Toothfish Pirates Caught Red Handed

A legal Australian toothfish operator is in hot pursuit of two alleged pirate boats after one of them was caught red handed fishing illegally in waters protected by an international convention designed to conserve the unique marine life of the Southern Ocean.

The boat was photographed hauling its lines by the Australian boat the Southern Champion, which is owned by Australian COLTO member Austral Fisheries. The owners of the Southern Champion tasked the boat to go and look for the presence of illegal boats following an incident earlier this week when another Australian legal toothfish boat the Janus came across at least three boats in CCAMLR waters (The Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources...pronounced camaalar)

There are no legal licences to fish inside CCAMLR waters other than those issued by the Australian government.

At about 1.30 pm Western Australian time today Steve Paku, skipper of the Southern Champion, contacted the Perth office of Austral with the news that they had sighted the first boat still fishing, and just 100 metres outside Australian waters.

Pictures and video were taken of the pirate boat and Captain Paku advised the pirate it had been sighted fishing illegally and reported to authorities.

The boat had no visible flag or call sign, no name or homeport on the stern and the name on the bow was partially missing. This is contravention of International Maritime Law and indicates the boat is ‘stateless", operating as a true pirate.

According to a COLTO spokesperson, the boat is called the Strela and well known to be an IUU (illegal, unregulated and unreported) operator. It was identified as one of the ‘Alphabet Boats’ in a publication distributed last year, and in official CCAMLR meeting documents as a renowned IUU boat flagged to Russia.

This was after documentation on board an illegal operators boat apprehended by Australian authorities identified as one of the literal ‘alphabet’ of boats with professionally coordinated fishing activities, transshipment of fish at sea, refueling at sea, and operational techniques designed to evade apprehension.

The COLTO said it was hopeful that appropriate actions would be taken by CCAMLR and flag states to prevent this activity continuing.

COLTO’s objective include stopping any toothfish being taken by IUU operators before the continuing criminal activities put all legal toothfish fishermen out of out of business, the destruction of unique ecosystems and the destruction of toothfish stocks.

Media Contacts

Jenny Hodder Manager COLTO + 61 8 443 6052 All Hours + 61 (0) 412 005 400

Pics available on colto website and interview with Southern Champion skipper