EUROPEAN Governments are turning a blind eye to the daily destruction of deep-sea marine life by unregulated ‘pirate’ fishing vessels flying European flags, according to a new Greenpeace report released today.

"Murky Waters: hauling in the net on Europe's high seas bottom trawling fleet" documents the "destructive activities" of high seas bottom trawlers observed fishing in the North Atlantic by Greenpeace in 2004 and 2005. All of the vessels observed were either owned by European nationals or fly the flags of European states.

The release of the report coincides with a meeting of fisheries ministers to discuss illegal fishing, chaired by UK Minister Ben Bradshaw.

High seas bottom trawling is recognised as the most destructive of all fishing methods, according to Greenpeace. Using weighted nets, which are dragged across the ocean floor to catch and crush everything in their path, bottom trawlers leaves valuable marine habitats such as deep water coral as wastelands and devastates vulnerable, slow-growing deep-sea fish stocks, according to the conservation group.

Europe is a major player in the bottom trawling industry - with 60% of the vessels bottom trawling on the high seas flagged to European countries or flying the flags of EU member states, principally Spain, Denmark and France.

Just last month,Greenpeace say, the 25 states that make up the European Union stood up at the United Nations and said that urgent action was needed to combat two of the biggest threats to marine life: destructive deep-sea fishing and illegal fishing. However the EU countries have to date failed to support a UN proposed moratorium on bottom trawling.

Sarah Duthie, Greenpeace Oceans campaigner said, “This report exposes the fact that it is European companies and fleets that are trashing our deep seas and destroying forever ancient corals and yet to be discovered species. This can and must change.”

She continued, “EU governments must act now – stop the endless debating and support a United Nation’s moratorium on high seas bottom trawling”.

Remi Parmentier of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, a consortium of more than 50 NGOs worldwide set up to promote a UN high seas bottom trawling moratorium said: "The EU must now put its money where its mouth is and immediately announce that it will support the proposed United Nations General Assembly moratorium on high seas bottom trawling."

Sarah Duthie concluded, "Unregulated bottom trawling is just one facet of a broader picture of destruction spanning all of the world's oceans. All of it leads back to the failure of governments to act effectively to regulate illegal fishing,"

Earlier this week the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, set sail from Cape Town, South Africa as part of the year-long 'Defending Our Oceans Expedition' to highlight the threats to the oceans and demand that 40% be declared no-take marine reserves, to safeguard marine life. Over the next few months, in partnership with the Environmental Justice Foundation, the Esperanza will expose how fishing pirates in the Atlantic are wiping out marine life and destroying the livelihoods of the communities dependent on our oceans for food.

www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications also publish European Fish Trader,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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