[pf] the Patagonian toothfish can live as long as 80 years

by David MacClement

10 December 2000 22:03 UTC

· I still don't understand why so often there is objection when I say:
"The rich are at fault in simply spending their money".

  Here's typical example; fleets of big fishing boats wouldn't be going to
the ends of the earth and the depths of the sea if they couldn't sell the
product for high enough prices to make the whole business pay. And ordinary
folk (even average Americans, I think) wouldn't pay enough to enable this
sort of thing to continue :-

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For Full Text and Graphics Visit:  
http://ens.lycos.com/ens/nov2000/2000l-11-01-11.html

Southern Ocean's Toothfish Damned by Toothless Legislation

HOBART, Tasmania, Australia, November 1, 2000 (ENS) - Dead seabirds and two 
tonnes of longline fishing gear greeted delegates to the annual meeting of 
Antarctica's foremost conservation body, Tuesday.
Greenpeace, who organized the stunt, said the corpses illustrate the
ineffectiveness of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine
Living Resources (CCAMLR) in dealing with pirate fishing in the Southern
Ocean. 
The group wants the commission to declare an immediate moratorium on
commercial fishing for dwindling stocks of Antarctic sea bass, otherwise
known as the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides). 
The Patagonian toothfish was virtually unknown until Chilean fishers caught
a specimen in the deep waters in the Southern Ocean off Chile in 1982. It
quickly became a sensation in high-end restaurants after the crash of two
other fish species, the orange roughy and the North Pacific black cod. 
The fish is particularly vulnerable to over-fishing because it can live as
long as 80 years and does not reproduce until it is eight to 10 years old.
The slow recruitment rate makes it nearly impossible to recover from over
fishing. 
Since 1991, there has been limited legal fishing of the Patagonian
toothfish, but in recent years, illegal and unregulated fishing has risen
dramatically and the estimated illegal catch is thought to be least two to
three times the legal limit. 

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sent on by David.