Coming from the deep

The 62m-long Antarctic Aurora deepwater longline fishing vessel cruises through Otago Harbour yesterday.

It was one of two vessels that were in Otago Harbour waters yesterday for a matter of hours to exchange some fishing equipment.

Australian longline vessel co-ordinator Paul Scarf said the vessel had departed from Hobart, while its counterpart, Antarctic Discovery, had come from Nelson.

The latter unloaded quite frequently at Port Chalmers, while the former ventured into New Zealand now and again depending on the market of fish it was going to.

Both vessels were designed to catch Patagonian toothfish in Antarctic waters, Mr Scarf said.

Antarctic Aurora was also purposefully built to catch fish at depths of 2000m in the Southern Ocean.