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EXPOSED! Pirates bankrolled by Spanish government

Divers chained the propellers of four vessels with a history of pirate fishing to the quayside in the port of Aviero (Portugal). Greenpeace will hand over the keys to the lock chaining the vessels Red, Caribe, Brites and Aveirense to the dockside to the port authorities of Aveiro. The vessels are owned by Grupo Silva Vieira, and all have track records of involvement in pirate fishing including fishing without a flag or legal quota, using illegal gear, using multiple identities, and other breaches of international regulations. Enlarge Image

Activists lock pirates of Portugal in port

Greenpeace divers have chained the propellers of four vessels with a history of pirate fishing to the quayside in the port of Aveiro. Hoisting a banner demanding "Scrap These Pirates", we're now calling on the Portuguese Minister of Fisheries to ensure that they will not be able to fish again.

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. Enlarge Image

Pirates blacklisted

Our oceans are being plundered by pirates. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing – also known as "pirate fishing" - has become a global scourge. From international waters around the world, to the islands of the South Pacific and the coastal communities of West Africa, fisheries are in crisis.

The pirate fishing vessel, Luna Rossa, cut off its illegal driftnet and fled from the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. Enlarge Image

Mediterranean pirates busted by Greenpeace

Activists aboard our ship Arctic Sunrise confronted an illegal vessel, the Luna Rossa, fishing with a driftnet this morning in international waters west of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea. The Luna Rossa’s crew immediately cut the net and fled from our ship at high speed.

The most devastatingly efficient tuna fishing vessel in the world. Enlarge Image

World's largest tuna destroyer

We chased it for 5 days, but as dawn broke over the Pacific this morning we finally confronted the biggest tuna fishing vessel in the world. The Spanish-owned and flagged tuna purse seiner "Albatun Tres" is known as a 'super, super seiner' and can net 3,000 tonnes of tuna in a single fishing trip. This is almost double the entire annual catch of some Pacific island countries.

Greenpeace activists from Fiji and Papua New Guinea stand on juvenile yellowfin and skipjack tuna in the hold of a vessel that was caught offloading fish from purse seiners in the Pacific Commons. Enlarge Image

Pirate of the Pacific busted by Greenpeace

We caught an illegal tuna purse seiner (Queen Evelyn 168) in the Pacific Commons on Friday. This Philippines-flagged vessel was close to the transfer of tuna between her sister vessel and a refrigerated mothership. It was likely that transfer of fish at sea, involving this illegal vessel, was about to occur. But upon our arrival the vessels immediately separated and fled.

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