GREENPEACE today released a report documenting how even where states believe they have rules in place to combat pirate fishing, it continues to flourish. The environmental advocacy organisation's report focuses on the activities of five high seas fishing trawlers which, it is claimed, have used legal loopholes and lax enforcement to evade the law and make safe havens of European harbours at the expense of vulnerable deep-sea life.
"Pirate fishing is a global problem that requires a global solution. Working through the United Nations, countries must urgently act to ensure the life and health of our oceans today, tomorrow and for future generations. As a first step, they must suppo
rt an immediate United Nations moratorium on all high seas bottom trawling," said Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner.
In 2005, the European Union and North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) blacklisted a number of vessels for pirate fishing in the North Atlantic. The blacklisting was supposed to mean that the listed vessels could not receive supplies or offloa
d fish in European ports. Yet over the past six months, Greenpeace has tracked five of the listed pirate fishing vessels, the Eva, Juanita, Rosita, Carmen and Isabella as they wintered in the German port of Rostock, changed names and flags and then were
provided with supplies and other services, against EU law, in Germany, Lithuania and Poland before sailing back to their old fishing grounds.
A week ago, Greenpeace with the Icelandic Coastguard, witnessed 64 vessels fishing in the international waters of the Irminger Sea in the North Atlantic (1) - an area known for its vulnerable cold water corals. Eight of the vessels sighted were listed p
irates and include the five that Greenpeace has been tracking. Some of the vessels had both pelagic and bottom-trawl fishing gear onboard. Bottom trawling is an extremely destructive fishing technique which scientists agree lays waste to the deep-seaflo
or and the delicate and vulnerable marine life that inhabits it.
Should fisheries be closed during breeding time to allow stocks to reach more sustainable levels?
- 19 - 20 May, 2010
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