Some of the last Antarctic pirate fishers have been dealt a $A2.4 million further blow, as authorities take a stranglehold over their chase for toothfish "white gold".
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Nearly all known toothfish pirate fishing boats are accounted for, and the syndicate behind most of them is being prosecuted, following a concerted push by conservationists and government.
The federal government is claiming success in Australia's region against the illegal fishing trade, in joint action with Malaysia and other countries.
The pirate toothfisher Perlon, boarded by Australian forces earlier this year, is the most recent of the "Bandit Six" toothfish pirates to be penalised – this time by a Malaysian court.
Its master and crew were fined the equivalent of $A600,000, and a $A1.8 million catch was forfeited for offences under the Malaysian Fisheries Act, the Australian government said on Thursday.
Perlon was repeatedly seen fishing off the Australian Antarctic Territory over 13 years, according to records held by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.
In April it was boarded in the Indian Ocean near Christmas Island by Australian Border Protection Command, who gathered evidence that aided the Malaysian prosecution.
Perth-based legal toothfisher Austral's chief executive David Carter said the last vestiges of illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean had been exposed.
"Thanks to a multinational effort, including this arrest of the Perlon by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, we're hopeful the evidence gathered will lead to a complete halt of illegal fishing for toothfish."
High priced toothfish worth hundreds of millions of dollars have been pillaged from the Southern Ocean by illegal fishers since the 1990s, according to the Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators.
The chase for the last six pirate vessels climaxed with the sinking of the Thunder in the Atlantic on 6 April after a 110-day pursuit by Sea Shepherd activists from waters south-west of Australia.
Charges were laid last month in the African state of Sao Tome and Principe, against Thunder's Chilean captain and two Spanish crew, of pollution, reckless driving, forgery and negligence.
Nearby in another Atlantic island nation, Cabo Verde, pirate fishers Yongding and Songhua, which last summer evaded a New Zealand navy vessel in the Ross Sea, were halted, apparently by chance.
Sea Shepherd Australia's chairman, Peter Hammarstedt, said he noticed the ships riding at anchor as he passed through Cabo Verde in May, and reported them.
They are still detained there, an Australian Fisheries Management Authority spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Another long-term Ross Sea fisher, the Kunlun was held after arriving to unload toothfish, fraudulently labelled as groper in Phuket, Thailand, where it was being detained, the AFMA spokeswoman said.
Only the last of the six, Viking, was still at large. Subject to an Interpol purple notice calling for exchange of information on criminal activities, it was released from Malaysia in May after paying a $71,500 fine.
Meanwhile in Spain, aprosecution is under way of people and companies behind the pirate fishers.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said the Vidal Armadores syndicate, based in the northern province of Galicia, had been linked by the Spanish government to four vessels: Kunlun, Songhua, Yongding, and to Tiantai – a refrigerated freezer ship that sank in the Antarctic last year with unknown loss of life.
The Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment said it had laid charges against the Galicians over 19 serious offences against the State Marine Fisheries Act, individually punishable with 600,000 euro ($A890,000) fines, and fishing activity disqualification.
The ministry said it would open disciplinary proceedings against 50 Spanish crew who worked on the ships.
