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$100 000 reward to catch toothfish pirates
SEAFOOD.COM
7th May 2003 -Perth, Australia, and Brussels, Belgium.
A new international alliance of legal Patagonian toothfishers formed to protect sustainable toothfish resources is offering a reward of $US 100,000 for information leading to the conviction of fishers, companies, directors or employees involved in illegal fishing operations.
The Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators (COLTO) and its first campaign was launched today in Brussels at one of the world's largest seafood expos, the European Seafood Exposition. There are at least three South African members plus a member from Namibia.
COLTO spokesperson Hamish Wylie, Chairman of Consolidated Fisheries Limited from Falkland Islands/Isles Malvinas, said major elements of the campaign, designed to gather information included a website, a Wanted Poster in seven languages and an international free call centre.
The free call centre can be accessed from 15 countries including Indonesia, Hong Kong, Spain, France, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Chile, China, Singapore, Australia and Uruguay. It is also set up to take calls in at least five languages.
'Industry members come from New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Australia, Chile, Argentina, United Kingdom, Namibia, Uruguay and France. All of us are committed to working with governments, conservation groups and the general public to highlight the need for urgent action to combat illegal toothfish pirates,' Mr Wylie said.
COLTO members represent more than half of the total global legal production catching over 15,000 tonnes of toothfish per year.
'Our objective is to stop any toothfish being taken illegally before unscrupulous operators put us out of business and decimate toothfish stocks.'
'To help achieve this objective, COLTO has set up the free call centre and the website to encourage people to provide information to us in a safe and non-threatening environment. We urge people to visit our website at http://www.colto.org/.'
'Add our comprehensive industry contacts and COLTO will be able to provide even better intelligence and marketing information on those who participate in this high seas piracy to government agencies and surveillance bodies. Governments can then move to prosecute and eliminate them.'
'COLTO is offering large rewards because it knows it is dealing with syndicated crime on a global scale and it will take the combined efforts of all us to fight and stop these illegal activities.'
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