The photos were snapped over the 2004 and 2005 fishing years ?
the same period that the debate over bottom trawling has been
raging and the industry has been downplaying the destructive
impacts on deep-sea life.
The damning photos show a wide diversity of deep-sea life that
is being dragged up from the deep-sea floor including bizarre
crabs, strange octopus, ancient Gorgonian corals and CITES-listed
endangered black coral.
"These photos are embarrassing for the fishing industry and the
Government who have failed to support progressive moves to protect
deep-sea life from bottom trawling in international waters at the
United Nations," said oceans campaigner Carmen Gravatt.
This week the New Zealand, Australian and Chilean Governments
host an international fisheries meeting at Te Papa. The meeting
will draw over 150 delegates from over 25 countries to discuss
setting up a Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) that
would manage the international waters of the Tasman Sea and South
Pacific Ocean.
Currently there are few rules in international waters and bottom
trawlers have exploited the situation for decades.
"A temporary ban on bottom trawling in the areas under
discussion is essential. History has shown us that bottom trawling
companies are ruthless. If we wait for years until the talks are
resolved, habitats and species deserving protection could be gone
forever", said Ms Gravatt.
The observer photos add further weight to evidence collected
over the past two years by Rainbow Warrior expeditions into the
international waters of the Tasman Sea. Both trips exposed New
Zealand fishing companies destroying life in the deep sea to catch
orange roughy.
"The fishing industry has betrayed the public by portraying
bottom trawling as having a minimal effect. These images expose
what the bottom trawling industry has used weasel words to deny:
that every year bottom trawling is causing extensive damage to
fragile and ancient life on the sea floor."
"Although 185 photos sounds a lot, the sample is small, because
less than 5% of New Zealand-flagged deep sea bottom trawlers have
observers on board and not all these observers take photos.
However, they offer persistent and undeniable proof of bottom
trawling's devastating impacts", concluded Gravatt.
The deep sea hosts the largest pool of undiscovered life on
Earth. Because so many species are only found in localised areas,
scientists are warning that species can be wiped out by bottom
trawling before they've even been named.
See the images for yourself at: www.greenpeace.org.nz/rfmo/oia
To use print-quality resolution images of bottom trawling
contact Dean Baigent-Mercer. All images are available for use on
the condition they are credited to © NZ Ministry of Fisheries.