Pirate fishing in the Southern Ocean

Pirate fishing is out of control in the remote Southern Ocean around Antarctica. The Patagonian toothfish is being decimated and is heading for commercial extinction as a result.

Endangered albatross species are regularly hooked as bycatch by the pirates. No-one knows what impact this gold rush fishery will have on the rest of the already fragile and poorly understood ecosystem.

Greenpeace chased this Southern Ocean pirate vessel for 16 days from the Patagonian toothfish fishing grounds to the Indian Ocean pirate port of Mauritius.

"If illegal and unregulated fishing continues at the current level the population of Patagonian toothfish will be so severely decimated that within the next two to three years the species will be commercially extinct. Some areas are already showing signs of this." Press release by Australian Minister for Resources and Energy Warwick Parer and Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer, July 22, 1998

Patagonian toothfish is known under a different name in fish markets, restaurants and magazine food sections (Chilean sea bass in the USA, Antarctic sea bass in the UK are just two names it goes by in the marketplace). Most consumers are unaware that the fish they order in restaurants or select from their fish counters is the same fish poached from the distant deep waters around Antarctica by pirates. Nor are they shown the many thousands of endangered albatrosses routinely hooked and drowned in the pirate's fishing gear as the baits are set to catch the fish. The fishing companies and traders rely on the fact that their activities are mostly "out of sight, out of mind". Greenpeace is doing all it can to remedy this.

In the marketplace it's impossible to know for certain whether toothfish was caught by pirates or caught under a licence issued by the regional organisation responsible for conserving the toothfish - the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Without the governmental will to control the pirates and enforce the rules, it's impossible to be sure where each vessel catches their toothfish.

"The problem is that this stuff is as liquid as bonds. It's impossible to track the fish that has been pirated and where it goes." David Bengis, Icebrand Seafood in Maine USA, quoted in The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, 26/3/99.

Governments responsible for the conservation of marine life in the Southern Ocean are failing to do what's needed to stop the pirates. Countries that are members of CCAMLR are even expanding licensed fisheries despite the enormous pirate fishing problem and a poor scientific knowledge of this unique fish. Unbelievably, some governments sitting around the CCAMLR conference table represent the pirates' home countries.

In some areas up to 90 per cent of the total Patagonian toothfish catch have been taken taken by illegal and unregulated longliners. In 1997, at the height of the pirate "goldrush", the total illegal catch of toothfish was around 100,000 tonnes with a value of over US$500 million.

The Salvora arrives in Port Louis, Maurutius in 1999 with the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise in hot pursuit.

Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on all fishing for toothfish and a trade ban until pirate fishing is stopped, more is known about the fish and whether commercial fishing can be sustained, and controls are put in place to make sure pirate fishing does not rage out of control again.

More about Pirate Fishing:

Introduction - Modern-day pirates plunder ocean life
Dodging the rules: flag of convenience fishing
Governments recognise the pirate fishing problem...will they act to stop it?
Trouble ahead for pirate fishing talks!

Pirate Fishing in the Southern Ocean:

CCAMLR - Governments are failing the toothfish and albatross
Consumers - Retailers begin to move away from toothfish and how you can help
Southern Ocean Ecosystem
Toothfish - Rapidly approaching commercial extinction
Albatross - How pirate fishing is devastating Albatross populations

Southern Ocean Expedition web site, 2000

 

Greenpeace Australia's Southern Ocean web site.

Pirate Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean:

Atlantic - Pirate fishers plunder Atlantic tuna
Pirates Plunder the Atlantic
Eradicating Pirate Fishing: a study of the current status of tuna and tuna-like fish stocks in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean, May 2000 (pdf file, 91KB)

Atlantic Expedition web site, 2000