‘Knockout brawl’ over ship’s ruse
Russia has accused New Zealand of falsifying evidence in a diplomatic clash over illegal fishing in waters around Antarctica.
New Zealand and many allies rejected the accusation but nonetheless lost this round, official papers show. On January 19 last year, a routine New Zealand surveillance flight over the Southern Ocean spotted a Russian-flagged ship, the FV Palmer, fishing in an area where fishing is banned by international agreement.
The Palmer’s satellite tracker – a ‘‘vessel monitoring system’’ or VMS – indicated the vessel was about 800 nautical miles (1500 kilometres) from that spot. New Zealand protested the deception and apparent illegal fishing in correspondence with Russia in the months that followed.
The matter came to a head in late October during the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
New Zealand challenged Russia with the photographic evidence, this time in front of 24 member nations, and numerous non-government organisations and fishing industry groups. The photos showed the Palmer had ‘‘falsified its VMS data and its entry and exit notifications so that it could fish in Subarea 88.1 (Ross Sea region north of 70°S) which was closed to fishing’’, according to the official report of the Octobermeeting.
The vessel was ‘‘on a productive fishing feature, with an ice cage deployed, travelling at slow speed’’, New Zealand said – evidence it was fishing and not simply in transit.
The 50-metre-long Palmer was most likely fishing for toothfish. New Zealand called on Russia to act against the Palmer. The United States backed New Zealand, calling the case ‘‘egregious’’. In reply, Russia took issue with the ‘‘so-called patrol’’ by the New Zealand aircraft. It said the photos’ metadata showed ‘‘traces of changes made on 20 January’’.
The Russians also said ‘‘this example of aerial patrolling’’ did not comply with the CCAMLR inspection rules. It inspected the Palmer’s VMS and found nothing wrong.
The European Union said Russia had not shared the VMS data as ‘‘requested repeatedly’’.
‘‘Discussions on the Palmer were intense,’’ said Claire Christian, the executive director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a US based organisation. She had attended CCAMLR conferences for years and ‘‘seen several disagreements’’ but not one like this. ‘‘It is very serious to accuse a nation of presenting false information to an organisation such as CCAMLR,’’ she wrote in an email.
On Twitter, long-time Antarctic observer Andrew Darby said the tiff was ‘‘actually a knockout brawl’’.
Russia declined to take action against the Palmer and its crew under domestic legislation. It could have supported a recommendation that the Palmer be placed on the ‘‘Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated’’ vessel list. However, Russia declined this too. Under CCAMLR rules, banning ships must be achieved with 100 per cent support by voting members.
In the bland words of the report: ‘‘The commission did not reach consensus.’’ In the language of consensus governance, Russia ‘‘blocked’’ New Zealand. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson told Stuff that ‘‘[last] year’s CCAMLR meeting presented some challenges but New Zealand worked hard with other members, including Russia, to secure consensus across the majority of objectives’’.