New Zealand v the toothfish pirates AS the world's fish stocks
become increasingly depleted, long-range fishing fleets sail to
ever more remote areas. Now New Zealand is trying to stop the
plunder of one of the last great fishing grounds. It has
dispatched its newest frigate, the Te Kaha, to patrol the
Southern Ocean off Antarctica in a bid to prevent what it
regards as “pirates” making off with the Patagonian toothfish.
New Zealand is angry that fleets of longliners—ships with lines
of baited hooks that may trail a couple of kilometres behind
them—are moving east to the Ross Sea, New Zealand's Antarctic
dependency. Fishing in the region is supposed to be covered by
the 23-member Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic
Marine Living Resources. Some ships are breaking its rules;
others are putting themselves outside the convention by re-
registering with countries that are not members. The Patagonian
toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) is a deep-sea species that
commands high prices in Japan and America.