Out of the deep-sea gloom flashes the golden scales of an Orange Roughy. This mysterious boneless fish was until recently just a curiosity to marine biologists. But today the easy-to-freeze and easy-to-net species is the most popular fish on America's dinner tables. It's staple to a new multi-million dollar industry in which Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are fighting for supremacy. This year Australian surveillance choppers ID-ed four unmarked factory boats plundering a straddling-stock of Roughys. Half-in and half-out of Australian waters, they could do nothing 'legal' to drive out the vessels who netted twice the annual quota for Australia in just three weeks. We trace the boats to South African multinational I&J and uncover a trail of greed linking them with the New Zealand government. So what can nations do to protect their fish? An international treaty might eventually solve their problems, but that's little comfort now. "We will have the great victory in five or six years' time where we can point to the sea and say, 'If that fishery was still there, it would be ours.' For now, nations are relying on international goodwill but as this fishing raid shows, that's no guarantee.

Produced by ABC Australia

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