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IUU
fishing vessel, Triton-1.
The New Zealand Government has successfully defended its right in the New Zealand High Court to report vessels that it detects supporting illegal, unreported or unregulated fishing activities (IUU fishing) in the Southern Ocean to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
The Government was taken to court by a foreign fishing company.
The Paloma V wanted to unload toothfish in Auckland in May (2008). When the boat was examined, New Zealand Fishery Officers found information linking it to vessels involved in IUU fishing.
Vessel owner Omunkete Fishing (Pty) Ltd took the New Zealand Government to court claiming the vessel search was unlawful. It also tried to stop the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from reporting the information to CCAMLR, and nominating the vessel to CCAMLR’s IUU Vessel blacklist.
The Commission – part of the Antarctic Treaty System - manages fishing activities in the Southern Ocean.
Following the High Court decision, New Zealand filed its CCAMLR report and also sent it to the Paloma V’s Flag State, Namibia. The vessel is now on CCAMLR’s draft IUU vessel list to be considered at the Commission’s annual meeting in Hobart in October (2008).
IUU toothfish fishing fetches US$15 per kilo and
is predominantly carried out by vessels controlled
by northern hemisphere transnational crime syndicates.
In Antarctic waters, it poses a serious threat
to marine life including seabirds such as albatross.
CCAMLR estimates IUU vessels caught more than 3600
tonnes of toothfish in 2007 and killed more than
8000 seabirds.
New Zealand is especially concerned that the IUU fleet will move toward the productive Ross Sea region when the Southern Ocean’s Indian Ocean sector toothfish stocks are fished out by IUU fishing. The sighting of the IUU vessel Triton-1 there by a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Orion patrol in January (2008) reinforces this.
New Zealand is at the forefront of efforts to
combat Southern Ocean IUU fishing. The deterrence
and detection of IUU fishing in the Ross Sea was
given priority by the New Zealand Government in
2006.
