Fishermen Fined For Catching Toothfish

[mrmoshe]

Two Spanish fisherman have been fined for illegally fishing endangered Patagonian toothfish in Australian waters in the Southern Ocean last year.

Alfonso Dacruz Amoedo and Enrique Dominguez had 143 tonnes of toothfish on their Cambodian flagged boat, the FV Taruman, when it was intercepted by Australian authorities near sub-antarctic Macquarie Island in September last year.

The vessel was later escorted to Hobart.

Documents later proved only that 3.9 tonnes of the fish were illegally caught in Australian waters within two or three days in June last year.

The fish were caught with long lines and processed on board the vessel.

In the District Court in Sydney today, Judge Stephen Norrish fined the two men $65,000 and $53,000 respectively, although the maximum penalties under the law were a fine of $1.375 million.

The judge found that the men were not pirates because most of their catch had been caught legally and said they were industrious men of good character.

It is believed they will soon be deported from Australia.

Amoedo, the ship's fishing master, and Dominguez, the captain, are both residents of Uruguay.

Patagonian toothfish is also known as Chilean sea bass. It was once shunned by many seafood lovers but it came into fashion in the mid-1990s.

Nowadays it is one of the most expensive seafood items on the world market and conservationists fear overfishing means its numbers are on the verge of collapse.

[Guest johblow]

Those tonnage numbers are frightening! 143 tons of anything is a bugger-load, but of fish?! Assuming fish have similar density to water, thats 143 cubic metres of fish, so a pool 10 metres by 4.3 metres by one meter deep. Thats a lot of fish. I dont know what percentage it represents... I wanna know how they store it on the boats?!

[Flattieman]

The patagonian toothfish has been protected for a reason. It is sad to hear that so much has been wasted.

Flattieman.

[Flattieman]

saddening story

falttieman... could you provide a pic?

CFD

There ya go, mate:

Flattieman.

[mrmoshe]

There ya go, mate:

Flattieman.

Thanks Flattie.

Just doing some reading on the Patagonian Toothfish and boy, they are a special kind of fish.

Like having an anti freeze protein substance in their blood (which is clear, not red) that stop

ice crystals forming in their bloodstream.

Aint nature amazing!

Pete.

[Sammy0884]

They look like a jewfish!

[Flattieman]

Thanks Flattie.

Just doing some reading on the Patagonian Toothfish and boy, they are a special kind of fish.

Like having an anti freeze protein substance in their blood (which is clear, not red) that stop

ice crystals forming in their bloodstream.

Aint nature amazing!

Pete.

Reminds me of the Antarctic icefish that can be frozen in ice floes for extended periods, thaw out and swim off - they too have the antifreeze in their blood.

Flattieman.

[mrmoshe]

Reminds me of the Antarctic icefish that can be frozen in ice floes for extended periods, thaw out and swim off - they too have the antifreeze in their blood.

Flattieman.

Flattie...you will probably know this.

Someone once told me that flatties are actually prehistoric fish.

Is this true?

They sure look like they could have come from way back when.

Pete.

[James]

They look like a jewfish!

look very similar to a jew.

that might explain where they go in the winter

[Flattieman]

Flattie...you will probably know this.

Someone once told me that flatties are actually prehistoric fish.

Is this true?

They sure look like they could have come from way back when.

Pete.

Mate, I wouldn't be extremely surprised. Flatties have really adapted to bottom feeding, so I have no doubt that they have quite early origins. One true prehistoric fish, however, is the coelecanth - it is a true "fossil fish" and was even thought to be extinct for many years. Here's a pic:

Flattieman.

PS. Hope I haven't digressed too much!

Edited September 26, 2006 by Flattieman

[mrmoshe]

Thanks Flattie...you are a mine of information when it comes to

stuff like this...many thanks.

Pete.

[Flattieman]

Thanks Flattie...you are a mine of information when it comes to

stuff like this...many thanks.

Pete.

No problems mate. If you want to know more about the amazing coelecanth/coelacanth, click here:

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/coela.htm

Here's some info from that site:

An amazing discovery

A few days before Christmas in 1938, a Coelacanth was caught at the mouth of the Chalumna River on the east coast of South Africa. The fish was caught in a shark gill net by Captain Goosen and his crew, who had no idea of the significance of their find. They thought the fish was bizarre enough to alert the local museum in the small South African town of East London.

The Director of the East London Museum at the time was Miss Marjorie Courtney-Latimer. She alerted the prominent south African ichthyologist Dr J.L.B. Smith to this amazing discovery. The Coelacanth was eventually named (scientific name: Latimeria chalumnae) in honour of Miss Courtney-Latimer.

This Coelacanth specimen led to the discovery of the first documented population, off the Comoros Islands, between Africa and Madagascar. For sixty years this was presumed to be the only Coelacanth population in existence.

Sulawesi Coelacanth

On July 30 1998, a Coelacanth was caught in a deep-water shark net by local fishers off the volcanic island of Manado Tua in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. This is about 10 000 km east of the Western Indian Ocean Coelacanth population. The fisher brought the fish to the house of American biologist Mark Erdmann who along with his wife Arnaz had seen a specimen in the outdoor markets the previous September. The local people were familiar with the Coelacanth and called it raja laut or 'king of the sea'.

When the Coelacanth from Sulawesi was first documented, the only obvious difference between it and the Coelacanth from the Comoros Islands was the colour. The Comoros Coelacanth is renowned for its steel blue colour, whereas fish from the Sulawesi population were reported to be brown. In 1999 the Sulawesi Coelacanth was described as a new species, Latimeria menadoensis by Pouyaud, Wirjoatmodjo, Rachmatika, Tjakrawidjaja, Hadiaty and Hadie.

The discovery of a new species of Coelacanth in Sulawesi, opens up the possibility that Coelacanths may be more widespread and abundant than was previously assumed.

Living fossil

The Coelacanth specimen caught in 1938 is still considered to be the zoological find of the century. This 'living fossil' comes from a lineage of fishes that was thought to have been extinct since the time of the dinosaurs.

Coelacanths are known from the fossil record dating back over 360 million years, with a peak in abundance about 240 million years ago. Before 1938 they were believed to have become extinct approximately 80 million years ago, when they disappeared from the fossil record.

How could Coelacanths disappear for over 80 million years and then turn up alive and well in the twentieth century? The answer seems to be that the Coelacanths from the fossil record lived in environments favouring fossilisation. Modern Coelacanths, both in the Comoros and Sulawesi were found in environments that do not favour fossil formation. They inhabit caves and overhangs in near vertical marine reefs, at about 200 m depth, off newly formed volcanic islands.

The discovery by science of the Coelacanth in 1938 caused so much excitement because at that time Coelacanths were thought to be the ancestors of the tetrapods (land-living animals, including humans). It is now believed that Lungfishes are the closest living relative of tetrapods. The Coelacanth may still provide answers to some very interesting evolutionary questions.

Coelacanth characteristics

Coelacanths are quite different from all other living fishes. They have an extra lobe on the tail (see bottom image), paired lobed fins, and a vertebral column that is not fully developed. Coelacanths are the only living animals to have a fully functional intercranial joint, which is a division separating the ear and brain from the nasal organs and eye. The intercranial joint allows the front part of the head to be lifted when the fish is feeding. One of the most interesting features of the Coelacanth, is that it has paired fins which move in a similar fashion to our arms and legs.

This site is also great:

http://www.dinofish.com/

And here's a post I made relating to antifreeze in fish (like the tuskfish):

http://www.fishraider.com.au/Invision/inde...tarctic+icefish

Enjoy

Flattieman.

Edited September 26, 2006 by Flattieman

[mrmoshe]

Fascinating stuff there.

Who knows what else is lurking in the depths eh?

There must be a lot we still don't know about.

Thanks again for the links.

Pete.

[robthefisherman]

so Flattieman are you some sort of biologist or just a keen research buff?

[Flattieman]

so Flattieman are you some sort of biologist or just a keen research buff?

A bit of both, mate. Becoming a marine biologist is a goal of mine.

Flattieman.

Edited September 26, 2006 by Flattieman

[robthefisherman]

A bit of both, mate. Becoming a marine biologist is a goal of mine.

Flattieman.

Good onya, everyone needs a dream