Fed: Aust boat in pursuit of fishing boat in Southern Ocean=2
Senator Ellison, who is also customs minister, said the vessel was allegedly spottedlast Thursday inside the Australian Fishing Zone adjacent to Heard and McDonald Islands.
"When it did not stop .... it was engaged by the Southern Supporter and that hot pursuithas been continuing since then," Senator Ellison told reporters.
"The vessel is now in international waters heading west and we are intent on this pursuitcontinuing."
Parliamentary Secretary to the Environment Minister, Sharman Stone, said the SouthernSupporter was facing dangerous weather conditions.
"Yesterday the storm forecast or situation was reduced to gale, now we're talking aboutthe Southern Ocean so these are extraordinarily dangerous conditions that they're continuingthis pursuit in," Dr Stone told reporters.
"This is really a highly dangerous, most difficult situation you can imagine in keepinga vessel in hot pursuit in these circumstances."
Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald said Australia had been in contact with the Uruguayangovernment throughout the chase.
He said the Uruguayan government must take responsibility for ensuring Uruguayan-flaggedships respected international fishing laws.
"The Uruguayan government have cooperated but the principal enforcement should be bythe flag state, that is by the Uruguayan government," Senator Macdonald told reporters.
"Their officials have worked over the weekend to contact the vessel although I understandfrom the Uruguayans that they say they are having some difficulty in contacting the vessel."
Senator Ellison would not say how far the two vessels had travelled or for how longthe chase might continue.
"The hot pursuit is on international waters and the law of the sea applies in relationto the pursuit, I'm not going to signal what options we're considering," Senator Ellisonsaid.
The Patagonian toothfish is a deep sea fish mainly found in large areas of the sub-Antarcticoceans, but primarily in the Southern Ocean and adjacent southern parts of the Atlanticand Indian Oceans.
AAP pj/sb/cd/de P
KEYWORD: TOOTHFISH 2 CANBERRA
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