Greenpeace activists prevented four pirate fishing trawlers from leaving Rostock harbour with chains and oil drums. One vessel was chained to the harbour wall and hung with a banner reading 'Stop pirate fishing'. A fifth trawler left Rostock last night - all five are on the EU blacklist for having been engaged in illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing - also know as pirate fishing - in the Atlantic. All have recently changed names and flags and were trying to leave port to plunder the high seas again.
"The fact that the German government allows known pirate
fishingvessels to set sail is incredible," says Andrea Cederquist,
marinebiologist at Greenpeace Germany. "Knowing these ships are
leaving portwithout making sure they will keep to international
fishery agreementsin future is unacceptable." Pirate fishing
vessels are an enormousproblem, particularly on the high seas and
in the coastal waters ofdeveloping countries. There they steal fish
- often the staple food -from some of the poorest countries in the
world and destroy thelivelihoods of fishermen who live there"
Pirate fisheries are estimated to cost countries between 3.4
and7.6 billion euros each year. They also wipe out the
unknownworlds of the deep-sea. Many pirate vessels are engaged
ina fishing technique called high seas bottom trawling which is
known tocause huge destruction to vulnerable deep-sea marine life
such ascoldwater corals (1).
On December 19th, 2005, Greenpeace called on the German
Government tochain up the Rostock pirate fishing vessels. The ships
were then calledthe Oyra, Ostroe, Okhotino, Olchan and Ostrovets.
In 2005, they wereinvolved in the collapse of the redfish stocks of
the North Atlantic.Now their owners have changed the ships'
registrations and they'recalled Eva, Junita, Rosita, Isabella and
Carmen, and are registered toa new flag state: Georgia. According
to information obtained byGreenpeace, the trawlers have set their
sights on either plundering therich fishing waters off the coast of
West Africa (Mauritania) or goingfarther a field to trawl the
depths of the Pacific. Both are regionswere proper controls are
lacking and pirate fishing is flourishing.
"The world's leaders keep talking about stopping pirate
fisheries, yetboats like the Rostock trawlers go out and fish every
day in everyocean. If governments are serious about what they say
then they need toact now. They need to stop these boats from
leaving port andsupport a United Nations moratorium on high seas
bottom trawlingmoratorium. This way they would not only be saving
deep-sea life, butsending a clear signal to the pirates that the
freedom to plunder thehigh seas is over," says Sari Tolvanen
Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner. (2)
Over the next few months, in partnership with the Environmental
JusticeFoundation, the Greenpeace ship Esperanza will expose how
fishingpirates in the Atlantic are wiping out marine life and
destroying thelivelihoods of the communities dependent on our
oceans for food. Thetour is part of the year-long 'Defending Our
Oceans Expedition' tohighlight the threats to the oceans and demand
that 40% be declaredno-take marine reserves, to safeguard marine
life. (3)
VVPR info: Andrea Cederquist, Greenpeace Germany +49 171 888 0764 Sari Tolvanen, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner +358 505014472
Notes: (1)A Greenpeace report, “Murky Waters: hauling in the net on Europe’s high seas bottom trawl fleet“ which documents the European Flagged bottom trawlers that Greenpeace has observed plundering the Atlantic was released in early March and can be found at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/murky-waters(2)Greenpeace is a member of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, an alliance of more than 50 international environmental and conservation organizations that are seeking a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling.(3More information on this expedition, the most ambitious ever launched by Greenpeace, can be found at oceans.greenpeace.org