tried to make the Viarsa comply with instructions to head to an appropriate port but the ship's Uruguayan captain and Spanish crew cut all communication.
"If this ship is not apprehended and it arrives in Montevideo, we guarantee we will let the Australian authorities inspect the vessel," he told Reuters.
"We will also look at legal action against the ship's master and the Uruguayan company we believe owns this ship."
The chase, with vessels dodging icebergs in rough seas, has put the spotlight on organized gangs illegally plundering Patagonian Toothfish, earning about $2 million for a shipload of a delicacy prized in Asia and the United States.
Marine conservationists warn that the deep-sea fish could become commercially extinct by 2007 because of illegal fishing.
(Additional reporting by Belinda Goldsmith in Canberra)
What is this a new term? "Commercially extinct"? What in the heck does that mean?
NFP
Basically, it means what it says - Toothies (as the Aussies call 'em) won't die off as a species, but the masses tracked by trawlers will be decimated.
I've been out of the seafood importing bidniss for over a year now, but as of early last year it was estimated that something like 60% of the catch was "poached" (not taken via methods used in a properly managed fishery)..a whole lotta quota ignoring going on.
There were, as of last year, some pretty large importers here about to go on the hot seat for knowingly dealing in this sort of black market stuff.
NFP
Orange Roughy is another similar scenario, except for the poaching - with such a stupid name, no one ever thought a nice white fillet with such a name would ever sell - Wrongo!
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