CANBERRA, Australia (17 Aug 2003) -- The crew of an Australian patrol ship have told of their treacherous 20-day battle to catch a trawler fishing illegally for the endangered Patagonian toothfish. Their ship, the Southern Supporter, braved 10-metre high waves, dangerously thickening ice and hurricane force winds in their pursuit of the Uruguayan-registered Viarsa. Both ships are currently refuelling in Cape Town before heading back to Australia where the Viarsa crew face prosecution. Australian officials say around 85 tonnes of the protected fish were caught by the trawler and could be worth $960,000 (￡607,000) on the black market. "We were thrown around quite a bit all the time," one crew member told the BBC in Cape Town. Armed officers board Viarsa | | "Then we had the challenge of navigating through ice-floes. The sea was virtually freezing around us. "The Viarsa, she went in so deep that she almost got stuck. They tried to out-run us and they pushed their ship beyond its limits, I believe." Diplomatic row The Viarsa was first sighted on 7 August in Australia's fishing zone, 4,000 kilometres (2,200 nautical miles) south-west of the mainland. The Southern Supporter gave chase, suspecting the trawler had been fishing illegally. The ship's captain ignored repeated requests to stop, but the Australians stuck with him and eventually - with support from two ships from South Africa and Britain - they caught up with it around 3,000 kilometres south-west of Cape Town. As the Viarsa and its crew head to Australia - where they face possible jail sentences and heavy fines - a diplomatic row has broken out between Uruguay and Canberra. The Australian Government has refused a request by Uruguay to release a government official who was on board the vessel monitoring its activities. "We are quite confident of our legal position and we have been very careful during every stage of the hot pursuit that we did comply with international law," said Australia's Junior Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald on local radio. SOURCE - BBC |
