The Carmen was surrounded with chains at its berth in the port
ofSwinoujscie and draped with a banner that read "Stop Pirate
Fishing".Greenpeace is calling on the Polish government to prevent
this illegaltrawler from leaving port and at the same time prevent
the continuationof destructive pirate fishing in the Atlantic.
"Poland, just like Germany and other European Union countries,
isobliged to prevent pirate fishing. The EU laws on this are
clear," saysKatarzyna Guzek of Greenpeace Poland. "This vessel has
a long historyof involvement in pirate fishing together with its
sister vesselscurrently moored in the German port of Rostock. Based
on that history,it has to be assumed that if the vessels are
allowed to leave theseEuropean ports they will continue their
poaching."
The Carmen arrived in the port of Swinoujscie on Saturday, March
11thfrom the German port of Rostock where she had been moored for
severalmonths together with her four sister vessels, the Rosita,
Eva, Juanitaand Isabella after changing their names and flag states
(1). Thevessels were illegally re-supplied in Germany even though
Greenpeaceidentified them to the authorities and called on the
government tocomply with European Union regulations and refuse to
service them.
The Carmen is black-listed for repeated breaches of
Europeanregulations and those governing fishing in both the north
east andnorth west Atlantic. In 2005, all five vessels contributed
to thecollapse of the redfish stocks of the North Atlantic.
It is estimated that pirate fishing costs countries between 3.4
and 7.6billion euros each year. Pirate fishing in the deep-sea is
worth up to20% of the global catch (2). These fisheries also wipe
out the unknownworlds of the deep-sea. Many pirate vessels are
engaged in a fishingtechnique called high seas bottom trawling
which is known to cause hugedestruction to vulnerable deep-sea
marine life such as cold-watercorals.
"Greenpeace is calling for an immediate UN moratorium on high
seabottom trawling and it is in the interest of all EU countries
tosupport this," says Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace oceans campaigner.
"Sucha move would mark a major step forward for the protection of
deep-sealife and would provide the international community with a
strong weaponin its arsenal to stop pirate fishing."
Over the next few months, in partnership with the Environmental
JusticeFoundation, Greenpeace will expose the activities of fishing
pirates inthe Atlantic. This is part of Greenpeace's year-long
"Defending ourOceans" expedition to highlight the threats to the
oceans and demandthat 40% be declared no-take marine reserves
(3).
VVPR info: Katarzyna Guzek, Greenpeace Poland +48 500 236 211 Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner +358 505014472
Notes: (1) Until just recently, the ships were named the Oyra, Ostroe, Okhotino, Olchan and Ostrovets and were flagged in the Dominican Republic. They had been docked in Germany since November 2005 after completing fishing operations in the North Atlantic. For more information on bottom trawlers flagged to European Union Member States, see the March 2006 Greenpeace report "Murky waters: hauling in the net on Europe's high seas bottom trawl fleet"; for electronic version of the report: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/murky-waters (2) UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, 'The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004'Report (SOFIA) p10. (3) For more on the Expedition, go to: http://oceans.greenpeace.org