Activists aboard the Arctic Sunrise display a banner calling for “marine reserves now” in English and in Turkish. The Greenpeace ship confronted a fleet of Turkish purse seiner vessels targeting bluefin tuna in the Cypriot Channel. The Turkish fleet comprises more than 200 purse seiners in total, with enough catch capacity to fish the entire 15,000 tonnes of bluefin tuna recommended as the maximum sustainable level by ICCAT scientists. However Turkey has an allocated quota of less than 900 tonnes.Due to severe mismanagement, rampant over fishing and illegal activities, Greenpeace is calling for the bluefin tuna fishery to be closed until proper management is in place, including a network of marine reserves protectingtuna in their breeding areas like the Cypriot Channel.
© Greenpeace / Gavin Parsons