This piece of gorgonian coral, bigger than the two men attempting to untangle it from their fishing nets, was more than 500 years old. It was destroyed by one of the most aggressive fishing practices ever used, known as bottom trawling, and was dumped by the New Zealand vessel which dragged it up.
Unregulated industrial fishing is a huge threat to the health of
the oceans. Greenpeace is opposed to a practice called '
bottom trawling', and is pushing for UN regulation of this
extremely destructive method of fishing.
On May 31st 2006 Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn told the Globe
and Mail in an interview that he realizes that "trawling does
damage the stocks and it does damage habitat."
On Oct. 6th, Minister Hearn announced that Canada will not
support the proposed UN moratorium on bottom trawling. He stated
that Canada prefers a solution that strengthens regional fisheries
management organizations and extends their jurisdiction into
unregulated waters allowing them to find and manage sensitive
areas.
The fact remains that our knowledge of the deep sea is extremely limited. As long as we don’t know where vulnerable areas are, it is the responsible and precautionary solution to stop trawling in all areas of the high seas.
A public poll conducted jointly by the Ecology Action Centre and
Greenpeace in January 2006 showed that 78.3 per cent of Canadians
believe that Canada should reverse its current position on high
seas bottom trawling and support a moratorium on this fishing
practice in international waters.
The previous point is not surprising as Canada does not
operate any trawlers on the high seas.
Even US President George Bush has shown strong public support
for halting destructive fishing practices, especially 'unregulated
bottom trawling when [it] occurs in areas of the high seas'. Also
supporting the moratorium are Australia and New Zealand, which both
trawl the high seas, along with the UK, Brazil, Germany,