The activists said they encountered the Taiwanese longliner, the Ho Tsai Fa 18, while it was hauling tens of kilometres of fishing line.

They reported that they asked the ship's skipper to release all marine life hooked on the lines, as well as painting "PIRATE?" on the hull of the ship to highlight the fact that the vessel had a previous record of controversial landing of shark fins.

Activists also held banners calling for "Marine Reserves Now!" and stating "Taiwan Pacific Tuna Destroyer" in front of the vessel.

The skipper reportedly refused to free the fish and marine life, so the activists said they started to set free all fish, sharks and a turtle from the line and also confiscated a radio beacon.

Following this, the skipper is said to have agreed to free all marine life from the hooks himself in exchange of return of the beacon.

The Greenpeace ship Esperanza also started to haul in the other end of

the line. The line was kept on board and will be returned to the company headquarters, the Tsay Jyh-Gwo in Taiwan.

The Esperanza is in the Pacific, say Greenpeace, to defend the pockets of international waters between Pacific Island countries as marine reserves from "rapacious fishing fleets intent on fishing out the world's last tuna stocks".

According to scientists, overfishing of both bigeye and yellowfin tuna

is putting recently- healthy tuna stocks in jeopardy. Longlining is also killing thousands of turtles and at least a million sharks each year in the Central and Western Pacific alone - and 50 million sharks globally each year.

"We painted 'PIRATE?' on the side of the vessel because even registered tuna vessels like this one blur the line between legal and illegal fishing.

"Authorities cannot be sure to what degree this vessel has engaged in pirate fishing activities," said Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Lagi Toribau on board the Esperanza.

"Greenpeace confiscated the fishing gear and freed fish, sharks and the turtle because the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission - which is supposed to be protecting tuna and sharks from overfishing and protect endangered species - is failing to do so.

"If the Fisheries Commission is not going to do their job and secure the future of this important marine life, then we will," said Toribau.

The Ho Tsai Fa 18 is registered to fish for tuna in the pockets of

international waters - the Pacific Commons - between Pacific Island

Countries.

Greenpeace wants to see these biodiversity rich areas of international waters set aside as the world's first high seas marine reserves where no fishing is allowed.

After the activists freed all the catch on the lines the skipper of the Ho Tsai Fa 18 is said to have agreed to leave the area Greenpeace is defending as marine reserves.

Last December, Taiwan, Korea, mainland China and Japan blocked conservation measures advocated by Pacific Island countries to protect yellowfin and bigeye tuna from overfishing. "Time is running out for tuna, turtles and sharks in the Pacific.

Greenpeace wants to see the international waters of the Pacific protected as no-take marine reserves where tuna, sharks and other marine life can recover from overexploitation," said Toribau.

The Pacific provides approximately 60 per cent of the world's tuna and each year foreign fishing fleets rake in over US$3 billion from the sale of Pacific tuna to markets in Asia, Europe and the USA.

Pacific nations are being "ripped off," says Greenpeace, only receiving 5-6 per cent of the value of the catch caught by foreign vessels in their national waters. This is because of the unfair and unsustainable agreements negotiated by foreign companies and countries for access to fish for tuna in their waters.

"Greenpeace is asking fish retailers worldwide to stop selling unsustainable tuna products such as bluefin, bigeye and yellowfin, which are now threatened in all oceans.

"Retailers must also ensure that any remaining tuna products that they do sell are not sourced from pirates, originate from destructive fishing practices or are stolen from the waters of developing countries such as those in the Pacific under unfair access agreements," said Sari Tolvanen of Greenpeace International.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish FISHupdate magazine, Fish Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.

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