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West Norfolk Ridge international waters Tasman Sea/Crewman on the New 
Zealand bottom trawler Waipori dump a large piece of coral dredged 
from the deep sea in their net.

A large piece of ancient coral is dredged from the deep sea in a bottom trawl net.

Enlarge image

Nadi, Fiji — Pacific Island nations (including Australia) are leading the battle against destructive fishing practices after they endorsed a declaration on deep sea bottom trawling earlier this week.

The declaration commits these nations to take urgent action in preventing this destructive fishing practice.

"The Pacific is leading the way in standing up against excesses of industrial fishing and it will hopefully go a long way to getting a United Nations resolution in the coming months."

Greenpeace Australia Pacific oceans campaigner Nilesh Goundar

Deep sea bottom trawling is the most destructive fishing method. It involves dragging huge (up to the size of a football field), heavy nets along the sea floor. Large metal plates and rubber wheels attached to these nets move along the ocean floor crushing almost everything in its path.

The declaration comes as welcome news because during the past two years Greenpeace Australia Pacific has been pushing the Pacific Islands Forum (16 Pacific countries including Australia and New Zealand) to adopt a resolution supporting a moratorium.

The other Pacific nations involved in the declaration are Fiji, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Greenpeace Australia Pacific oceans campaigner Nilesh Goundar said the Pacific nations are miles ahead in terms of protecting Pacific people's livelihoods and helping to end deep sea bottom trawling.

"We are the first region to solidly oppose high seas bottom trawling," he said."The Pacific is leading the way in standing up against excesses of industrial fishing and it will hopefully go a long way to getting a United Nations resolution in the coming months," he said.

The UN will re-open discussions in November to decide whether to adopt an interim ban on bottom trawling.

On a global scale, Greenpeace is coordinating a project through a coalition of other non-government organisations known as the Deep Sea Campaign Coalition.

This coalition aims to convince the UN to agree a moratorium on bottom trawling in the high seas. This would prevent what is left of the deep-sea life from being wiped out by bottom trawling.

Take action: The health of our oceans is a worldwide issue and global network of marine reserves will ensure healthy oceans and fish stocks.

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