Pirate fishing ships head for the scrap heap

Feature story - 15 May, 2007
Five blacklisted fishing trawlers that we have repeatedly exposed for illegal fishing in the North Atlantic are now heading for the scrap heap. For years, ineffective fisheries legislation allowed the operators of these vessels to plunder the high seas illegally without facing prosecution and continue to make huge profits out of a declining fishery.

Illegal fishing vessel "Carmen" blockaded in Polish port by Greenpeace activists.

The trail of the "trawler girls"

Greenpeace documented the activities of these five fishing trawlers (nicknamed the "trawler girls" by Greenpeace campaigners due to the ships names all being women's names) since September 2005 while they illegally caught redfish in the Irminger Sea (an area of the North Atlantic between Iceland and Greenland).

The ships over-wintered in European ports and then returned to their old fishing grounds. This happened despite the fact that all five vessels were blacklisted by the European Union, Iceland as well as the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC).

In December 2005 and again in March 2006, Greenpeace activists prevented four of these vessels from leaving Rostock harbor in Germany and called on the German government to prevent them leaving port. Prior to their arrival in Germany these trawlers were called the Oyra, Ostroe, Okhotino, Olchan and Ostrovets. While they were in Rostock harbour the owners registered the ships under a new flag (Georgia) and changed their names to Eva, Juanita, Rosita, Isabella and Carmen, a make-over commonly practiced by pirate fishing vessels in order to disguise their identity and avoid inspections. Following the Greenpeace action in Rostock harbour the German authorities asserted that they would not re-supply the vessels but despite breaking EU regulations, the ships managed to secure enough fuel and supplies and were able to leave port at the end month. Read more.

Carmen, the fifth vessel in the blacklisted fleet had already fled to Poland under the cover of darkness before we took action in Germany.  But we found her in the port of Swinoujscie, wrapped her in chains and hung a banner that read "Stop Pirate Fishing". The Polish government ignored their obligation to prevent Carmen from re-supplying despite their promises to do so. The vessel was serviced, including a spell in dry dock and left port with a Polish pilot on the 31st of March 2006.

Again in March 2006 the same ships showed up in Lithuania along with several other pirate fishing vessels. Their hulls were promptly painted again and Greenpeace demanded that Lithuania refuse blacklisted pirate vessels. Read more.

European Union member states like Germany, Poland and Lithuania violated EU law by giving these pirate ships shelter, fuel, service and assistance. The port of Klaipeda in Lithuania, where these ships showed up, is notorious for poor reporting and registration systems, which enables pirate fishing ships and 'flag-of-convenience' ships to unload illegally caught fish.

The last season of plunder in the Atlantic

Despite having their crimes so widely exposed, the "trawler girls" returned to the North Atlantic last year in April and spent another five months fishing illegally. Iceland reported the trawlers but the ships were still able to trawl in the Irminger Sea,  where vulnerable cold-water coral (Lophelia) reefs abound.

They were targeting fish species such as red fish, a species which is showing signs of over-exploitation. Greenpeace visited the region where the ships were fishing on an over-flight with the Icelandic Coast Guard. We documented the 'trawler girls' fishing side by side with some 50 other legal and illegal ships.

Since November 2006 the ships were tied up in Kaliningrad.

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise informed the Russian authorities about their illegal nature and the obligation of Russian authorities to stop them. In the last  few weeks the ships have completed their final voyage -- to the Lepaya scrap yard in Latvia!

In addition to these ships being scrapped, nine others pirate fishing ships are now being held by authorities in NEAFC ports. Following this good news, NEAFC has just launched new blacklisting and control procedures. We'll monitor progress carefully, since NEAFC member states have failed to control fishing effectively over the last two years.

Too many boats, too little fish

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing is a global problem that needs global solutions. It is primarily caused by the huge over-capacity of the world's fishing fleets, the lack of effective laws and the inability of many countries to police their waters.

While many states around the world are addressing the issue on a national and regional level, they have not been able to deal with the problem of a highly mobile pirate fishing fleet ignoring the law all over the world. Local and regional solutions are simply not sufficient if the international community is to deal effectively with pirate fishing and the theft of marine life from honest fishermen and future generations.

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