Media release - March 24, 2005
Federal officials, members of Congress, and representatives of the fisheries industry received a surprise this evening when Greenpeace activists playfully interrupted a dinner hosted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to deliver the message that the nation's fisheries are in crisis.
Dressed as waiters, six activists distributed menus reading
"Mismanaging Our Nation's Fisheries: A Menu of What's Missing"
highlighting species that have been managed out of commercial
existence or are at risk of collapse as a result of overfishing.
Balloons released in the room carried the message "Who Stole Our
Fish?" and listed the agencies and policymakers responsible. These
include: NOAA; the Director of NOAA Fisheries, Bill Hogarth; the
regional fisheries councils and coastal commissions; Senator Ted
Stevens (R-AK) and the company "Omega Protein."
"The fisheries councils responsible for conserving our ocean
heritage are dominated by members who have a direct economic stake
in the fisheries they are supposed to be managing," said John
Hocevar, an Oceans Specialist with Greenpeace. "Asking sharks to
protect their prey may work with Lenny, the vegetarian shark, in A
Shark's Tale, but it doesn't work in real life. It's high time
these Councils were revamped to ensure that independent scientists
and environmentalists are given an equal say in decision
making."
The dinner was part of the second "Managing Our Nation's
Fisheries" conference where panelists, policymakers, and fisheries
managers are discussing implementation of the Bush administration's
"Ocean Action Plan". The plan was released last December in
response to 212 recommendations made by the U.S. Oceans Commission
to protect marine ecosystems from further degradation and begin
restoration of depleted fish stocks.
"Bush's plan is a case of all hat and no cattle," said Hocevar,
a resident of Austin, Texas. "It will do little to nothing to
address problems down in Texas, where Gulf of Mexico fisheries are
reeling from depleted stocks, dead zones, and cheap imports. Now
that we have been confronted with the severity of the problem, we
need to take action."
The world's marine catch has
increased more than four times in the past 40 years---from 20.39
million tons in 1950 to 93.14 million tons by 2002. As a result,
seven out of 10 of the ocean's commercially targeted marine stocks
are fished beyond ecologically sustainable limits. The Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that
nearly 75 percent of the world's fisheries are overfished.