Texas importer sues government in fish feud at end of world

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Southern Cross Seafoods said in a complaint filed last week in the U.S. International Trade Court that the decision to bar importation of Chilean sea bass was arbitrary, illegal and would cause significant economic harm to its business. The seemingly small case flows out of an international fish fight at the bottom of the world set off by Russia's rejection last year of catch limits for marine life near the south Pole. “This unfortunate situation is unprecedented,” a senior official from the U.S. National Marine Fishery Service wrote in a letter to Southern Cross that denied its August application to import frozen sea bass. “It poses novel legal and policy questions, and implicates sensitive foreign affairs concerns.” Chilean sea bass from South Georgia can sell for $32 a pound in U.S. supermarkets and for decades the fishery near South Georgia was a poster child for international cooperation.