200 miles South West Guinea Bissau. Chinese fishing boats Lian Run 24 and Lian Run 29 illegally transshipping frozen fish boxes onto Binar 4 Panama reefer. Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation are working in partnership to expose the scandal of pirate fishing, as part of the year - long Greenpeace Defending Our Oceans expedition to highlight a range of threats to the oceans.
The environmental and human rights groups documented the
refrigeratedcargo ship (reefer), Binar 4 (1) four days ago,
transshipping fish ininternational waters. The fish had been caught
in Guinean waters, andtherefore should only have been transshipped
in the port of Conakryaccording to Guinean law (2). The reefer is
headed for Las Palmas, aport notorious for allowing pirate vessels
to offload stolen fish, withthe Greenpeace ship M.Y Esperanza
following behind.
"This is Spain's chance to prove they are serious about making
piracyhistory," said Sebastian Losada of Greenpeace Spain, after
deliveringthe documents to officials in Madrid. "If they do not
act, they willbecome partners in crime with the pirates."
During the time the Esperanza was in West Africa, Greenpeaceand
EJF witnessed 104 foreign flagged vessels, from Korea, China,Italy,
Liberia and Belize. The evidence gathered suggests that 50% ofthe
vessels observed were engaged in, or linked to illegal
fishingactivities, including fishing without a license, operating
with no nameor hiding their identity, trawling inside the 12-mile
zone restrictedto local fishermen, or transshipping anywhere other
than the Guineancapital Conakry. The Binar 4 was taking fish from
ships licensed tofish, but all the vessels involved had broken the
laws concerningtransshipments.
"In the past few weeks we have begun to unravel the web of
deceitaround pirate fishing," said Greenpeace campaigner Sarah
Duthie, fromon board the Esperanza. "The way the legal and illegal
ships worktogether is designed to deceive, but in the end it is a
simple case ofstealing food from others."
"Unless there is concrete and sustained action against pirate
fishingby all governments the problem will continue to grow,"
warned HeleneBours of Environmental Justice Foundation. "Local
communities and theenvironment will not survive unless the pirate
fishing industry iswiped out."(3)
VVPR info: Contacts:On board the MY Esperanza: + 47 514 079 86Sara Holden: Greenpeace International CommunicationsSarah Duthie: Greenpeace UK, Oceans CampaignerHelene Bours: Environmental Justice Foundation Oceans CampaignerIn Madrid:Sebastian Losada: Greenpeace Spain, Oceans Campaigner: + 34 626998254Laura Perez: Greenpeace Spain Communications: + 34 626 998 251Photo and Video of the illegal activities is available. Contact: Franca Michienzi: Greenpeace International Photo desk: +31 6 53819255Maarten van Rouveroy: Greenpeace International Video desk: +31 6 4619 7322 oceans.greenpeace.org www.ejfoundation.org
Notes: Notes: (1) http://www.greenpeace.org/binar4casestudy (2) According to Guinean law, fish can only be caught by licensed vessels and any transshipment must be done in the Port of Conakry. According to the UN FAO Model Scheme for Port Control, pirate fishing vessels or those supporting them should be denied access to ports and services. Through its National Plan of Action to Fight Illegal Fishing, Spain committed to "prohibit the admission into or departure from port, the access to port services or the landing or transshipping of catches, whenever there are indications of engagement in activities of illegal fishing " (3) According to the High Seas Task Force on Illegal, Unreported & Unregulated (IUU or pirate) fishing, up to 20% of the global catch is taken illegally - as much as US$9 billion dollars. Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation are working together to expose the pirate fishing fleets that operate without sanction across the globe. Together the international environment and human rights organisations are demanding that governments close ports to ban pirates, deny them access to markets and prosecute companies supporting them.The drive to make piracy history is the second leg of a 14-month global expedition "Defending Our Oceans", the most ambitious ship expedition ever undertaken by Greenpeace to expose the threats to the oceans and demand a global network of properly enforced marine reserves covering 40% of the worlds oceans. Greenpeace aims to gather a million Ocean Defenders by the end of the expedition in February 2007.