You Are Here:
Greenpeace confiscates 140 hooks from a pirate longliner in protest against overfishing. Click image to enlarge.
Enlarge image1989 Public outrage leads to a United Nations moratorium on large-scale driftnets.
1990 Greenpeace divers obtain the first underwater images of bycatch in driftnets.
1992 A worldwide ban on large-scale driftnets comes into force.
1995 The United Nations (UN) agrees to a Fisheries Treaty.
1997 Greenpeace supporters writing letters and postcards are instrumental in the
decision to list 17 species of albatross in the Australian Endangered Species Act.
1998 Activists disrupt purse seining for the critically endangered southern bluefin tuna off the South Australian coast. Greenpeace exposes 20 illegal driftnetters
operating in the Mediterranean. The European Union bans all driftnets in the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean from 2002. Japan begins “experimental” fishing for Southern bluefin tuna, taking its catch quota to nearly 25 per cent over the legal limit.
1999 The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea orders Japan to stop
illegally fishing for southern bluefin tuna. Australia ratifies the UN Fisheries Treaty. A Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) is introduced for Patagonian toothfish.
2001 CCSBT, the management body for southern bluefin tuna, agrees not to run an “experimental” fishing program. South Korea joins the CCSBT, rewarded for fish piracy with a 1140 tonne quota. The UN Fisheries Treaty comes into force.
2002 The Australian government moves to protect the Patagonian toothfish by
nominating it for Appendix II listing on the Convention for International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES).
2004 The Rainbow Warrior visits the Pacific to help governments, industry and
communities protect the ocean from overfishing and piracy. Greenpeace launches a report on how to combat pirate fishing in the pacific region.
The Rainbow Warrior crew documents the worlds most destructive fishing technique – bottom trawling for orange roughy – in the international waters of the Tasman Sea. CITES-listed endangered black coral is collected, after being dumped as by-catch from bottom trawl nets. Footage is beamed into a UN conference on ocean issues, mobilising delegates to deal with the urgent issue of bottom trawling in international waters.
2005 Greenpeace presents solutions to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries commission mtg for the conservation and management of bigeye and yellowfin tuna.
The Rainbow Warrior prevents bottom trawlers in the Tasman Sea deploying their nets sparking legal threats from the fishing industry. Onboard crew film a 400-year-old giant gorgonian coral being cut from a bottom trawl net, dragged to the edge of the deck and thrown overboard. This evidence is played on television news around the world.
2006 Greenpeace sails the world, including the Pacific, to ‘Defend our Oceans’ from the many threats that face them.
During the Pacific leg, Greenpeace documents extensive unregulated fishing practices by registered fishing vessels, and finds evidence that fishing vessels regularly ‘launder’ undisclosed catches by transferring tuna to refrigerated cargo ships in international waters.
Greenpeace launches the ‘Roadmap to Recovery’ report which advocates that 40% of the world’s oceans must become marine reserves to save the oceans from overfishing and pollution.
In October our lobbying efforts help Pacifc Island leaders agree on a declaration that advocates for the protection of Pacific seamounts and the prohibition of destructive fishing practices like bottom trawling in the region. This was the first region in the world to have in place a declaration of this kind.
The Pacific Island Forum lead the way globally by proposing a moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters at the United Nations.
2007 As a result of intensive Greenpeace lobbying of Pacific leaders, the Pacific Islands Forum passes the Vava'u Declaration, "Our Fish our Future", on Pacific Fisheries Resources which “seeks the urgent adoption of additional measures… to address over-fishing of bigeye and yellowfin”.
Thanks to agreements stemming from the UN, 25% of international waters have been closed to bottom trawling for orange roughy and other deep sea species – most of this is in the South Pacific Ocean.
2008 Australian and New Zealand Governments agree to close the South Tasman Rise (off Tasmania) to bottom trawling to their vessels.
Greenpeace begins a campaign to create the world’s first marine reserves in international waters.
1990 Greenpeace divers obtain the first underwater images of bycatch in driftnets.
1992 A worldwide ban on large-scale driftnets comes into force.
1995 The United Nations (UN) agrees to a Fisheries Treaty.
1997 Greenpeace supporters writing letters and postcards are instrumental in the
decision to list 17 species of albatross in the Australian Endangered Species Act.
1998 Activists disrupt purse seining for the critically endangered southern bluefin tuna off the South Australian coast. Greenpeace exposes 20 illegal driftnetters
operating in the Mediterranean. The European Union bans all driftnets in the
Atlantic and the Mediterranean from 2002. Japan begins “experimental” fishing for Southern bluefin tuna, taking its catch quota to nearly 25 per cent over the legal limit.
1999 The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea orders Japan to stop
illegally fishing for southern bluefin tuna. Australia ratifies the UN Fisheries Treaty. A Catch Documentation Scheme (CDS) is introduced for Patagonian toothfish.
2001 CCSBT, the management body for southern bluefin tuna, agrees not to run an “experimental” fishing program. South Korea joins the CCSBT, rewarded for fish piracy with a 1140 tonne quota. The UN Fisheries Treaty comes into force.
2002 The Australian government moves to protect the Patagonian toothfish by
nominating it for Appendix II listing on the Convention for International Trade in
Endangered Species (CITES).
2004 The Rainbow Warrior visits the Pacific to help governments, industry and
communities protect the ocean from overfishing and piracy. Greenpeace launches a report on how to combat pirate fishing in the pacific region.
The Rainbow Warrior crew documents the worlds most destructive fishing technique – bottom trawling for orange roughy – in the international waters of the Tasman Sea. CITES-listed endangered black coral is collected, after being dumped as by-catch from bottom trawl nets. Footage is beamed into a UN conference on ocean issues, mobilising delegates to deal with the urgent issue of bottom trawling in international waters.
2005 Greenpeace presents solutions to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries commission mtg for the conservation and management of bigeye and yellowfin tuna.
The Rainbow Warrior prevents bottom trawlers in the Tasman Sea deploying their nets sparking legal threats from the fishing industry. Onboard crew film a 400-year-old giant gorgonian coral being cut from a bottom trawl net, dragged to the edge of the deck and thrown overboard. This evidence is played on television news around the world.
2006 Greenpeace sails the world, including the Pacific, to ‘Defend our Oceans’ from the many threats that face them.
During the Pacific leg, Greenpeace documents extensive unregulated fishing practices by registered fishing vessels, and finds evidence that fishing vessels regularly ‘launder’ undisclosed catches by transferring tuna to refrigerated cargo ships in international waters.
Greenpeace launches the ‘Roadmap to Recovery’ report which advocates that 40% of the world’s oceans must become marine reserves to save the oceans from overfishing and pollution.
In October our lobbying efforts help Pacifc Island leaders agree on a declaration that advocates for the protection of Pacific seamounts and the prohibition of destructive fishing practices like bottom trawling in the region. This was the first region in the world to have in place a declaration of this kind.
The Pacific Island Forum lead the way globally by proposing a moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters at the United Nations.
2007 As a result of intensive Greenpeace lobbying of Pacific leaders, the Pacific Islands Forum passes the Vava'u Declaration, "Our Fish our Future", on Pacific Fisheries Resources which “seeks the urgent adoption of additional measures… to address over-fishing of bigeye and yellowfin”.
Thanks to agreements stemming from the UN, 25% of international waters have been closed to bottom trawling for orange roughy and other deep sea species – most of this is in the South Pacific Ocean.
2008 Australian and New Zealand Governments agree to close the South Tasman Rise (off Tasmania) to bottom trawling to their vessels.
Greenpeace begins a campaign to create the world’s first marine reserves in international waters.
