Several
contacts were made with fishing vessels on a surveillance
flight conducted over the Ross Sea by an RNZAF Orion
Aircraft on Thursday.
Foreign Minister Phil Goff said that
the aircraft crew followed routine procedures on sighting
the vessels, including photographing them.
"The
information collected by the flight will be analysed by the
relevant agencies and if necessary follow-up action will be
taken if any infringements are detected," he said.
Today's
surveillance flight was the first of the 2003/04 fishing
season authorised by the Commission for Conservation of
Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
This is the
seventh year that the RNZAF has undertaken surveillance
flights in the Ross Sea, aimed at detecting and deterring
illegal fishing.
"Demand for toothfish is such that
considerable illegal fishing takes place in the Southern
Ocean," Mr Goff said. "But so far the Ross Sea has been
spared any illegal fishing, largely because of New Zealand's
surveillance of these waters."
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