Wake-up call over toothsome fish

By PAULA OLIVER

New Zealand fishing heavyweights say a $60 million-a-year Antarctic toothfish market will be lost overseas if the Government bows to environmental pressure and refuses to let them fish the Ross Sea.

Sanford chief executive Eric Barrett said in Timaru yesterday that four years of research had proved the toothfish resource was strong enough to be fished at four or fives times its present rate.

Two New Zealand vessels, one a partnership between Sealord and Sanford, hooked 300 tonnes of the giant fish last year. It sells for $42 to $50 a kilogram when filleted.

Vessels can only catch the toothfish between January and March because for the rest of the year a large ice barrier blocks the entrance to the Ross Sea.

"What we are saying is we have a valuable commercial fishery in the Ross Sea, and if we aren't allowed to claim it other countries will," Mr Barrett said.

"A moratorium as called for by Greenpeace is impractical."

New Zealand is a member of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, a group that manages fishing permits. Local fishing companies needing a permit to fish in the commission's zone of the Ross Sea must first get the support of the New Zealand Government.

Ministers are known to be subject to intense lobbying from environmental groups fighting against fishing in the Antarctic.

Greenpeace has mounted a two-year campaign for a complete moratorium, after stocks of the Patagonian toothfish were plundered by pirates and illegal fishermen. But a moratorium would need 100 per cent international support, which looks unlikely.

Alistair Macfarlane, spokesman for the New Zealand Seafood Council, said New Zealand had already set itself extremely high standards for sustainable fishing. The Government would only shoot itself in the foot by saying no.

Mr Barrett conceded that Sanford had taken a gamble by purchasing an expensive ice-capable vessel, but he said the proof was there that the toothfish was sustainable.

He would not be drawn on the possibility that the vessel could sail under another country's flag if the Government said no.

Antarctic toothfish average 1.2m in length and can weigh 160kg.

An oily fish, it is considered to be of the highest quality in export markets of the United States, Europe and Asia.