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INTERESTING FACTS about Patagonian toothfish (aka Chilean Sea Bass)

Hooked: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish
By G. Bruce Knecht

“Hooked is a fish story, a global whodunit, a courtroom drama—and a critically important ecological message all rolled into one.” — Tom Brokaw
"Bruce Knecht tells a great story with an ear for the absurd in the tragi-comic world of modern commercial fishing and the contemporary food scene." — Mark Kurlansky

(May 2006) Over the past two decades Chilean Sea Bass, originally known as Patagonian toothfish, has been embraced by chefs and diners everywhere.  The explosive demand has fueled such rampant over-fishing that the fish now faces an uncertain future.  Part high seas adventure, part popular history, part thought-provoking exposé, HOOKED: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish (Rodale, $24.95, hardcover, May 2006) by G. Bruce Knecht traces how Patagonian toothfish went from an obscure, unappealing fish to become the favorite target of fleets of pirate fishing vessels.

HOOKED is an adventure story built around one of the longest pursuits in nautical history, which resulted when an Australian patrol boat spotted an illegal fishing vessel near Antarctica.  In weaving the pop-culinary history with the 4,000-mile chase—which went halfway around Antarctica through building-size waves, densely packed ice, and an obstacle course of icebergs—the author demonstrates his ability to “recount a tale more thrilling than fiction,” as Walter Cronkite raved about Knecht’s previous book, The Proving Ground.  HOOKED is populated by fiercely determined good guys, villains who are also sometimes empathetic, and another character that deserves our attention: the threatened Patagonian toothfish.

Readers first meet the prehistoric-looking, six-foot-long fish in a port in Chile in 1977, when it was spotted aboard a fishing boat by an ambitious young American fish merchant on the lookout for something new.  A fish with the richness of tuna, mild white flesh, and a buttery texture, the Patagonian toothfish’s potential in the American market was immediately recognized by Lee Lantz, the fish merchant, but he knew its local name, bacalao de profundidad (cod of the deep), would never sell in the U.S.  So he invented a new one—Chilean Sea Bass.  From its first appearance in frozen “fish fingers,” to its use in Cantonese restaurants as an inexpensive substitute for black cod, to its New York debut at the trendy Tribeca Grill, HOOKED chronicles the emergence of this fish as a menu must-have for restaurants across the country.

With the increasing demand for this “white gold” came irresistible incentive for fishermen willing to violate laws to provide what has become a valuable—and ever-more limited—natural resource.  Knecht introduces readers to the major players on both sides of the law, including the pirates who were chased around Antarctica, to present a gripping narrative of the high-stakes commercial and environmental battles.  By alternating accounts of the chase and the culinary history of the toothfish, HOOKED describes, as Publishers Weekly  recounts in its starred review, “the practically lawless world of commercial fishing, where factory boats with vast dragnets can devastate a population in just a couple of years, a practice Knecht calls ‘the marine equivalent of strip mining.’”  The story ends with an engaging courtroom drama as the Australian authorities attempt to bring the pirates to justice—and a shocking twist.

HOOKED combines an adventure story with a fascinating exploration of illegal fishing and a revealing look at the probably irreversible consequences of the pursuit for the perfect fish. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author of the renowned book The Proving Ground, G. Bruce Knecht is a prize-winning writer for The Wall Street Journal.  His work has also appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine and Conde Nast Traveler.  An avid sailor, Knecht last year raced across the Atlantic Ocean on the yacht that broke the 100-year-old transatlantic race record.  He lives in New York City.

INTERESTING FACTS about Patagonian toothfish (aka Chilean Sea Bass) : 

• “Chilean Sea Bass” is not a bass and few are caught in Chilean waters.

• The fish’s more accurate name is Patagonian toothfish.

• Many, perhaps most of the toothfish that are imported to the U.S. are caught illegally.

• Toothfish can live for up to fifty years and grow to five feet in length.

• When toothfish were first caught, they were thought to be too oily for human consumption.

• When toothfish was first introduced to the American market, it was used as a substitute for
  better-known fish and sold for just $1.25 a pound.

• A longline used to catch toothfish can stretch for more than a dozen miles and carry 15,000
  baited hooks.

• Viarsa, the fishing vessel described in HOOKED, harvests 300 tons of toothfish during a typical voyage—which is worth $3 million, twice as much as the value of the boat itself.

• Viarsa’s “fishing master” once caught forty tons of toothfish in a single day.

• While much of the fishing industry is only marginally profitable, fishing masters can earn $150,000 from a three-month voyage.

• The populations of many of the world’s most desirable fish are less than ten percent of what they were fifty years ago.

• Consumers do not realize the seriousness of the problem because fish markets still have lots of fish—but most of them are farmed or  caught in faraway places in the Southern Hemisphere.

• A fleet of pirate fishing vessels decimated South Africa’s toothfish population in just two years.  Toothfish are now “commercially extinct” there.

• While one thousand chefs have pledged not to serve toothfish until the problem of illegal fishing is eliminated, many others—including those who work at high-volume restaurants, caterers and
  hotels—continue to sell vast amounts of the fish.

• The chase described in HOOKED, which passed through building-size waves and an obstacle course of icebergs, is one of the longest pursuits in nautical history.

• Viarsa was ultimately arrested and its officers were prosecuted—twice—but both trials ended with unexpected twists and the fishermen have returned to the business of harvesting toothfish.

• Viarsa’s owner was indicted by a U.S. grand jury last fall.

• BREAKING NEWS! Viarsa’s owner was arrested on April 19, 2006 in Miami where he was charged with smuggling large quantities of Chilean Sea Bass.
   

HOOKED: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish
By G. Bruce Knecht
Publication date: May 2006
328 pages, 16 page black-and-white photo insert, $24.95 hardcover
ISBN 1-59486-110-2

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