New Zealand military deployed to police Southern Ocean fishery

A New Zealand warship will leave for Antarctic waters Sunday to police international fishing activities, the government announced Friday.

Offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington would monitor the annual fishing season in the Ross Sea region of the Southern Ocean, Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee and Foreign Minister Murray McCully said in a statement.

"New Zealand is working closely with international partners to stamp out illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in the Southern Ocean," Brownlee said.

"We have been conducting maritime surveillance in the Southern Ocean using ships since the late 1990s, and offshore patrol vessel HMNZS Wellington is fully prepared for work in these extremely challenging waters."

Monitoring New Zealand and foreign-owned fishing boats in the Ross Sea area was a multi-agency activity led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the New Zealand Defence Force and the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).

"We take conservation in the Southern Ocean very seriously, and this will be even more important when the Ross Sea region marine protected area (MPA) comes into force in December next year," McCully said.

A New Zealand air force P3-K2 Orion would conduct surveillance flights and MPI inspectors would be aboard the Welllington to conduct compliance checks on the Southern Ocean's legal fishing fleet.

The Ross Sea will be home to the world's biggest MPA when it comes into force.

The 25-member Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources in October unanimously agreed to the New Zealand-United States proposal to establish the MPA.

It will cover roughly 1.55 million square km, of which 1.12 million square km will be a no-fishing zone.

The Ross Sea region has an unbroken food-chain, still with all of its top-level predators, according to New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Endit