Falklands : Viarsa's Just End
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 17.01.2008 (Article Archived on 07.02.2008)
F/V VIARSA, chased actoss the Southern and South Atlantic Oceans for 21 days has been dismantled in a Mumbai ship-wrecking yard.
Photos (c) AFMA - Viarsa being dismantled and Australian Customs - Viarsa in an unfriendly Southern Ocean
VIARSA’S JUST END
Viarsa being dismantled in Mumbai
By J. Brock (FINN)
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) have confirmed that the F/V VIARSA, accused of poaching Patagonian Tooth-fish around Heard Island in mid 2003 has finally been dismantled in a ship-wrecking yard in Mumbai, India.
An item in their December newsletter says that the F/V VIARSA was forfeited in February 2007, even though five crewmembers were acquitted at the end of 2005 of poaching charges levied against them.
F/V VIARSA was the subject of a 21-day, 3900 NM chase through an icy and dangerous Southern Ocean that ended in the vicinity of Gough Island in the South Atlantic. Vessels had been sent to chase the ship from the Falkland Islands, (FPV DORADA),South Africa (SA Agulhas) and Australia (FPV SOUTHERN SUPPORTER).
From south of Gough Island the F/V VIARSA was escorted to Cape Town and subsequently escorted by the Australian Navy to Perth in Western Australia where five accused crewmembers went to the Magistrates Court to begin legal proceedings. To help defray the cost of the chase the vessel’s catch of Patagonian Tooth-fish was sold by the Australian Government.
The owners did not want to forfeit the F/V VIARSA.
Viarsa being chased in an unfriendly Southern Ocean
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