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Fish and chips on the high seas

The Rainbow Warrior sets out from Auckland to defend deep sea life. Enlarge Image

Rainbow Warrior sets out to save deep sea life

A year since its first expedition in defence of deep sea life, the Rainbow Warrior has left Auckland to once again demonstrate the devastation caused by bottom trawling. Last year we exposed the New Zealand and Belize-flagged bottom trawlers in the Tasman Sea ... will this year bring a repeat performance?

Greenpeace activists are thrown into the sea during their protest against the Lithuanian registered bottom trawling fishing boat ANUVA. Since the early hours of the morning twelve activists have been occupying the trawler, stopping her from setting her nets. Greenpeace is calling for a moratorium on high sea bottom trawling at the UN General Assembly in New York this week. Enlarge Image

Deep sea destroyer disabled

It's 10pm, in the middle of the North Atlantic. I'm sitting in the campaign office, just behind the bridge of the Esperanza, still wrapped in layers of thermal gear, as I've just spent six hours out in the dark, in an inflatable. But while I'm sitting here, in relative comfort, three of our guys are on board a Lithuanian-flagged bottom trawler, the Anuva. It's going to be a long night.

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.

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.

The catch is hauled aboard the NZ deep sea trawler Corsair in international waters in the Tasman sea. The red fish is Orange Roughy, the rest is mostly bycatch to be discarded. Enlarge Image

Bottom Trawlers: caught red-handed

Looks like somebody was throwing us a red herring. Last week, Greenpeace activists targeted the Nelson, New Zealand headquarters of the Orange Roughy Management Company (ORMC) in a peaceful protest against destructive bottom trawling. Their Chief Executive denied operating in international waters. But guess what our ship, Rainbow Warrior, just found?

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LATEST UPDATE

8 June 2005

For the second day in a row, we have interrupted bottom trawling by the "Ocean Reward" in the Tasman Sea, this time stopping four trawls.

This led to accusations from the vessel's fishing company that our activists cut the trawler's nets with knives, and that our claims of bottom trawling being damaging were "unsubstantiated claptrap".

However, the Maritime Union of New Zealand is supporting us.

Maritime Union General Secretary Trevor Hanson says it has become obvious that overfishing and bad practices such as bottom trawling were wrecking the environment, and would also destroy the industry that depends on the environment.

"The time has come to stop talking and start direct action, because in our experience that is the only way to get things done."

Read more on Greenpeace New Zealand's website