SV Rainbow Warrior

Monday, June 26, 2006. Greenpeace activists were threatened with machete-style knives as pirate fishermen attempted to board the Rainbow Warrior in the Mediterranean last night.

Fishing pirates from two separate vessels, who were using illegal driftnets off the Southern Italian coast, threatened Greenpeace activists on two seperate occasions over the evening, as the campaigners attempted to confiscate the 10 mile long and 15 metre deep illegal nets. Crew on the fishing vessels hurled objects, brandished huge machete-style knives, and attempted to board the Greenpeace ship.

"The pirates may have tried to threaten us, but the real threat from their illegal activities is to the Mediterranean and its marine life." Greenpeace campaigner Alessandro Gianni said.

Driftnets, known as "walls of death", were banned over 15 years ago by the United Nations and the European Union, but are still illegally used to catch dwindling stock of swordfish. Thousands of whales, dolphins and turtles also get caught and killed in the nets. Last Friday, Greenpeace activists onboard the Rainbow Warrior rescued a sea turtle caught up in an illegal driftnet when they confronted fishing pirates 40 miles south of the Italian island of Ponza.

The Mediterannean is the world's most popular tourist destination attracting some 220 million visitors a year, many of them from the UK.

Greenpeace UK Campaigner Willie Mackenzie said:"UK holiday makers enjoying a swordfish dinner in the Med this summer, will have no idea of the real impact of their meal, the brutal deaths of thousands of whales, dolphins and sea turtles caught in these illegal nets. Governments must act and act now to enforce the driftnet ban and establish a network of marine reserves covering 40% of the Mediterranean to protect threatened marine life."

In the past week, authorities have rounded up hundreds of miles of the illegal nets in the Mediterranean, illustrating their continued widespread use, despite the bans. The first vessel to confront the Rainbow Warrior late last night had already received 28,000 Euros in grants to change its fishing gear.

Guinea coast: Chinese fishing boats illegally transfering fish on to Binar 4

Madrid, Spain, 10th March 2006: As a pirate fishing vessel loaded with fish stolen from West Africa makes its way towards Las Palmas, Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) this morning presented evidence to the Fisheries Ministry in Madrid, outlining why the authorities should ban the ship from the port when it arrives - in two or three days time.

The environmental and human rights groups documented the refrigerated cargo ship, Binar 4 (1) four days ago, transshipping fish in international waters. The fish had been caught in Guinean waters, and therefore should only have been transshipped in the port of Conakry according to Guinean law (2). The reefer is headed for Las Palmas, a port notorious for allowing pirate vessels to offload stolen fish, with the Greenpeace ship M.Y Esperanza following behind.

"This is Spain's chance to prove they are serious about making piracy history," said Sebastian Losada of Greenpeace Spain, after delivering the documents to officials in Madrid. "If they do not act, they will become partners in crime with the pirates."

During the time spent by the Esperanza was in West Africa, Greenpeace and EJF witnessed 104 foreign flagged vessels, from Korea, China, Italy, Liberia and Belize. The evidence gathered suggests that 50% of the vessels observed were engaged in, or linked to illegal fishing activities, including fishing without a license, operating with no name or hiding their identity, trawling inside the 12-mile zone restricted to local fishermen, or transshipping anywhere other than the Guinean capital Conakry. The Binar 4 was taking fish from ships licensed to fish, but all the vessels involved had broken the laws concerning transshipments.

"In the past few weeks we have begun to unravel the web of deceit around pirate fishing," said Greenpeace campaigner Sarah Duthie, from on board the Esperanza. "The way the legal and illegal ships work together is designed to deceive, but in the end it is a simple case of stealing food from others."

"Unless there is concrete and sustained action against pirate fishing by all governments the problem will continue to grow," warned Helene Bours of Environmental Justice Foundation. "Local communities and the environment will not survive unless the pirate fishing industry is wiped out."(3)

Notes:

1. http://www.greenpeace.org/binar4casestudy
2. According to Guinean law, fish can only be caught by licensed vessels and any transshipment must be done in the Port of Conakry. According to the UN FAO Model Scheme for Port Control, pirate fishing vessels or those supporting them should be denied access to ports and services. Through its National Plan of Action to Fight Illegal Fishing, Spain committed to "prohibit the admission into or departure from port, the access to port services or the landing or transshipping of catches, whenever there are indications of engagement in activities of illegal fishing "
3. According to the UN High Seas Task Force on Illegal, Unreported & Unregulated (IUU or pirate) fishing, up to 20% of the global catch is taken illegally - as much as US$9 billion dollars.

Aerial view of the Chinese pirate vessel Lian Run 14 prior its arrest for fishing illegally inside the Guinean waters

Guinea, Africa: At first light yesterday morning (March 28th, 2006), the Greenpeace helicopter flew over a group of fishing vessels 60 miles off the coast of Guinea. One was not on the list of ships authorized to fish. An inflatable boat was launched from the Greenpeace ship M.Y Esperanza, taking a Guinean Navy officer and a fisheries inspector with a crew from Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation on board.

After confirming the ship, the Lian Run No 14 - one of a family of Chinese vessels observed in the area - had no license, the ship was arrested. The Esperanza will now escort her to Conakry and hand her over to officials on shore.

The captain of the Lian Run No 14 claimed documentation was lodged in Las Palmas - the fish laundering capital of the world. In addition, all the boxes being used to pack the stolen fish bore the names of other vessels, proving that even licensed vessels collaborate with the pirates to sell illegally caught fish on the market.

Happiness:The Chinese zombie ships of West Africa - read the weblog

Fish boxes with the names of seven other vessels were found on board the Lian Run No 14, proving how licensed vessels are packing their boxes with illegal catch from the Lian Run No 14.

"Today we found one pirate - but we know there is a fleet of them out here and in every other ocean, stealing fish every day," said Sarah Duthie, of Greenpeace.

"The fact that they had boxes on board destined for Europe and claimed to be represented in Las Palmas shows a clear link between the food being stolen from Africa and the fish being served on the dinner tables of Europe," said Helene Bours of the Environmental Justice Foundation.

Notes

1. Pirate fishing is Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing.
2. Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation are working together to expose the pirate fishing fleets that operate without sanction across the globe. Together the international environment and human rights organisations are demanding that governments close ports to ban pirates, deny them access to markets and prosecute companies supporting them.
3. The drive to make piracy history is the second leg of a 14-month global expedition "Defending Our Oceans", the most ambitious ship expedition ever undertaken by Greenpeace to expose the threats to the oceans and demand a global network of properly enforced marine reserves covering 40% of the worlds oceans. Greenpeace aims to gather a million Ocean Defenders by the end of the expedition in February 2007.

Orange Roughy on processing line of bottom trawler

Cape Town, Monday February 27th 2006: After spending 73 days at sea defending the whales in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, the Greenpeace ship MY Esperanza is preparing to set sail again, this time to turn world attention on the plague of pirate fishing (1). Every day, in every ocean, pirate fishing boats are stealing fish and leaving a trail of environmental destruction in their wake.

Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation are working together to expose the pirate fishing fleets that operate without sanction across the globe. Together the international environment and human rights organisations are demanding that governments close ports to ban pirates, deny them access to markets and prosecute companies supporting them.

Globally, pirate fishing could be worth anywhere between US$4 billion and US$9billion a year - 20% of the total fish catch. It is estimated that pirate fishing just in sub Saharan Africa is worth US$1billion dollars annually, while in the waters of the Southern Ocean, up to 50% of the valuable Patagonian Toothfish may come from illegal activities. Further north in the Baltic Sea 40% of the cod caught in 2002/2003 is estimated to have been taken illegal.

In the Atlantic Ocean alone, pirate vessels cash in on the lucrative market for tuna, taking thousands of tons of fish, in complete contravention of international regulations. The fish are then transferred to refrigerated cargo ships, known as reefers, "laundered" through legal ports and sold on into the market.

"Pirate fishing of Atlantic tuna is just one example of a global problem in every ocean and with almost every type of fish." said Sebastian Losada of Greenpeace Spain. "Fish on dinner plates around the world are stolen from someone else's ocean, denying them food and income. It is a hidden crime that governments have the power to stop now."

The impact on fish stocks is matched by the devastation of marine life through pirate fishing. Reeling out lines sometimes 100 km long with tens of thousands of baited hooks, the pirates also snare turtles, sharks and seabirds. Millions are thrown overboard dead or dying as unwanted bycatch every year.

The Esperanza sails to the Atlantic just days before the ministerial level High Seas Task Force (2) meets to announce how it plans to further discuss the problem of pirate fishing.

" Five years ago governments agreed an International Plan of Action on pirate fishing - what's left to discuss?" said Helene Bours of the Environmental Justice Foundation. "Governments need to stop talking and start acting. Closing ports, markets and prosecuting companies will rid the oceans of pirate fishermen - it is simply a matter of political will, not further debate."

Notes

(1) Pirate fishing is Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing.

(2) The OECD High Seas Task Force, which is made up by fisheries ministers from Australia, Canada, Chile, Namibia, New Zealand and the UK, will meet in Paris on March 2nd & 3rd.

The drive to make piracy history is the second leg of a 14-month global expedition "Defending Our Oceans", the most ambitious ship expedition ever undertaken by Greenpeace to expose the threats to the oceans and demand a global network of properly enforced marine reserves covering 40% of the worlds oceans. Already 45, 000 people have become Ocean Defenders to echo the call. Greenpeace aims to gather a million Ocean Defenders by the end of the expedition in February 2007.

Visit oceans.greenpeace.org

A Greenpeace crew shadows a vessel caught illegally fishing in the Southern Ocean

Greenpeace today urged the UK Government to do more to enforce international fishing regulations that aim to protect endangered species.

The call comes following a high-seas chase that culminated in the capture of a suspected pirate vessel loaded with millions of pounds worth of the endangered Patagonian toothfish.

Willie Mackenzie, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner, said: "The UK Government is failing deplorably by not supporting the solution to this problem, which is making CCAMLR (Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Resources) solely responsible for independently policing toothfish fisheries."

"And by opposing the inclusion of the Patagonian toothfish as a species protected by CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species), the Government is failing further to support the stringent measures needed to stop these pirates pillaging rare and endangered fish."

"To make matters worse, the UK Government is supporting the eco-labelling of toothfish from the South Georgia fishery under the Marine Stewardship Council scheme. Giving an eco-label to a fish that is as controversial as toothfish is bound to mislead consumers and make a bad situation worse."

Scientists have determined that the population of Patagonian toothfish in at least one heavily fished area has declined by 60%, and toothfish fisheries may collapse by 2010 if pirate poaching continues at its current rate.

Greenpeace is urging consumers to avoid toothfish, which is known by many different names across the globe - Chilean Sea Bass, Antarctic Sea Bass, Australian Sea Bass, Antarctic Icefish, Black Hake, Mero - and all are facing commercial extinction.

The method of catching toothfish, which are particularly vulnerable to over-fishing as they do not reach sexual maturity until they are almost 10 years old, can also have devastating effects on endangered birds. Estimates suggest that 100,000 albatrosses and petrels are killed each year after becoming hooked on fishing lines.

Notes for editors
The Patagonian toothfish fishery is managed under Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) law, and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Resources (CCAMLR), of which the UK is a member, is responsible for regulating it and setting quotas. CCAMLR estimates that in 2001, 51,129 metric tons (mt) of Toothfish were caught in the Southern Ocean. CCAMLR is only certain that 13,271 mt of the total yearly catch is caught legally, while 7,599 mt is caught illegally, leaving a further 30,259 mt harvested under unregulated conditions.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is pushing the Toothfish fishery to imminent collapse. More than 17 countries are involved, either legally or illegally, in the highly profitable fishery. Unscrupulous ship owners flaunt legal quotas and regulations to take untold quantities of this fish. By some estimates, the illegal catch is over three times greater than the legal landings, and has an estimated value of $500 million.

CCAMLR has approved legal limits of nearly 20,000 tons of Toothfish for member nations, but has taken little action to stop rampant pirate fishing. Pirate fishermen often transfer their illegally caught Toothfish to legal boats for import.