Greenpeace witnessed the Japanese purse seiner Fukuichi Maru scooping up tuna in a pocket of international waters attached to a fish aggregating device (FAD). In the Western Pacific ocean FADs are supposedly banned for two months. Unfortunately, a gaping loophole in the ban is allowing fleets from Japan, to continue their plunder of the Pacific. Pirate fishing is also rife within the tuna fishing industry. Combined with the rise in fishing effort this illegal fishing is endangering tuna in all oceans. To protect the precious tuna stocks of the Pacific, such as bigeye and yellowfin tuna, each country must eliminate the pirate fishing that further threatens the stocks and undermines conservation and management attempts in the region.
© Greenpeace / Paul Hilton