Satellite-tracking systems registered the location of the controversial 49,000 tonne Lafayette and six attendant trawlers north-east of Norfolk Island on Friday, Greenpeace said.

The Russian-flagged, Chinese-owned vessel is five times the size of the Dutch factory trawler Margiris, which was banned from Australian waters in 2012.

''It should be very worrying to the region that a vessel of the size of Lafayette would target fish in the South Pacific,'' Greenpeace campaigner Nathaniel Pelle said.

''The waters where it is now face a crisis of overcapacity.

''A vast number of vessels are making their way into the Pacific chasing reduced fish numbers.''

A converted tanker capable of processing 1500 tonnes of fish a day, Lafayette is a flagship of the Hong Kong-based Pacific Andes fleet. It was a focus of a 2012 investigation by the US Centre for Public Integrity, which found giant fishing vessels responsible for a 90 per cent decline in the South Pacific jack mackerel fishery.

Lafayette's appearance has left regional fisheries organisations scrambling to find out what would likely disappear into its blast freezers.

Official sources confirmed it currently lacked authorisation to operate either in the Western Pacific tuna and billfish fishery, or the South Pacific jack mackerel fishery.

Pacific Andes said the ship was headed for the jack mackerel fishery, using prevailing currents to steam there economically.

''It is not taking on board fish in Australian waters,'' a Pacific Andes spokesman in Hong Kong said. ''It is not a fishing vessel and fishing quotas are set by the SPRFMO [South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation] for the catcher fishing vessels it supports, and those quotas are not exceeded.''

Pacific Andes' interests range from the Tasmanian salmon producer Tassal to membership of APEC's Policy Partnership on Food Security.