WELLINGTON: In and around the Antarctic, in some of the coldest, most inhospitable, waters on earth, the annual hunt has begun for the fish they call white gold — so valuable that it has attracted modern day pirates, every bit as ruthless and cunning as the buccaneers of old.

Worth up to 1,000 US dollars each in the markets of Tokyo and New York, the Patagonian toothfish is so valuable that organized crime syndicates have moved in, creating a multi-million dollar black market threatening to rival drug traffic and people smuggling.

The pirates’ grab-all policy ignores national exclusive fishing zones and international agreements aimed at preserving stocks of commercially valuable species which have already been ruthlessly over-exploited in more accessible parts of the world.

Using rust bucket boats, usually registered in faraway unlikely nations, the pirate skippers dodge the icebergs of the Southern Ocean as well as air and naval surveillance of legitimate fishing countries in the region in their pursuit of the prized fish.

Earlier this year, a boat flying the flag of Uruguay with a load of toothfish was chased 4,000 nautical miles for three weeks by an Australian customs patrol ship. It was believed to be only one of 20 pirate vessels illegally fishing in Australian waters at the time and the other 19 fished on unhindered.

According to the 24-nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) — an international body charged with managing fish resources in the Southern Ocean — a total 15,931 tons of toothfish was caught legally by its members in approved zones last season.

CCAMLR members, who are duty bound to report all catches so that experts can monitor stocks, said another 18,918 tons of toothfish were caught in international waters outside the area of CCAMLR’s responsibility.

But not all CCAMLR members are squeaky clean when it comes to toothfish and some are suspected of taking more than they declared.

On top of this, says New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries’ chief scientist John Annala, the pirates are estimated to take at least 10 times the legal catch of Patagonian toothfish, a deep sea species known by many other names, including Antarctic cod, Chilean sea bass, Chilean grouper, black hake and, in Japan, mero.

Stocks are thought to be particularly vulnerable because while it can live for 50 years it does not breed until at least 10 years old risking rapid depletion before fish populations can be replenished.

Amid fears that Patagonian toothfish stocks could be wiped out by the rapacious pirates, there are signs that fishing nations are turning their attention to a related species called Antarctic toothfish found only in the Ross Sea.

New Zealand, which claims the adjacent Ross Dependency, monitors the international waters of the Ross Sea by regular air force surveillance flights and says that so far no illegal boats have been detected there.

But interest in the area is mounting and it is thought to be only a matter of time before the pirates move in.

Last season only 10 boats (seven from New Zealand, two from Russia and one from South Africa) took up CCAMLR approvals to catch toothfish legally in the Ross Sea and bad weather limited their catch to less than half the 3,760 tons they were permitted to take.

But they are queuing up to compete for a reduced quota of 3,250 tons in the 2003-04.—dpa