Pages above:
Send to a friend
Fill in the form below and click on the "send" button to e-mail a link to this content.
You can send to UP TO FIVE e-mail addresses by separating them with commas.
"Driftnets are walls of death, and their continued use is piracy," said Karli Thomas, Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner aboard the Arctic Sunrise. "Greenpeace is out on the water exposing these offenders, but the real responsibility for enforcing the driftnets ban and punishing these villains lies with the Italian government and the European Union. For years, Mediterranean governments have continued to condone such piracy when the law has given them a mandate to protect the Mediterranean Sea – that is the real scandal"
Greenpeace is campaigning for a global network of fully protected marine reserves covering 40% of our oceans as an essential way to protect our seas from the ravages of climate change, to restore the health of fish stocks, and protect ocean life from habitat destruction and collapse. As part of this campaign, the Arctic Sunrise is currently in the Mediterranean documenting threats to the sea and promoting the designation of marine reserves (3).
"All Mediterranean countries must unite to protect the Sea - to stop illegal fishing and protect this shared resource. Laws without enforcement are worthless, real action is needed to stop the plunder. If we want fish tomorrow, we need marine reserves today," Thomas concluded.
Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses non-violent creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems to drive solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
Notes to Editor
(1) The Luna Rossa, registration number 5RC1058 was in position 37°59.3 N, 011° 10.1 E which is approximately 40 miles west of the Italian island of Marettima off Sicily, Italy.
(2) In the 1990's it was estimated that 8 to 29 cetaceans were caught for every 100 casts in the Italian fishery, which gave rise to annual estimates of over 8,000 cetaceans being trapped every year. See:
Di Natale A. & G. Notarbartolo di Sciara (1994). A review of the passive fishing nets and trap fisheries in the Mediterranean Sea and of cetacean by catch. International Whaling Commission Report, Special Issue 15:189-202.
(3) The Arctic Sunrise is on a three-month expedition; Defending Our Mediterranean. The expedition began in May, and the crew have already confronted Italian driftnet fishing vessels, Turkish purse seiners targeting bluefin tuna, and mapped and documented posidonia seagrass meadows requiring protection in Greece and Libya. For a map of the proposed high seas marine reserves, see "Marine Reserves for the Mediterranean Sea:
Report available at www.oceans.greenpeace.org/med-marine-reserves-report
Summary report at www.oceans.greenpeace.org/med-marine-reserves-summary
Further contact information for reporters to get video, photos or report details
Greenpeace International Picture Desk: John Novis, phone + 44 780 161 5889 Greenpeace International Video Desk: Maarten van Rouveroy, phone +31 646 197 322
Contact information
-
Alessandro Gianni, oceans campaigner, Greenpeace Italy
Phone +39 340 800 9534
Karli Thomas, oceans campaigner, Greenpeace International
Phone +31 646 055 298
Szabina Mozes, communications officer, Greenpeace International
Phone +36 205 155 928
Or on board the Arctic Sunrise, phone +31 207 122 616
