January 13, 2015 — The New Zealand navy has caught a third boat fishing illegally – signalling a notorious Spanish syndicate is poaching toothfish in Antarctic waters.
HMNZS Wellington found the vessel – flagged to Equatorial Guinea – fishing for the valuable delicacy to the west of the icy Ross Sea.
In the past week, they have intercepted two other boats – also registered to the Central African country, using gillnets, which are banned in the heavily regulated fishery. The Government says all three vessels are repeat offenders, linked to Vidal Armadores S.A, a Spanish piracy ring.
Foreign minister Murray McCully has requested permission to board the boats from Equatorial Guinea. In the meantime, the navy can do little but capture video footage of the illegal catch as they are not allowed to detain the boats.
The Government has also asked Interpol to put alerts on the vessels Kunlun, Songhua and Yongding to prevent their catch being unloaded.
"All three vessels claim to be flagged to Equatorial Guinea and we continue to convey to Equatorial Guinea our concerns about these vessels' operations and request permission to board the vessels," McCully said today.