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Deep sea destroyer disabled

A Greenpeace activist on the Rainbow Warrior holds a ghost shark recovered during the day from bycatch discarded by the deep sea trawler Chang Xing in international waters in the Tasman Sea. Greenpeace along with more than a thousand scientists are supporting the call for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling, because of the vast amount of marine life that is destroyed by this fishing method. Enlarge Image

Bottom Trawling: the hard evidence

LATEST UPDATE: UN fails to protect deep seas
United Nations delegates are standing on the brink of rejecting an opportunity to protect high seas biodiversity. At the same time, the Greenpeace flagship the Rainbow Warrior has discovered hard evidence of the indiscriminate destruction happening right now - including rare and protected species.

Unwanted bycatch, including a starfish, far outweighs the target catch of orange roughy in a deep sea trawl from international waters in the Tasman Sea. Greenpeace along with more than a thousand scientists are supporting the call for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling, because of the vast amount of marine life that is destroyed by this fishing method. Enlarge Image

UN fails deep seas

They already had the opinion of thousands of scientists and a coalition of environment and wildlife groups. Then we gave them a petition signed by over 6000 cyberactivists. If that wasn't enough, the Rainbow Warrior documented actual hard evidence of the destruction of protected species in the Tasman Sea and beamed it all the way to New York. But still, the UN has this week failed to seize a crucial opportunity to halt high-seas bottom trawling.

A team from the Greenpeace ship MV Esperanza documents catch being landed on board a Spanish flagged bottom-trawler, the Ivan Nores, in the Hatton Bank area of the North Atlantic, 410 miles north-west of Ireland. Bottom-trawling boats, the majority from EU countries, drag fishing gear weighing several tonnes across the sea bed, destroying marine wildlife and devastating life on underwater mountains – or seamounts. Enlarge Image

EU destroying deep sea life

LATEST UPDATE: Greenpeace takes direct action against bottom trawlers

The needless, excessive destruction of the high seas was exposed after our activists beamed back disturbing footage of deep sea carnage on a European Union (EU) trawler.

Greenpeace appeal against sea bottom trawling at the United Nations. Things might be better for our oceans if Mr. Squid were Secretary Tentacle of the UN. Enlarge Image

UN fails to protect seamounts

Latest Update: what happened at the UN
Security was tight and fidgety. The cameras were ready to record the moment. Our Greenpeace activist was camouflaged to blend in to her surroundings. She had borne witness to an environmental crime: the bulldozing of fragile ocean seamounts. And she was in the presence of people who could do something about it. At the appointed moment, she leapt into the spotlight to demand action, not words.

The Rainbow Warrior departing from Waitamata harbour in Auckland for its research expedition looking at deep sea fishing and the effects on the fisheries and sea bed. Enlarge Image

Rainbow Warrior begins mission

There were two Rainbow Warriors in Matauri Bay, New Zealand, yesterday - one above and one below the water. The crew - safely stationed on the Warrior above the water - had the surreal experience of paying their respects to their ship's namesake before setting off on a mission to end the destructive practice of bottom trawling.

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Latest Update

Dave Walsh is aboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, which has been investigating and documenting bottom trawling in the North Atlantic for the past five weeks. Seamounts in this area run from the south of Iceland to the Azores and form the world's largest mountain range. The United Nations General Assembly meets in New York next week to debate the future of the ocean environment. Greenpeace is calling for the UN to impose an immediate moratorium on all deep sea bottom trawling on the high seas. A resolution on the issue is expected on Tuesday 16th November.