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Attempt to board Viarsa soon
27/08/2003 18:23 - (SA)
Sydney - An attempt will be made in the freezing, mountainous waters of the South Atlantic soon to board and arrest a South American trawler suspected of poaching, the Australian government warned on Wednesday.
Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald said an effort to board the Uruguayan-flagged Viarsa failed early on Wednesday because of bad weather after ships of three nations caught up with the vessel about 1 800 nautical miles west-south-west of Cape Town.
The Viarsa, which was first spotted with its nets down in Australia's Antarctic waters on August 7, is believed to be carrying up to A$5m worth of the valuable but increasingly rare Patagonian toothfish.
The Australian customs and fisheries patrol boat Southern Supporter has tailed it since then in a hot pursuit which has covered more than 4 000 nautical miles, reaching the Roaring Forties of the South Atlantic in 20 days.
The Viarsa's skipper has ignored all instructions to stop, at one stage trying to dodge his pursuers through scores of icebergs.
The South African ocean-going salvage tug, John Ross, and a Falkland Islands Fisheries research vessel linked up early on Wednesday with the Southern Supporter and closed in on the Viarsa.
The John Ross left Cape Town on August 21 with an Australian fisheries officer and armed South African officers aboard. A second South African ship, the polar ice-breaker SA Agulhas, was also racing to the scene on Wednesday to offer extra support if required.
Macdonald told reporters the John Ross had pulled alongside the Viarsa, but its crew were unable to board in the dark because of very difficult seas and dangerous ice flows.
But he added: "We'd hope one way or the other to bring this incident to a conclusion in the next 48 to 60 hours."
He declined to say what action would be taken against the Viarsa if it did not stop.
"It's a very expensive operation, but it's very important to Australia for a number of reasons," Macdonald said.
"Our sovereignty is at stake, the Patagonian toothfish is a very rare and valuable species, and the illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean we believe is part of a criminal conspiracy."
As many as 20 boats were involved in fishing the toothfish and Australia is determined to stamp it out, he said.
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