The Australian Government has struck a significant blow against
illegal fishing of its waters in the International Tribunal for
the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
ITLOS was established under the 1982 United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In an important judgment handed
down in Hamburg overnight, ITLOS considered the amount of the bond
to be set for the release of a Russian-flagged vessel apprehended
for alleged illegal fishing for Patagonian Toothfish in Australian
waters around Heard and MacDonald Islands (HIMI) in February 2002.
The Tribunal rejected the Russian Federation's offer of $500,000
for the release of their vessel the Volga. Instead, it
set a bond for the full value of the vessel - $1.92 million.
Attorney-General Daryl Williams said the bond set by the Tribunal
represented a significant advance on its previous judgments.
"In the past, the Tribunal has discounted the amount of the value
of the vessel by up to 70 per cent," Mr Williams said.
"In setting the bond at the full value of the vessel, ITLOS obviously
accepted the seriousness of illegal fishing being carried out contrary
to both Australian and international law."
Senator Macdonald, the Federal Minister for Fisheries, Forestry
and Conservation, said "The illegal fishers who pillage our valuable
Patagonian Toothfish resources are no better than modern day pirates. They
generate significant returns from activities that are clearly contrary
to both Australian and international law."
The Minister went on to say, "the principles for co-operation
in the management of Patagonian Toothfish are set out in the Convention
for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, to which
both Australia and the Russian Federation are parties. In the
past, ITLOS has also deducted the value of any catch seized by
the relevant country in setting the bond.
It made no such deduction in this case. It also rejected the
argument of the Russian Federation that the circumstances of the
arrest outside the Australian fishing zone should be taken into
account in reducing the bond."
"This is an excellent result", Mr Downer commented. "It shows
that international courts take the scourge of illegal fishing seriously
and are prepared to act to ensure that vessels allegedly involved
in illegal fishing will not be released for paltry sums such as
that put forward by the owners of the Volga, with the potential
to be used for future illegal fishing".
A full transcript of the Tribunal's judgment can be found on the
ITLOS website (www.itlos.org).
