Greenpeaceaddressed the industry at the biennial World Tuna Trade Conference and Exhibition, Tuna 2008, taking place in Thailand. With Greenpeace ships currentlytaking action against tuna overfishing in the Pacific and the Mediterranean,and Greenpeace activists having recently shut down tuna stalls at the Brussels Seafood Expo, this message underscores the fact that despite ourdisagreements and confrontations, the ultimate goals of conservation and industryare not in conflict.
"As world tuna stocks continue to decline because of appallingmismanagement and overfishing, the industry is on the brink of economiccollapse," warned Greenpeace Australia-Pacific oceans campaigner JasonCollins. "Greenpeace advocates marine reserves for environmental reasons.But the industry, for economic reasons, should be with us on this one -demanding the creation of marine reserves would not only protect spawning andbreeding areas but future catches."
Tuna fisheries that were considered healthy just a few years ago, such as thoseof the Western and Central Pacific Ocean, havejoined the downhill global trend due to rampant overfishing. Recent researchpublished in Science (1) found that the Western and Central Pacific bigeye andyellowfin tuna fisheries will have a higher economic value if the fishing effort is reduced. Such a reductionof effort should also maintain stocks at ecologically sustainable levels.
"This analysis makes it clear that conservation and business interests gohand in hand. Both goals can be attained by catching less fish in the shortterm," said Collins.
In a recent Greenpeace report: TakingTuna out of the Can: A Rescue Plan for the World's Favourite FishGreenpeace outlined the steps required to put the global tuna industry on asustainable and equitable footing. The call includes a minimum 50% reduction inthe amount of tuna caught worldwide and even more for species faced with imminent commercial extinction, such as the Atlantic bluefin.
Over the last two months, the Greenpeace ship Esperanza has been highlighting theoverfishing of bigeye and yellowfin tuna and defending the international watersbetween the Pacific island countries as no-take marine reserves. During theirtime at sea, the activists have taken peaceful direct action against fishingfleets from Taiwan, Korea, the USand the Philippines.Just three days ago, activists in the Pacific protested against the rapaciousappetite and catch of the biggest super-super seiner ever built theSpanish-owned, and flagged Albatun Tres.
Last month, 80 activists from 15 countries shut down five tuna suppliers at theBrussels Seafood Expo, demanding that suppliers and retailers take steps to ensurethat the fish they sell comes from legal and sustainable sources.
"The race to catch the planet's remaining tuna is on. With the use of fishaggregation devices and vessels that can catch as much tuna in one trip as somePacific Islands do in a year, tuna and othermarine life caught up in the nets and hooks stand no chance," said SariTolvanen, Greenpeace International campaigner on board the Esperanza. "Theindustry is committing commercial suicide and needs to start reducing theovercapacity of their fleets and ban the use of fish aggregation devicesurgently" said Tolvanen.
Meanwhile, the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise is in the Mediterraneantackling the critical overfishing of northern bluefin tuna. Unsustainablemanagement and illegal over fishing (2) have brought this fishery to the brinkof collapse. Greenpeace is calling for a complete closure of the fishery untilproper management and enforcement are in place, including marine reserves forthe Mediterranean breeding areas of the bluefin tuna.
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Other contacts: Jason Collins, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Oceans Campaigner, in Bangkok+61 418 650 995Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner on board the Esperanza in the Pacific +4751407987Karli Thomas, Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner on board the Arctic Sunrise in the Mediterranean +31 20 712 2616
Notes: (1) Grafton RQ, Kompas T, Hilborn RW (2007), "Economics of overexploitation revisited", Science 318: 1601(2) The International Commission for the Conservations of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), responsible for the management of the fishery has repeatedly set catch limits at levels twice as high as their own scientific committee recommends. In addition to the unsustainable legal catch, the fishery is further threatened by rampant pirate fishing. For example in August 2007 the French fleet had overfished their quota by 180%, catching 10,165 tonnes of tuna though their quota is only 5,593 tonnes.