NZ refits high-capacity toothfish Autoliner

NEW ZEALAND’S deepwater fishing industry is celebrating the arrival of the high-capacity 63 metre toothfish Autoliner Antarctic Chieftain, writes Dominic Andrae in Nelson.

This industry has experienced only minimal financial investment in recent years and has had to weather tough local operating conditions, including huge cuts in the country’s hoki allocations.

The Nelson-based Autoliner was bought in March by New Zealand Long Line Ltd. (NZLL), a 50:50 joint venture between owners Sealord and Talleys.

She will set her baited hooks through an aft shooting tube to avoid accidently catching seabirds when targeting toothfish in the harsh and icy Antarctic waters of the Ross Sea.

The ship will fish these waters for about four months of the year and then work under charter to the Australian firm Petuna in Australia’s sub-Antarctic toothfish fishery around the Macquarie, Heard and McDonald islands.

Also, she will target ling in the New Zealand EEZ for the remainder of the year.

Ross Tocker, spokesman for NZLL and Sealord’s general manager of international fishing, tells FNI: “The New Zealand deepwater sector has been in decline over the last few years and this has been reflected in massive cuts to TACs – particularly hoki – as well as fleet reductions.

“The arrival of Antarctic Chieftain is indeed a cause for celebration in the industry.”

Antarctic Chieftain, built in Taiwan in 2002, replaces the seven-year-old former Irish-owned Autoliner Avro Chieftain which is now being prepared to fish the Barents Sea for her new owner, the Norwegian firm Carisma Fish.

Antarctic Chieftain – formerly the Russian ice-class longliner Volna – was officially blessed after a four-month and NZ$2.5 (US$1.5) million refit and upgrade.

She was blessed by local Maori before starting a shakedown trip to the Chatham Rise to target ling. This trip is to try out her innovative automatic lining system and to undergo tests to ensure that she complies with the strict requirements of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).

The commission sets quotas, monitors catches and rules on conservation measures for the 21 vessels from nine member countries fishing in its vast management zone.

Toothfish catching is managed as an Olympic fishery, with the season closing as soon as the quota is reached. There are other restrictions, such as to avoid catching seabirds and a ban on offal dumping which would attract seabirds.

The purchase of the ship has wider economic implications in that it reflects Nelson, the hub of the New Zealand industry, finally reporting an improvement in export earnings from the primary sector.

Bill Findlater, chief executive of Nelson Regional Economic Development Agency, predicts that the port’s recovery will improve before those of other New Zealand metropolitan areas.

He says that more than 30% of Nelson’s income, in which fishing plays a major part, comes from the primary sector. An exchange rate rise, which crippled export earnings, had meant that the region’s economy was one of the first to dip.

But, he says, “it was also one of the first to recover – and now the weakening dollar is boosting the industry’s export take.”

Under her previous name of Volna, Antarctic Chieftain had been working with 45 Chinese crew and she was fitted to operate with the Spanish hand-baited longline system for catching on the Ross Sea toothfish grounds.

Ross Tocker says: “The vessel had been working the Ross Sea when Talleys identified her as being ideal for our needs. We persisted and the deal was done.

“The fish factory was in poor condition and her accommodation, ablutions area and galley were not up to satisfactory standards for a NZLL vessel.“NZLL needed to bring her up to a standard that was befitting of the company – and that’s what we did.”

In addition, a new NZ$600,000 Norwegian Mustad Autoline system working with a Fiskevegn 11.5 mm integrated weight mainline has been installed. Her new electronics package includes a Furuno Felcom 82 Inmarsat B satcoms set, Thrane and Thrane Inmarsat C satcoms, Iridium Open Port voice and e-mail system, Thrane and Thrane VMS and Sailor GMDSS set.

Ross Tocker says: “She will have a crew of 30. On the new vessel, the same high environmental standards with regards to seabird safety have been included.

“Avro Chieftain was the first vessel in New Zealand to be fitted with a moonpool system and integrated line weighting, which has played a major part in reducing the risks of accidental seabird catch.

“The vessel was positioned over the line when hauling in and the line was taken up through the moonpool using a specialised chain pulley system. This made it possible to haul the line more smoothly, to recover fish which had slipped off the hooks and there was no returning baits or caught fish visible to attract foraging sea birds.

“On Antarctic Chieftain, there is a shooting tube which minimises any risk of attracting birds to the bait on setting the baited lines into the water at the waterline and in the prop’s wash.

“This method is at the forefront of such technology. The well-established bird scaring capabilities of Tori streamer lines are also utilised. “NZLL has worked the strictly controlled and monitored CCAMLR waters for the last nine years and we have never caught a seabird in those waters.

“Furthermore, we have initiated strict environmental protocols and NZLL leaves the lowest footprint of any of the toothfish vessels in CCAMLR waters. It is a record we can be and are justifiably proud of.”

Ross Tocker adds: “Let’s not forget that New Zealanders pioneered the Ross Sea fishery and it was our research that pioneered these developments, including toothfish and skate tagging, which have now become the standard applied across global toothfish fisheries.

“We have come a long way in ten years: from just one vessel in the fishery making a night time set to 21 vessels now and all the accompanying innovative technology.”

Antarctic Chieftain is powered by a new 1600 bhp Akasaka main engine and her auxiliary power is provided by twin Yanmar 480 bhp sets. Her fuel capacity of 500,000 litres is twice that of Avro Chieftain and she can stay at sea for twice as long – up to 180 days. This will substantially cut the vessel’s operating costs compared to those of Avro Chieftain.

The vessel’s hold capacity has been extended to take 500 tonnes of frozen product and, again, is double that aboard Avro Chieftain. Ross Tocker concludes: “Antarctic Chieftain, with her bigger fuel capacity, bigger volume of storage and bigger hold capacity, looks set to keep NZLL at the forefront of the Antarctic toothfish longline fishery for the immediate future.”