Greenpeace has projected images of destroyed coral onto a downtown Wellington building, highlighting the destruction caused by New Zealand bottom trawlers, as an international fisheries meeting starts in the capital city.
Delegates from the EU, America, Australia and the Pacific are meeting in Wellington this week to discuss the management of fisheries in the international waters of the South Pacific as part of the SPRFMO Scientific Committee (South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation).
New Zealand is the only country still bottom trawling the high seas of this region, including in the Tasman Sea between Aotearoa and Australia – despite environmental organisations calling for this practice to stop.
“Bottom trawling is a highly destructive fishing method that bulldozes everything in its path, including precious corals that can take hundreds of years to grow”, says Greenpeace ocean campaigner Juan Parada.
“It’s shocking that New Zealand is the only country dragging heavy weight nets over an area that is so vibrant, and full of diverse ocean life that it’s been earmarked for protection in one of the world’s first global ocean sanctuaries.
“We’ve projected images of destroyed coral, filmed along known trawl tracks in the deep, to reveal what’s at stake if trawling is allowed to continue. We’ve also shown images of the vibrant life that thrives here and is worth protecting.
“Our message is clear – bottom trawling kills. To protect the ocean for the future bottom trawling must stop in these highly diverse areas.”
Last year a New Zealand trawler, the Tasman Viking, pulled up 37kg of coral on the Lord Howe Rise which is in the area that SPRFMO governs, leading to the area being closed to trawling temporarily.
Greenpeace has since carried out a scientific survey of this closed area and has submitted an observer paper to the SPRFMO Scientific Committee, outlining the data available from four deep sea video surveys on the Lord Howe Rise.
The survey was carried out despite the New Zealand government refusing to share the co-ordinates with the scientists working with Greenpeace.
Analysis of the footage taken from this area shows there are diverse species of coral living here, making the case for permanent closure of this site to New Zealand bottom trawlers.
Some of the coral observed in this region are estimated to be over a metre in height – indicating they are likely to be old individuals. Deep sea corals are known to be incredibly slow growing, with some growing just centimetres per year.
Analysis of the footage by scientists has confirmed the presence of cup, black, bamboo, gorgonian and precious corals, as well as feather stars and sponges.
“The impacts of bottom trawling are no longer in dispute, especially on ancient ecosystems like deep sea coral forests,” says Parada.
“We’ve all seen the Attenborough documentary which highlighted how destructive bottom trawling is. This type of fishing is happening in the high seas between Aotearoa and Australia, and now is the moment to protect the precious life that is irrefutably there – and is essential to ocean health.”
“The New Zealand government cannot ignore the findings from this Lord Howe Rise site, as uncomfortable as they may be for the bottom trawlers. There is rare and diverse life here, and in a biodiversity crisis – these areas must be protected from their major threat – bottom trawling.”
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