The Race for the Last Fish

The Race for the Last Fish
Greenpeace International

As fisheries throughout the rest of the world become depleted, fishing companies are turning to the Southern Oceans. A gold rush mentality has developed.

The Patagonian Toothfish can grow to more than two metres long. It grows slowly, can live for 50 years and does not breed until it is at least 10 years old. It lives in deep waters (from 300 to 3,500 metres) and is found on seamounts and continental shelves around most sub-Antarctic islands. Like many deep sea species, little is known about the Patagonian Toothfish.

The Patagonian Toothfish is known by many names, including sea bass, Chilean sea bass, Chilean grouper and black hake. In Japan it is known as mero. In Chile it is known as bacalao de profundidad or merluza negra. Scientists refer to it as Dissostichus eleginoides.

In the mid 1980s, overfishing forced dozens of Spanish, South Korean and Japanese industrial fishing vessels out of their national waters. They moved to Chilean waters where they caught fish such as Austral Hake and Golden Kingclip. By the early 1990s overfishing caused the collapse of these fisheries. These industrial fishing fleets then targeted Patagonian Toothfish. By 1994 fishing for Patagonian Toothfish spread to the coast of Argentina. When the population of Patagonian Toothfish in South American waters became depleted the illegal fishers moved eastwards.

By 1996 and 1997 they had spread to the southern Indian Ocean. Industrial fishing vessels now poach thousands of tonnes of Patagonian Toothfish around Antarctica, South America, the sub-Antarctic islands belonging to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and France and in international waters.

More than 90% of the total Patagonian Toothfish catch is taken by illegal and unregulated longliners. Scientists believe Patagonian Toothfish will be commercially extinct within three years if illegal fishing is not stopped. In 1997 the total illegal catch of Patagonian Toothfish was around 100,000 tonnes with a value of over A$500 million.

In an official Australian Government statement released on July 22, 1998, Minister for Resources and Energy Warwick Parer and Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer stated that:

"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."