WELLINGTON, 17 December 2003 — In and around the Antarctic, in some of the coldest, most inhospitable, waters on earth, the annual hunt has begun for the fish they call white gold — so valuable that it has attracted modern day pirates, every bit as ruthless and cunning as the buccaneers of old.

Worth up to $1,000 each in the markets of Tokyo and New York, the Patagonian toothfish is so valuable that organized crime syndicates have moved in, creating a multi-million dollar black market threatening to rival drug traffic and people smuggling.

The pirates’ grab-all policy ignores national exclusive fishing zones and international agreements aimed at preserving stocks of commercially valuable species which have already been ruthlessly over-exploited in more accessible parts of the world.

Using rust bucket boats, usually registered in faraway unlikely nations, the pirate skippers dodge the icebergs of the Southern Ocean as well as air and naval surveillance of legitimate fishing countries in the region in their pursuit of the prized fish.

Earlier this year, a boat flying the flag of Uruguay with a load of toothfish was chased 4,000 nautical miles for three weeks by an Australian customs patrol ship. It was believed to be only one of 20 pirate vessels illegally fishing in Australian waters at the time and the other 19 fished on unhindered.

According to the 24-nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) a total 15,931 tons of toothfish was caught legally by its members in approved zones last season.

CCAMLR members, who are duty bound to report all catches so that experts can monitor stocks, said another 18,918 tons of toothfish were caught in international waters outside the area of CCAMLR’s responsibility.

But not all CCAMLR members are squeaky clean when it comes to toothfish and some are suspected of taking more than they declared. On top of this, says New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries’ chief scientist John Annala, the pirates are estimated to take at least 10 times the legal catch of Patagonian toothfish, a deep sea species known by many other names, including Antarctic cod, Chilean sea bass, Chilean grouper, black hake and, in Japan, mero.

Stocks are thought to be particularly vulnerable because while it can live for 50 years it does not breed until at least 10 years old risking rapid depletion before fish populations can be replenished.

Amid fears that Patagonian toothfish stocks could be wiped out by the rapacious pirates, there are signs that fishing nations are turning their attention to a related species called Antarctic toothfish found only in the Ross Sea.

New Zealand, which claims the adjacent Ross Dependency, monitors the international waters of the Ross Sea by regular air force surveillance flights and says that so far no illegal boats have been detected there.

But interest in the area is mounting and it is thought to be only a matter of time before the pirates move in. Last season only 10 boats (seven from New Zealand, two from Russia and one from South Africa) took up CCAMLR approvals to catch toothfish legally in the Ross Sea and bad weather limited their catch to less than half the 3,760 tons they were permitted to take.

But they are queuing up to compete for a reduced quota of 3,250 tons in the 2003-04 season which began on Dec. 1, and CCAMLR has approved 26 vessels from 12 countries.

There are no country quotas and no specific tonnages allocated to any vessel. With official observers on board, they have to report their catches to CCAMLR headquarters in Hobart, Australia, every five days and when the total is reached all boats must stop fishing and leave the area.

New Zealand officials say they have already started positioning themselves, for although the season officially lasts until next August, the ice build-up usually limits fishing to a much shorter period corresponding to the Antarctic summer.

International environment organizations like Greenpeace say that while CCAMLR’s objectives are good, it has proved ineffective in preserving toothfish stocks against the organized crime syndicates who have found port officials and traders willing to process and export their illegal catches, disguise their boats and falsify documents.

An added concern is the impact the pirates are believed to be having on seabirds, especially the 20 of the world’s 24 albatross species that live in the Southern Ocean.

The legal fishing boats must have weighted longlines which sink immediately when they are strung out and they must refrain from dropping food scraps and other refuse overboard so they do not attract the birds.

The pirates ignore such practices and anything up to 60,000 albatrosses and petrels a year are estimated to drown after being snagged on their longlines, raising fears of the extinction of some species.

Legal fishing companies are hitting back in terms the pirates understand — cash. The Coalition of Licensed Toothfish Operators, a group of 28 companies in 10 countries, is offering rewards of up to $100,000 for information on major illegal fishers.