Feature story - August 21, 2006
As the Esperanza tackles pollution in the Philippines, our ship the Arctic Sunrise continues our expedition's battle against pirates. Activists demanded inspection of Russian-flagged reefer 'Mumrinskiy' in the Netherlands, suspected of carrying illegal cod bound for European dinner plates.
Stopping the Russian ship Mumrinskiy from unloading a potentially illegal cod shipment.
Stopping the Russian ship Mumrinskiy from unloading a potentially illegal cod shipment.
Our activists have stopped the Russian flagged reefer
"Mumrinskiy" fromoffloading their cargo in Eemshaven, the
Netherlands. We alsopainted STOP PIRATE FISHING on the side and
blocked the vessel fromunloading cargo. We havegood reason to
suspect that the vessel is carrying illegal codfrom the Barents
Sea.
The Barents Sea is home to one of the world's last relatively
healthycod populations, but even this stock is now being heavily
exploited.According to estimates from the International Council for
theExploration of the Sea (ICES) 37 percent of all cod captured in
theBarents Sea in 2005 was illegal.
Our Oceans Campaigner Farah Obaidullah explains. "The fishing
industry has heavily plundered the cod stock in the NorthSea and
now they are starting to overexploit the stocks in the BarentsSea,"
she says. "Illegalfishing seriously undermines efforts to conserve
and manage fish stocksand it poses a severe threat to the whole
Barents ecosystem."
Mumrinskiy's dodgy history
So why do we suspect the Mumrinskiy? This vessel has a clear
history of illegal operations, includingtranshipment of fish from
blacklisted vessels, ignoring commands fromNorwegian Authorities
and falsifying documents tohide illegally caught fish. The
Mumrinskiy has often transitedthrough international waters
circumventing the Norwegian ExclusiveEconomic Zone (EEZ), thereby
avoiding inspection on her way from theBarents Sea to EU ports. (Read the fact file and see a map of her latest
voyages here).
EU ports: laundering dirty cod
A frequent tactic trawlers use in the Barents Sea to
under-report theirdaily catches is to tranship parts of their match
unreported to reefervessels like the "Mumrinskiy". These reefers
then land the stolen fishin Dutch ports where landing documents
with Russian data are notverified and the fish enters unchecked on
to the European market.
"It is a scandal that Russian reefers use Dutch harbours to
laundertheir illegal fish", says Obaidullah. "The only way to stop
illegal codfrom ending up on our plates is to carry out thorough
inspections andconfirm with the relevant authorities that the catch
is legal before itcan be offloaded in Holland.
The Arctic Sunrise is working on the North andBaltic Sea as part
of the Defending Our Oceansexpedition to highlight the wonders and
the environmental threats tothe world's oceans and to campaign for
the establishment of marinereserves.
Stronger suspicion: more information about the trawlers that
Mumrinskiy carries fish from this time
3 Case Studies of the Mumrinskiy from 2005
Read the Mumrinskiy fact file
Download a fact file on the Mumrinskiy including a map of her recent voyages
Read a backgrounder on illegal cod
Download our report "Headed and Gutted: illegal cod fishing in the Barents Sea"