The Toothfish story – a species saved from the edge.

Argos Froyanes’ operation in the Ross Sea and South Georgia encompasses two of the world’s most sensitive marine environments. For the last 20 years, we have been working proactively with the Government and scientific community to ensure toothfish can be harvested sustainably in this delicate ecosystem.

The future of toothfish in this area hasn’t always seemed so bright. The species is slow to mature and reproduce, making them exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing. And that is exactly what happened between the 1970s and the late 1990s, when landings rocketed from one to forty thousand tonnes a year.

With illegal fishing getting out of hand and stocks close to collapse something had to be done. Salvation came in the form of the Coalition of Legal Toothfish Operators, COLTO, working to eliminate illegal fishing and to promote sustainable toothfish fisheries.

South Georgia became the world's first toothfish fishery to be certified as sustainable to the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) Fisheries Standard. Today well over 50% of the global toothfish fishery, including the Ross Sea in which we also operate, is now certified – and this fine fish is once again becoming a restaurant favourite.

Find out the full story of toothfish, with guest appearances from pirates and albatross, at http://patagonian-toothfish-story.msc.org/