Gus Etchegary, a vocal advocate for Canada's fishing rights, doubts a fishing vessel from the Danish-owned Faroe Islands accused of illegal fishing in Canadian waters will ever be caught. (CBC)

A warrant was issued in a St. John's courtroom for the seizure of a European vessel accused of illegal fishing in Canadian waters, even though a skeptical fisheries advocate doubts it will ever be executed.

The federal government alleges that the fishing vessel Enniberg, based out of the Danish-owned Faroe Islands, was inside Canada's boundary in October 2009.

The infraction is alleged to have occurred near Nunavut, but the case was brought to provincial court in St. John's on grounds that the ship is more likely to be found again off Newfoundland and Labrador.

A judge approved the warrant, although no one associated with or representing the Enniberg, a 70-metre vessel built in 1990, was in court to answer Canadian allegations.

Gus Etchegary, a retired fisheries executive who has long campaigned against foreign overfishing, said he does not believe the ship will ever be brought to shore.

"You have to wonder … is this another publicity stunt by DFO?" he said, referring to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

He cited the case of the Santa Mafalda, a Portuguese vessel towed into St. John's in 2005. The case was suspended in 2008 because the ship's captain said he was too sick to attend court, but a higher court later ordered it to continue, with the captain in absentia.

"I think they're on record as something in the order of 24 infractions, serious infractions, for years, and they can't even get them into court," Etchegary said.

The Newfoundland and Labrador government has long sought some sort of custodial management, which proponents say would allow for greater enforcement at sea, particularly in international waters.

"That's what's needed — for the coastal state, Canada, to defend its fisheries on the continental shelf," Etchegary said.

Meanwhile, Etchegary said he would like to see Canada take greater action on trawlers working on the Grand Banks, rather than the Enniberg, which was caught fishing in Arctic waters last fall.

"If they had arrested about five or six Portuguese, or Spaniards, or Russians, fishing as they were on the Grand Banks, overfishing ... and keeping the resource from recovering, that would be something meaningful," he said.

Etchegary said he suspects Canadian officials are more concerned about trade relations with European countries than with protecting fish stocks.

Canada introduced a moratorium on cod in 1992 within its own waters. In international waters, however, fishing remains not only legal but also popular with some European countries, even though scientists continually warn that stocks migrate in and out of Canadian waters.

This week, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada said the Atlantic cod should be added the country's list of endangered species.