Chase closing in on poacher
2003-08-26 18:07
Cape Town - The 19-day chase of a Uraguayan trawler with a suspected hold full of poached Patagonian toothfish is expected to reach a climax within hours on Tuesday.
It emerged for the first time on Tuesday that the most powerful salvage tug in South Africa, the John Ross, has joined the chase, and is now within striking distance of the fleeing Viarsa 1.
The tug has Australian customs and South African fisheries officials on board, as well as members of a private security company.
Horst Kleinschmidt, head of marine and coastal management in the department of environment affairs, said shortly after 16:30 that the John Ross, travelling at 17 knots, had overtaken the SA Augulhas, which had earlier joined an Australian fisheries inspectorate vessel, the Southern Supporter, in the chase.
All four vessels were now at a position 45 degrees south 16 degrees west, right in the middle of the Roaring Forties.
He said the John Ross, which last week was one of three tugs trying to free the stranded Sealand express in Table Bay, sailed on Friday after being hired by the Australian government.
The security company staff were there "for backup", he said. "The Australians are leaving nothing to chance."
He said it was expected the inspectors would try to board the Viarsa 1 by dinghy rather than helicopter.
The Uruguayan has been chased by the Southern Supporter since it was first spotted 19 days ago near Heard and McDonald Islands in the southern Indian Ocean.
The SA Agulhas joined in some days later.
Kleinschmidt said the power of arrest lay with the South African authorities, and would be exercised in terms of the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Living Resources.
- SAPA