Fishing
The way we fish cannot continue. Industrial scale commercial fishing has left parts of our oceans a barren wasteland, where once life thrived. Currently, less than one percent of our global oceans are set aside as ocean sanctuaries, making it all too easy for the fishing industry to exploit their resources. Overfishing and destructive, wasteful fishing practices are threatening the health of our oceans and food security for communities everywhere. Bottom trawling – commonly known as the most destructive fishing method around – is turning biodiverse hotspots to rock and rubble.
Things you can do
We want you to take action because together we’re strong.
-
Ban Bottom Trawling on Seamounts
At home and far out to sea, our oceans are being plundered for profit by the fishing industry through bottom trawling. But what is bottom trawling and why is it so destructive to ocean habitats?
-
Open Letter for Oceans Protection
Imagine a future where the ocean thrives. Where endangered species have been brought back from the brink, and families can catch a feed.
-
Stop Ghost Fishing Gear
Ghost fishing gear is wreaking havoc on our oceans. Discarded nets, ropes and other fishing waste makes up 10% of the total plastic pollution in the ocean, but as yet – nothing is being done to stop it at the source.
-
Why is coral so important?
Why is coral so important? Find out more about these unique species – the backbone of the oceans – and learn how you can help protect coral.
-
This is how you’ve made a difference with Greenpeace so far in 2025
In this issue of our magazine Kākāriki, you can read how you are how you are protecting our oceans, climate, forests, and communities here in Aotearoa and around the globe.
-
Coral killers – the bottom trawling image that shocked the world
On June 12 2005 Greenpeace captured evidence that bottom trawling was destroying deep sea coral in the Tasman Sea. This is the story of that photo.
-
Protected corals destroyed in six-tonne bycatch “disaster” from a single bottom trawl
BREAKING: It’s been revealed that a New Zealand bottom trawling vessel has pulled up six tonnes of protected stony coral in a single trawl – making it the worst reported case of coral destruction in New Zealand waters in over a decade.
-
“A devastating record”: New Greenpeace analysis reveals almost half a million blue sharks caught as ‘bycatch’ in Central and Western Pacific in 2023
TASMAN SEA – A new analysis of the latest fisheries data by Greenpeace Australia Pacific has revealed widespread slaughter of sharks in the Pacific Ocean by industrial longline fishers. The analysis estimates that almost half a million blue sharks were caught as bycatch in the region.
-
Bottom trawling and why it’s bad for the ocean
Bottom trawling is an incredibly destructive method of fishing that involves dragging weighted nets across the seafloor. It causes wide scale damage to our oceans, but New Zealand fishing companies still use it both locally and internationally.
-
Court rules systemic failings in bycatch reporting
Greenpeace is welcoming a High Court decision that helps clarify how threatened marine species like the Antipodean Albatross can be better protected through accurate bycatch reporting and management, saying the case demonstrates the failings of the current model.
-
Thousands call on government to drop Hauraki Gulf Bill changes
Alongside our allies, Greenpeace has today handed in a petition to parliament calling for the government to drop amendments that would allow commercial fishing in highly protected areas of the…
-
Coral pulled up by NZ trawler “environmental vandalism”
Revelations that a New Zealand trawler has destroyed kilograms of deep sea corals in a region of the South Pacific earmarked for protection, illustrates exactly why New Zealand must stop trawling these international waters.