Comm: "This is the story of an Antarctic fish that's being hunted to commercial extinction -
The Patagonian Toothfish.

"It's a story of a cat and mouse game played by navies and ruthless pirates, about big money and greed in a multimillion-dollar illegal business stretching halfway across the globe.

The pirates and their business backers are killing off a fish they call White Gold.

"It's also the story of a crusade to stop the pirates Isofish, a non-Government Organisation backed by the Legitimate fishing industry in Australia, is lead by this man Alistair Graham from Hobart, IN Australia."

Alistair Graham: "I was attending a meeting of CCAMLR, that is the Convention for Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources. I first became aware from reports from scientists, that Patagonian Toothfish stocks were being attacked very heavily by poachers and pirates.

"This is the Isofish website which is the core of the Isofish project which is designed to collect and disseminate information on boats suspected or known to be involved in poaching Patagonian Toothfish in the Southern Ocean.

"These guys are utter rogues and for instance they paint out the names of their boats, they paint out their port of registry, they break all the rules in the book in order to try to avoid detection.

"They have military grade radar on board these boats so that they can effectively evade naval patrols with the same sophistication that the naval patrols can hunt them.

"So it's a real cat and mouse game where the mice have significant advantages."

Comm: "The toothfish although ugly is delicious, fetching top dollar. Fishmongers call it Californian or Antarctic Sea Bass for better sales."

Alistair Graham: "Scientists reckon that the fish can live for 50, 60, 70 even 80 years. It may take 8 years before it's old enough to spawn. If the fish stocks get over-fished, it can be very many years before they come back. The fish is called white gold for very good reasons. At the moment its fetching prices around $10 per kilogram landed which is an awful lot of money.

"Patagonian Toothfish are found throughout the SouthernOcean which is this area at the bottom of the map. And this is the main area of poaching activity. You can find Toothfish, south of South Africa, Prince Edward and Marion Islands, which are South African possessions. The Crozet Islands here which are French Kerguelan- French, Heard Island Australian and this red line here marks the area of CCAMLR so any fishing in here that isn't licensed by CCAMLR is essentially in breach of the CCAMLR Convention."

Comm: "Alistair Graham and his organisation ISOFISH have a problem. Through a network of contacts and a huge database he's learned there's a fleet of some 15 pirate fishing boats stealing Toothfish round the French Island of Crozet in the Southern Ocean.

"In a fax to the French Navy Alistair Graham is voicing his concern."

Alistair Grahan: "This is ongoing liaison with French authorities in Reunion where their naval patrols are based to try and protect their waters round Crozet and Kergualen from Toothfish poachers. We had sent them a memo advising them of the information we had of a whole bunch of poachers round Crozet and Kergualen."

Comm: "The French Navy on Reunion Island are also worried and reply that they will try to react."

Alistair Graham: "This is just dramatic to have the French government and conservation NGO's working together so intimately and so closely in common cause."

Comm: "Lt Commander Michel Leclerc is captain of the French patrol boat the Albatross."

Lt. CDR Leclerc: "We have legislation very strong against illegal fishing in these zones and have a patrol ship to control and survey the zone."

Comm: "Nevertheless the French Navy has a problem. From Reunion they must first steam more than 2000 nautical miles south towards the Antarctic before they reach the Crozet Islands. That gives the pirates a significant advantage. Crozet is one of the many tiny rocky islands in the southern Ocean Round Antarctica where the much prized Patagonian Toothfish is found, and also pirated. This is French territory surrounded by a 200 mile Zone in which only vessels with a licence can fish. To Conserve stocks these licenses are heavily restricted.

"This is what happened when the French Navy spotted a Portuguese vessel fishing inside the economic zone surrounding Crozet Island."

Alistair Graham: "On a standard 5-7 week fishing trip these poachers might expect to take anything from 500 to 800 tonnes . You're talking about several million dollars worth of fish for a month's fishing, which means that you can pay off a boat in a week or two."

Comm: "The skipper of this boat had more than a million dollars worth of Toothfish on board. The fish was confiscated and he was fined.

"Other groups have been active, trying to expose the pirates. When the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise sighted an unmarked boat fishing inside the zone surrounding the French Kerguelen islands, it became the start of a 3000 mile chase across the Southern Ocean. Denise Boyd was the expedition leader on that voyage."

Denise Boyd: "It was clearly indulging in illegal fishing activities given the large number of sea birds we could see round the vessel.

"We couldn't see any markings on her to identify it. They weren't to keen to see anybody else because approximately one minute after we'd spotted each other - actually eyeballed each other, they turned to the east increased speed and shot off and that was the start of a 17 day chase. The logbook just shows they changed courses various times.

"During daylight the next day we sent some inflatables over - it was a peaceful mission. However our inflatable crews were met with the entire crew dressed in balaclavas so that you couldn't see their faces.

"All the identifying features of the ship had been blanked out so you couldn't see the call sign you couldn't see the name."

Greenpeace Member: "There's a guy about to throw a rock. Where? Under the bridge housing. Here it comes!"

Denise Boyd: "The crew threw rocks at the crew of the inflatable in order to repel them for whatever reason. We had no intention of boarding their vessel."

Comm: "Undeterred by the rock throwing incident The Arctic Sunrise launch their helicopter to try to discover the pirate vessel's name.

"When the inflatable went alongside to ask the boat's name, they were told it was the Isla Gwamblin.

"The crew check with Alistair Graham by sending a picture of the unmarked vessel back on the Internet."

Denise Boyd: "We've got a digital picture, which we can send you and perhaps we can get some identification soon. The measurements we've able to take from here would indicate some 55 meters long."

Alistair Graham: "Here is the first photograph of the as yet unidentified boat received by us from Greenpeace on the 3rd of March. We were able to assist in the identification of this vessel by comparing boats involved in poaching with photos we already had on file. And here is a boat we had on file from the Australian Fishing Management Authorities arrested for poaching in Australian waters the previous year.

"It took us about two days to agree we had identified the Salvora."

Comm: "Records reveal that the Salvora was registered in Belize and operated through a chain of South American companies - by owners from Vigo in Spain.

"Despite heavy seas the pirate vessel was still prepared to make a run for it. The Arctic Sunrise continued the chase for seven days revealing they knew the identity of the boat. Then on the seventh day the vessel uncovered its number and name showing it was indeed the Salvora, registered in Belize.

"There was then a strange incident The Arctic Sunrise received a radio message purporting to come from a legal vessel fishing inside the French Economic Zone.

"Greenpeace Radio Operator: "Your position is 49 degrees. You are fishing on the position 49 degrees south and 72 degrees east. Is that correct? Over."

Comm: "The legal boat claim they have sighted a pirate. Would Arctic Sunrise investigate?"

Greenpeace Radio Operator: "A long-liner fishing. We don't know who they are. I think it's these guys."

Comm: "The radio message was traced back to the captain of the Salvora only a few hundreds meters away. He was trying to divert them from the chase."

Greenpeace Radio Operator: "Thanks for your information and for the moment I'm off. Bye bye."

Comm: "In Part Two: How the Salvora and its pirate catch finally escaped.

"All vessels be they legal like this one or illegal, catch Toothfish by means of a system called longlining. It's a line containing tens of thousands of hooks that can stretch as far as 5 Nautical miles behind the boat. These hooks also snare birds particularly Albatrosses who dive for the bait. Now because of the number Toothfish pirates some five species of albatross are at risk."

Alistair Graham: "That same bait is very attractive food for albatrosses. they are attracted to the boats. they see they're paying out long lines. They dive on the hooks and some of them get caught. Once they are caught on the hooks, they get dragged down and drowned and killed.

"When it comes to the breeding season and these birds are working hard to feed their chicks they look for food close to these islands just where the boats are fishing and we find far too many are getting killed. So many that unless something is done, these species will become extinct."

Comm: "Scientists have placed satellite transmitters on albatrosses to show how birds suddenly disappear. Here at the British Antarctic Survey base in Cambridge England, they analyse the results."

Dr Andy Wood: "The satellite tags allow us to monitor the positions of the birds day and night.

"This bird is going out for round about 20-22 days - a thousand kilometres to where it stopped. We have tracks that go 14 -15, 000 kilometres. Here we've got a tagged female Wandering Albatross going out towards South America coming round and down along the Patagonian Shelf foraging for its chick at Bird Island. It comes down the shelf and finally stops somewhere off the shelf break of S America. More than likely it got caught on a long line."

Dr John Croxall: "In the Patagonian toothfishery we estimated that the bi-catch of birds principally by the illegal pirate fishers was around 100,000 birds a year of which 10 to 20,000 were albatrosses. This is completely unsustainable for the population of those albatross species concerned."

Comm: "Day 8 of the pursuit. But now the Salvora's engines were beginning to fail. The two boats however were at least on speaking terms."

Salvora Crew Member on Phone (in French): "Why are you following us?"

Greenpeace Member: "They want to know why we are continuing to follow them in international waters."

Denise Boyd: "We want to know - Is your intention still to fish for Toothfish in CCAMLR waters? Do you have a permit to fish in CCAMLR waters."

Salvora Crew Member on Phone (in French): "No Greenpeace no! We want to fish in international waters - not CCAMLR waters. We were not fishing."

Greenpeace Member: "He keeps saying - there - Kerguelen - they were not fishing. And they did not have the right to fish. And they weren't fishing."

Comm: "By day 12 the Salvora had limped towards the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Mauritius has always taken a very close interest in the Toothfish trade. The Arctic Sunrise had radioed ahead to the government of that island and demanded that the Salvora be detained and the catch confiscated.

"When a Government gunboat came out to meet the two vessels it looked as if Mauritius was prepared to help.

"Matt Gianni, Greenpeace's Oceans director, takes up the story."

Matt Gianni: "While Greenpeace was chasing the Salvora, we were regularly communicating to a variety of government potentially involved in this issue, the Australian Government, other governments in the region, to ensure that enforcement action was taken and of course once we realised that the Salvora was going to go into Mauritius, we began calling on the Mauritius government to seize the vessel, conduct an investigation, and on the basis of the investigation, to take enforcement action, if so warranted. We had people working in Mauritius, talking to the Prime Ministers office, talking to the fisheries minister, talking to the press, and talking with the French and the Australian and other embassies in Mauritius, to try to get international action, co-ordinated to basically seize and arrest the Salvora. What the Mauritian government finally agreed to, was to conduct an inspection of the Salvora, when it arrived in Mauritius. And this was something of a breakthrough."

Comm: "After it was agreed to move the Salvora to Port Louis harbour in Mauritius, it looked as though Greenpeace had scored a great coup. With the world's press watching Mauritius was putting up a convincing display of environmental concern. But it wasn't quite like that."

Matt Gianni: "There was a hearing of sorts. The Salvora basically presented evidence claiming that the Salvora was not fishing where we found it but three to four hundred miles further to the north both in an area outside French jurisdiction and presented that as evidence they were fishing entirely legally.

"The Salvora basically cooked its logbook. They presented false evidence before the courts in Mauritius."

Denise Boyd: "All records had been wiped, and the log books had quite clearly been falsified because it showed at the date and time that we found the Salvora at Kerguelan Island she was claiming to be about 300 nautical miles away from that position."

Matt Gianni: "We presented our logbooks as evidence, the video we had taken of the Salvora, the positioning instruments we had used for the exact position when we first saw the Salvora The courts without explicitly saying so said Greenpeace was right and the Salvora was wrong. And in fact the Salvora was fishing illegally. However, officially, Mauritius has no jurisdiction over illegal fishing outside of its 200-mile zone, So the Mauritiun government said: The Salvora has not broken any Mauritian laws."

Comm: "Throughout, the Salvora never once admitted to illegal fishing inside French waters."

Matt Gianni: "What the government did finally agree to do was to deny permission for the Salvora to land any of its fish, something which the Salvora was very anxious to do. It had over $1m worth of fish on board.

"Eventually the Salvora left after several weeks in Port Louis. Our best guess is the Salvora transhipped at sea. A freighter that specialises in taking fish catches from boats at sea , took the catch from the Salvora and took it off to the market place."

Comm: "The Salvora was registered in Belize under what is known as a flag of convenience. It means the boat's owners simply paid money to use the flag of the country of Belize."

Matt Gianni: "The Salvora is a classic example of flags of convenience fishing. The Belize Government should have asked the Mauritius Government to arrest the vessel. The Belize government should have stripped that boat of its flag and fined it and possibly given gaol time to the owners of the vessel. That's what should have happened. But unfortunately under international law countries like Belize, Panama and Honduras can issue flags to fishing vessels, turn a blind eye. These boats can fish anywhere in the world's oceans that they please catch as much as they can catch illegally and get away with it. It's high seas robbery. It's high seas piracy."

Comm: "So who really owned the Salvora? Disguised by its Belize flag of convenience its ownership was traced through an Argentinean company 'Clayton Trading' to a company 'Morabal' near the huge fishing port of Vigo in Spain. One of the then owners of Morabal was Manuel Mora, filmed here with a hidden camera."

Q: "He owns the Salvora and it was caught fishing in French waters."

Manuel Mora: "No, no! It was in Australian waters."

Q: "It was caught in Australian waters but also in French waters a year later."

Manuel Mora: "No No We had nothing to do with the French. Just Australian."

Q: "Does it matter under Spanish law that they are inside other people's economic zones."

Manuel Mora: "If a ship has a foreign flag, it has nothing to do with Spain. The boat wasn't even Spanish."

Comm: "Why did the Salvora chose Mauritius harbour for its port to run to? It is known to the pirates as the world's capital for landing illegally caught Toothfish. Australian Jeff Williamson, is also a member of the ISOFISH campaign. He's here tracking the pirates mentioned earlier, that were fishing round the Crozet Islands, managed to slip past the French Navy. Jeff is an expert in this field. Last year he produced a devastating report on what happens in the harbour of Port Louis."

Jeff Williamson: "Here we are in Port Louis, the main harbour within Mauritius. This harbour is known to be a haven for boats engaged in the illegal Patagonian Toothfish trade. How many of the boats we had intelligence on as fishing in the Crozet have quietly slipped into this harbour and discharged their catch. We can see several boats around here, some well-known within illegal Toothfish trade. Here we have the Grand Prince and it's known to be allied to interests in the Spanish industry and its known to have recently discharged Patagonian Toothfish..."

Comm: "Here is the Grand Prince filmed three months later fishing illegally in the waters round the French Kergualan Islands."

Jeff Williamson: "The Cisne Azul has been working very closely with the Grand Prince. They've been moored together here, they've been sharing equipment, doing repairs together. It's recently discharged Patagonian Toothfish in the last few days in this port here."

Comm: "The Grand Prince and the Cisne Azul were both moored next to Mauritius Coast Guard vessels. The same coast guard that had taken such an interest in the Salvora and its illegal catch. During the investigation Earth Report asked the Mauritus Government and the Prime Minister's Office several times for an interview to explain why they allow their harbour to be used to offload illegal toothfish catch. The Mauritus Government refused to comment."

Jeff Williamson: "Another vessel is the Chatir Dag. It's a Ukrainian vessel. Currently the license has been revoked by the French authorities.
Over here we have a boat which is called the Rita."

Comm: "The Rita, registered in Belize particularly intrigued Jeff Williamson. It looked familiar. On a previous visit Jeff had photographed the same Norwegian-owned boat, then called the Cindy. Jeff sent the pictures back to colleague, Alistair Graham."

Alistair Graham: "Here we have photographs of the Cindy poaching fish in the Southern Ocean and now coming into Mauritius to unload and we had someone taking photographs on the wharf in Mauritius as the Cindy was unloading."

Comm: "In Part Two of White Gold we talk to the Norwegian owner of the Rita and to other pirates.

"And we show how Alistair Graham's organisation has helped to shut down Norway's illegal fleets. And how the French Navy are taking the toughest possible action against pirate vessels, by sinking them."