Chase

PHOTOGRAPHY: Tony Fitzgibbons and Supporter crew

Australian seafarers show their true metal & make maritime history, outrunning &outmanoeuvring a pirate fishing vessel in a mammoth maritime pursuit through 4,000 treacherous miles of heavy seas, heaving icebergs, 20 metre swell, gale force winds & sub zero Antarctic temperatures

For 20 days and 20 nights the crew of P&O vessel Southern Supporter navigated the 2000 tonne, 70-metre long vessel through the stormy seas of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica in close pursuit of the Uruguayan-flagged pirate fishing vessel Viarsa.

On board were Australian customs and fisheries officers and Maritime Union crew members Allan Brownlie, IR and union delegate, Rod Willis, CIR, Bruce Noble, IR, Tony Fitzgibbon, IR, Phil Solley, IR, Mick Heald, TIR and Gary Philips, Chief cook.

"When we first spotted her there was no name, no flag, no number -- nothing at all to identify the vessel," said Allan Brownlie.

The Supporter was on patrol for Australian Customs and Fisheries about 4,000km south west of the Australian mainland adjacent to Heard and McDonald Islands when it caught the Viarsa and its South American crew red handed.

The Southern Ocean is one of the world's last remaining regions for the endangered Patagonian tooth fish otherwise known as Antarctic sea bass.

The latest high-end restaurant sensation it retails for US$70 kilo -- a single sashimi-grade fish can fetch up to US$1000.

"The vessel was stationary as we approached," said Allan. "When Customs officers questioned the skipper, he said they had engine trouble. But when he asked them to come with us they just took off. We went after them."

This was not the Supporter's first such patrol. In the last couple of years Allan has been on five expeditions. He was on board when they caught the South Tomi, the Lena and the Volga. But this time they set a record - the longest maritime pursuit in Australian history.

"We were sailing through very rough seas with 20 metre waves crashing over the bridge," said Allan. "They led us down into the ice."

In an attempt to shake off their pursuers, the skipper of the Viarsa went full speed, weaving dangerously through the mountains of icebergs.

"He seemed to know his territory," said Allan. " He didn't slow down. They were doing 10 knots. That's pretty dangerous at night. We were watching the radar like hawks at the same time watching the ship ahead. If he veered, we veered. It meant an iceberg ahead."

During the chase the ship's radar detected 50 icebergs, all shifting with the current at about 2 knots.

"We had a few near misses with bergie bits," said Allan. "Chunks of ice break off and float only a couple of feet above sea level. But there's another nine tenths submerged. If you hit one of them, it'd stop you pretty quick and probably do a lot of damage. One was just 50 metres off one side before we sighted it."

The crew were fully equipped with Antarctic clothing against the sub-zero conditions. The barometer on deck plummeted to around 10 degrees below zero. - 30 below counting the wind chill factor. When the wind got up to 80 knots, no one ventured outside.

The Supporter was the faster vessel. Had it carried weapons they could have stopped the Viarsa at any time. But it didn't. So customs radioed for support and the Australian government sent for the South African icebreaker Agulus.

But time was running out. The Agulus would not have reached the suspect vessel until it was safely inside its own territorial waters with its illicit multi-million dollar catch. So Canberra called for the heavy-duty salvage tug John Ross.

"On around the 10th day into the chase the Viarsa led us into pretty thick ice," said Allan. "Our skipper called the ship, warning the captain he was getting himself into trouble and endangering his crew. "

The Viarsa turned back.

By this time the John Ross was closing in, doing 21 knots. It reached the vessel six days out of Uruguayan waters about mid way below the South African and South American continents. On board were 10 armed enforcement officers.

Customs radioed the Viarsa that they were sending an armed escort with Australian customs and fisheries officers aboard. The skipper was ordered to get all his crew and muster them on the after deck.

"The South African guards let it be known that if anyone put his head over the side they'd take it off," said Allan. "The crew did what they were told. I guess by then they realised it was all over."

What followed was a daily change of the guard between the vessels in motorboats through rough seas, snowstorms and gale force winds.

"For our blokes the hardest and most dangerous part came after security boarded the vessel," said Allan. "We had to ferry people every day in small seven metre boats through a five metre swell. We could only carry six, so two other blokes helped me take four at a time every day. The waves were coming over the boat every time. You got soaking wet."

One trip could well have ended in disaster. MUA crew were transferring people off the John Ross and had started back when a snowstorm blew over.

"We couldn't see a thing," said Allen. "I didn't know where to find either ship. So I turned around and headed back and picked up the John Ross blind."

No one was hurt over the 21 days or during the arrest. The Australian crew were safety conscious and looked after each other.

On September 4 the Supporter arrived in Cape Town, to a swarm of TV cameras and jostling media. The world had been watching.

Customs reportedly uncovered 85 tonne of tooth fish on board. At US$70,000/tonne retail that's around US$6 million ($1.5 million wholesale). If it had not been intercepted, they might well have got away with a full load of around US$30 million.

Allan and the crew were paid off in South Africa on September 5.

Uruguay is one of a group of countries including Australia, which is a signature to CCAMLR- Antarctica's foremost conservation body, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

The group, which sets limits on the catch of tooth fish, is set to meet next in Hobart this October

But Greenpeace says they are hopelessly ineffective and has called for a ban on any commercial fishing of the dwindling fish stocks. Pirate fishing and black markets thrive, with the estimated illegal catch thought to be at least two to three times the legal limit.

Greenpeace has also joined forces with the International Transport Workers' Federation in the battle against illegal fishing. In August last year they jointly launched a hard-hitting report at the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.

Entitled More Troubled Waters, the report explicitly links flags of convenience shipping with pirate fishing.

Nearly 80 per cent of the Patagonian tooth fish sold on the world market is illegally obtained, according to the National Environmental Trust in Washington.

And the fishing boats use lines that stretch as far as 80 miles behind the boats. The thousands of baited hooks snag and kill albatross and other endangered birds.

CCAMLR's Scientific Committee estimates that over the last three years, as many as 191,700 albatross and petrels have been hooked and drowned in the CCAMLR area alone.

Many illegal fishing vessels fly flags of convenience making the owners difficult to trace. The Viarsa reportedly uses another ploy -- two vessels with the same name.

"That way if one is fishing illegally they can use the location of the other to cover their tracks," said Allan.

As MWJ went to press, The Southern Supporter was escorting the Viarsa to Fremantle, WA, where captain and crew face prosecution and prison as well as seizure of the ship and its cargo.

"Our members on board the Supporter showed that Australian seafarers are among the best in the world," said National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. "Their seamanship is second to none. And they should be congratulated. But they don't get the recognition they deserve. Instead the Government is hell bent on replacing Australian seafarers with foreign crew on flag of convenience vessels up and down our coast. The hypocrisy is beyond belief. They chase after one rogue vessel at the same time they are allowing more and more pirate ships plunder our coastal trade."

The Patagonian Tooth Fsh lives from 300 to 3,500 meters deep in seamounts and continental shelves around most sub-Antarctic islands. It makes up an important part of the sperm whale's diet and scientists estimate that it comprises up to 98 percent of the elephant seal's fish diet.