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This is part of our findings during the first two weeks of the Pacific
leg of the Greenpeace Defending our Oceans tour. During this time, we
have been helping fisheries inspectors from the Federated States of
Micronesia (FSM) patrol their oceans for illegal fishing activity.
The FSM oceans cover 2.7 million square kilometres. It is a huge job fraught with difficulties and danger with very little government funding.
To combat illegal fishing all ships in the area must report their whereabouts.
Over 16 days we boarded five suspicious vessels. Four of them were fishing with apparently "faulty" reporting systems.
If these boats aren’t reporting, there is no way of knowing how long they stay out to sea or how much (or what) they catch. If a ship’s reporting system is broken, the ship should not be allowed to fish until it's fixed.
Onboard our ship, the Esperanza, Greenpeace campaigner Lagi Toribau said that two key Pacific tuna species (bigeye and yellowfin) are already in trouble and unless we see a drastic cut in fishing rates, they will be severely depleted within three years.
“Distant foreign nations take nearly all our fish, giving Pacific nations a pitiful 5 percent of the USD $2 billion the fish is worth annually, he said.
“People in these distant nations (including Japan, US, EU, Korea and Taiwan) don’t know that they may be eating tuna stolen from people whose lives depend on it.
Greenpeace is calling on:
FSM fisheries inspector commander Robert Maluweirang says that if something is not done people in the Pacific will starve. "The only resource they have is fish. If the Pacific is overfished then it’s going to be a big problem for the communities’ future.”
Watch the video about monitoring illegal fishers in the FSM waters
The FSM oceans cover 2.7 million square kilometres. It is a huge job fraught with difficulties and danger with very little government funding.
To combat illegal fishing all ships in the area must report their whereabouts.
Over 16 days we boarded five suspicious vessels. Four of them were fishing with apparently "faulty" reporting systems.
If these boats aren’t reporting, there is no way of knowing how long they stay out to sea or how much (or what) they catch. If a ship’s reporting system is broken, the ship should not be allowed to fish until it's fixed.
Onboard our ship, the Esperanza, Greenpeace campaigner Lagi Toribau said that two key Pacific tuna species (bigeye and yellowfin) are already in trouble and unless we see a drastic cut in fishing rates, they will be severely depleted within three years.
“Distant foreign nations take nearly all our fish, giving Pacific nations a pitiful 5 percent of the USD $2 billion the fish is worth annually, he said.
“People in these distant nations (including Japan, US, EU, Korea and Taiwan) don’t know that they may be eating tuna stolen from people whose lives depend on it.
Greenpeace is calling on:
- governments to regulate their ships;
- consumers to question where their fish comes from; and
- retailers to refuse stolen fish.
FSM fisheries inspector commander Robert Maluweirang says that if something is not done people in the Pacific will starve. "The only resource they have is fish. If the Pacific is overfished then it’s going to be a big problem for the communities’ future.”
Watch the video about monitoring illegal fishers in the FSM waters
What you can do to help save Pacific fish stocks
Learn more about pirate fishing and its damage to our oceans
