21-Day fishing trawler chase ends

Fisheries Centre reserach fellow Reg Watson explains the lure of Chilean sea bass, an illegal cargo of which was found in the Uruguayan fishing trawler after a 21-day chase through Antarctic seas.

"It's the last gold rush. It's a little bit like the ivory of the sea," says Watson. "It's got this white flesh that's very, very valuable and there is a small legal trade, like ivory, but there is a huge illegal trade and it prospers. People are buying it."

Watson says Chilean sea bass is in most of our fish shops and it's certainly not all legal.

"We have choices as consumers. We could choose products from fisheries that are well managed. We could choose to eat sea foods coming from legally produced systems."