PERTH, Australia (AFP) - The government has unveiled the latest weapon in Australia's battle against poachers who haunt its Antarctic fishing grounds, a high-speed patrol boat equipped with twin .50 calibre machine guns.

The 105-metre (350-foot) 9,000-tonne (9,900 ton) "Oceanic Viking" has been commissioned to deter or catch the illegal foreign fishing boats plundering stocks of the valuable but endangered Patagonian Toothfish found in Antarctica's Southern Ocean.

Equipped also with high-speed boarding craft, it will aim to prevent episodes like the 21-day, 6,300 kilometre (4,000 mile) chase through some of the world's most treacherous seas that preceded the apprehension of a Uruguayan boat last year.

The hot pursuit of the Viarsa 1, which had allegedly poached 97 tonnes of rare Patagonian toothfish from Australian waters, ended only when armed South African and British fisheries vessels came to Australia's assistance.

Fisheries Minister Ian Macdonald and Justice Minister Chris Ellison declared war on the poachers as they boarded the new patrol boat in the Perth port of Fremantle.

"Australia is deadly serious about protecting its borders, (and) protecting its fisheries," Macdonald told reporters.

"Those Patagonian toothfish pirates who think that guns are just window dressing will simply be blown away by our response.

"This vessel means business, we are determined to protect our waters and we won't have illegal fishing operations -- pirates, international criminal cartels -- pinching Australia's fish."

Prime Minister John Howard announced the two-year armed patrol program a year ago with spending power totalling almost 90 million dollars (70 million US) confirmed in the Federal Budget earlier this year.

When not engaged in Southern Ocean operations, the vessel may also be deployed in support of other customs and fisheries operations in other parts of Australia's Exclusive Economic Zone.

November 18th, 2004.