On January 12 the New Zealand navy patrol boat HMNZS Wellington intercepted three vessels—the Kunkun, the Songhua and the Yongding—which it allegedly observed fishing illegally in the Southern Ocean. The boats were reportedly catching toothfish, a lucrative species sold in up-market restaurants in Asia and the US. For three days the Wellington faced off against the vessels, which are flagged to Equatorial Guinea, but was unable to board them because the captains took evasive action. The patrol boat eventually returned to New Zealand to refuel. This relatively minor incident provoked a storm of controversy in New Zealand. Opposition politicians portrayed the three unarmed boats in international waters as a national security threat. They condemned the navy’s failure to halt them and used the episode to whip up nationalism and militarism.
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 08:24:42 +0000
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