Washington, United States —
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza arrived in Homer, Alaska to begin the group’s ambitious research and outreach expedition into the Bering Sea, the same waters where Greenpeace’s very first protest took place nearly 36 years ago. The international environmental group will spend two months this summer in the Bering, conducting scientific surveys of underwater canyons and working with native Alaskan communities to push for sustainable fishing practices in the area. By utilizing state-of-the-art technology to observe coral, sponges and hopefully discover new species, and through gaining the support of native communities, Greenpeace will push for greater protection of the Bering waters.
“This ambitious expedition will take Greenpeace right back to its roots,” said John Hocevar, senior oceans specialist with Greenpeace. “Thirty six years later, we are still committed to necessary solutions to problems facing our environment, using creative means and modern technology to defend our oceans for the benefit of future generations,” he added.
The Bering Sea hangs in the balance, due to harmful fishing practices such as bottom-trawling and a single-species management approach that fails to consider the impact of removing billions of pounds of fish on the rest of the ecosystem. Populations of many commercially important fish and crabs have begun to decline, putting the other creatures, and sadly the people who depend upon fishing for subsistence and livelihood, at risk. Building on work undertaken last summer, Greenpeace will work with Alaska native communities along the Bering to create “Marine Cultural Heritage Zones (MHZs),” areas which give fishing dependent communities the ability to ensure that their traditional and subsistence needs will be met. The future of many native cultures and traditions is dependent on the continued health of the Bering, and the creation of MHZs can help to ensure both.
Greenpeace will also conduct groundbreaking scientific research into the unexplored underwater canyons of the Bering Sea. With the help of submarines, the Greenpeace team will be the first humans to observe firsthand the marine life that exists in two submarine canyons, Zhemchug and Pribilof. As the home of many corals and sponges, and potentially undiscovered life, Zhemchug and Pribilof, which are larger than Arizona’s Grand Canyon, will offer insight into the rich biodiversity of the Bering and help assess the effects of industrial fishing on these unique areas. A provision in the recently re-authorized Magnuson-Stevens Act mandates protection of coral habitats. Greenpeace will lead the research into the canyons’ coral assemblages in order to expedite this process for policy makers.
“This expedition, the latest effort by Greenpeace to defend our oceans, will combine the best technology with efforts to reach out to the people most affected by the continued neglect of the Bering environment,” said George Pletnikoff, Greenpeace oceans campaigner. “This is an exciting chance for Greenpeace to lead efforts to leave behind a healthy Bering for future generations, and another step towards taking an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management here in the United States,” he concluded.
