The crew of Sea Shepherd's Bob Barker didn't let any time go to waste while waiting for the Jap whaling fleet to arrive in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Just before Xmas they discovered a Patagonian toothfish poacher, hunting an endangered species of fish commonly known by its marketing name of Chilean sea bass and sometimes the Antarctic toothfish.
The 70m vessel was hailed on channel 16, but took off at speed. SS crew members retrieved buoys - free of any markings or radio transceivers - netting and several kilometres of longline rope.
It's illegal to set buoys, lines, and nets without identification numbers or the name of the vessel. This along with the fact that the vessel failed to respond to the calls from BB and fled the scene immediately, were all clear indications the ship was poaching. The fishing vessel’s name, flag, and identification numbers could not be ascertained due to the long distance between it and BB.Confiscating illegal longlines and nets from the Southern Ocean has been a regular occurrence for SS over the last seven years of their Antarctic Whale Defence campaigns.
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