A notorious pirate fishing fleet in the harbour of Svetly in Kaliningrad. The ships are blacklisted by the European Union, Iceland and North East Atlantic Fisheries Committee (NEAFC).
"Russia is now doing what other countries should have done a
long time ago," said Frode Pleym, one of our oceans campaigners on
board the Arctic Sunrise. "By detaining the pirate fleet Russia is
setting an important precedent in terms of making illegal fishing
history, an example that other countries must follow."
A year of ill gotten plunder
We call this fleet the "Rostock pirates", after a harbour in
Germany where we first confronted them. The five ships in the
fleet are: Rosita (formerly Okhotino), Carmen (formerly
Ostrovets), Eva (formerly Oyra), Juanita (formerly Ostroe) and
Isabella (formerly Olchan).
Greenpeace has tracked these vessels for over a year. In that
time they have been re-named and re-flagged after being blacklisted
by the European Union, Iceland and North East Atlantic Fisheries
Committee (NEAFC). They operated under a Dominican flag, then were
re-flagged to Georgia. Changing names and flags is a common tactic
for dodgy ships.
What other countries aren't doing
Over the past year, the "Rostock pirates" have been re-supplied
in Germany, Poland and Norway - all signatories to the NEAFC
agreement, which closes blacklisted ships to members' ports.
While Russia is promising action we have no intention of taking
the pressure off other countries who should have, and must act
against pirate fishing.
So this morning we filed an official complaint with the EU
Commission, demanding it enforce Community fisheries law, which
Germany violated after officials assisted the pirate fleet during
their stay in Rostock.
Meanwhile, back on the high seas
Russia has shown that, if they are enforced, existing laws and
international agreements can help stop pirate fishing.
"But, the majority of the high seas remain largely unregulated
by such agreements," said Pleym. "This needs to stop. The world's
governments have a chance to take the first step by establishing a
moratorium on high seas bottom trawling at the United Nations this
week."
Arctic Sunrise weblog
Arctic Sunrise crew weblog