Greenpeace Exposes Deep Sea Carnage

The crew of the Esperanza have been following the Spanish flagged "Playa de Menduiña" and collecting the spectacular species the bottom trawler has killed and discarded through its destructive fishing. We asked repeatedly that they stop trawling, but to no avail. The ship has continued on its destructive path and churned up rare species such as giant spider crabs, coral, rare deep water sharks and deep sea fish such as orange roughy.

The action continues our work in the North Atlantic to document the extreme destruction caused by deep sea trawling. On Monday, October 18, our team beamed back disturbing footage taken from the Ivan Nores, another Spanish bottom trawler that has been fishing in the North Atlantic near Ireland.

The footage is stunning even to seasoned marine biologists. Copious amounts of "bycatch" destroyed by the bottom trawling nets include huge red squid, rays, dogfish, starfish and crustaceans. Fish caught include roundnose grenadier and Baird's smoothead, both of which are extremely vulnerable to fishing pressure.

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All Talk and No Action
Meanwhile, at the UN in New York, diplomats are talking about the protection of marine life in these international waters. A resolution on the issue is up for discussion in early November. But we think that all this talk is getting us nowhere. "Every day wasted just discussing the need for action is possibly another deep sea habitat gone. The UN must act to stop destructive fishing and save the giant squid and thousands of other marine animals," said Maria Jose Caballero, a campaigner on board the Esperanza.

Bottom-trawling boats, mainly from EU countries, drag fishing gear weighing several tons across the sea bed. In the process, they destroy everything in their path, including marine wildlife such as coral, and devastate life on underwater mountains, or "seamounts." Seamounts are usually found in the high seas outside individual countries' economic zones, so these boats are effectively stealing future resources from all of us with absolutely no regulations.

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More Information
Read the weblog from the Esperanza.