{"id":28919,"date":"2020-03-02T15:36:51","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T14:36:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=28919"},"modified":"2021-01-26T15:45:22","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T14:45:22","slug":"ticking-time-bomb-in-antarctic-as-fishing-vessels-fail-safety-checks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/28919\/ticking-time-bomb-in-antarctic-as-fishing-vessels-fail-safety-checks\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ticking time bomb\u2019 in Antarctic as fishing vessels fail safety checks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

London, UK – Fishing cargo vessels operating in pristine Antarctic waters are failing a majority of their safety inspections, Greenpeace International analysis of Port State Control inspection records has found. The 26 refrigerated cargo vessels (or \u2018reefers\u2019) recorded transferring catch from fishing boats in the Antarctic in the period 2017-2019 failed 70% \u2013 119 out of 168 \u2013 of their environmental and workers\u2019 safety inspections in the same period. [1] In one case, a reefer reportedly carrying heavy fuel oil<\/a> in Antarctic waters, a substance forbidden in the area, crashed into an iceberg, before later sinking in the South Atlantic. The owner disputes that the vessel was carrying heavy fuel oil at the time and the case is subject to ongoing legal proceedings. [2]<\/p>\n\n

The Greenpeace International report, Fishy Business<\/a>, maps out the murky world of \u2018transhipment\u2019 and highlights how it enables illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. A detailed analysis of more than 1600 reefers found that just seven major fishing powers and 250 vessels dominate transhipment on the high seas”.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

More than two thirds of reefers transhipping in Antarctic waters\nin the last three years are operated by Laskaridis Shipping Ltd, owned by Greek\nshipping magnate Thanasis Laskaridis. According to analysis of the data from\neach individual vessel\u2019s Inspections & Detentions record on Lloyd\u2019s List\nIntelligence, the company\u2019s reefers operating in the Antarctic have a 60%\nfailure rate of safety inspections during the period they were owned by\nLaskaridis, with six of their vessels being detained in port between 2017 and\n2019. [3] [4]<\/p>\n\n

Will McCallum of Greenpeace\u2019s Protect the Oceans campaign said: \u201cThe shocking environmental safety record of transhipment vessels in the Antarctic is a ticking time bomb. If it is left unchecked it could cause untold harm to this fragile ecosystem. These vessels are operating in an almost pristine environment so it\u2019s vital they operate with the highest environmental safety standards, but this is clearly not the case. The Antarctic Ocean Commission must stop vessels with such poor records from entering this wilderness and create a register of permitted reefers, which are required to have onboard observers.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cTranshipment is the lifeblood of the distant water fishing\nindustry and facilitates some of the worst environmental and human rights\nabuses at sea. These abuses happen out of sight and out of mind, and so are at\ngreater risk of being ignored. If we\u2019re going to protect the oceans, it\u2019s\ncritical that governments agree an ambitious Global Ocean Treaty this year to\ncreate areas off-limits to harmful human activity and to close the loopholes in\nglobal ocean governance that lead to overfishing and unsustainable practices at\nsea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Transhipment involves transferring catches from fishing boats to\nrefrigerated cargo ships. Reefers also resupply fishing boats, allowing distant\nwater fleets to stay active at sea for months without returning to port. This\nfacilitates overfishing and has been linked to serious abuses of human and\nworkers\u2019 rights at sea. It also enables fishing vessels to land illegal,\nunreported and unregulated (IUU) catches into the global market.<\/p>\n\n

Last Friday, Greenpeace activists boarded the refrigerated cargo vessel Taganrogsky Zaliv, linked to Laskaridis Shipping Ltd, on its way to tranship in Antarctic waters. The activists conducted an inspection, confirming the vessel was carrying catch from an unregulated fishery, squid caught in the South Atlantic Ocean. In the days prior to boarding, activists requested the reefer leave Antarctic waters several times, and in a peaceful and safe protest attempted to deliver a fender painted with the message \u201cOcean Destroyer\u201d. The fender was found washed up on Elephant Island, an important Antarctic penguin colony, demonstrating irresponsibility on the part of the industry. <\/p>\n\n

McCallum said:\u201cWe\nare here to deliver a strong message to this industry: the pristine waters of\nthe Antarctic are not their playground. This special place is one of Earth\u2019s\nlast remaining wildernesses, and transhipping by vessels complicit in\nunregulated fishing is not welcome here\u201d.<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/p>\n\n

Photo and video is available here<\/a><\/p>\n\n

The full report, Fishy Business: How Transhipment at Sea Facilitates Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing That Devastates Our Oceans, <\/em>can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Case\nstudies illustrating the dangers of transhipment in Antarctic waters are\navailable within the report, with further details on these available on\nrequest.<\/p>\n\n

Notes:<\/p>\n\n

[1] Greenpeace International analysed the Port State Control\nhistory of 26 reefers transhipping in CCAMLR waters between 2017-2019, finding\nthat 70% (119 out of 168) failed their safety and environmental inspections.\nAccording to Lloyd\u2019s List intelligence, these same owners have presided over a\nfailure rate of 59% in the period since their ownership of these reefers began,\nwith 370 failed inspections out of a total of 632. Greenpeace International\ndefines failure as at least one deficiency during an inspection. The majority\nof inspections recorded several deficiencies.<\/p>\n\n

11 of these vessels recorded deficiencies in Annexes I, IV, V and\nVI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships\n(MARPOL), covering pollution from oil, sewage, garbage and exhaust emissions\nrespectively. \u2018Safety of navigation\u2019 and various forms of laxity related to\nfire safety and prevention are recurring problems, suggesting that the vessels\npose a significant risk of accidents and collisions. The inspections also raise\nquestions about workers rights for the crews, with 14 vessels recorded with\ndeficiencies associated with living and labour conditions.<\/p>\n\n

[2] See, for example: https:\/\/en.mercopress.com\/2017\/05\/11\/falklands-worried-m-v-uruguay-reefer-seems-doomed-to-sink-in-the-islands-conservation-zones<\/a><\/p>\n\n

https:\/\/www.thetimes.co.uk\/article\/penguins-at-risk-from-oil-as-ship-sinks-pxtbkjb9m<\/a><\/p>\n\n

A full case study write up of this incident is available in the report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

[3] Will McCallum is Head of Oceans at Greenpeace UK<\/p>\n\n

[4] The Lavinia Group and Mr Laskaridis were provided an\nopportunity to comment on the report and denied the accuracy of the information\nfrom Lloyd’s List Intelligence regarding safety inspections from 2017-2019,\nsuggesting that some of the ships identified by Lloyd’s List as being owned by\nthem are not owned by them and that some vessels named refer to multiple\nvessels, without specifying which information they dispute. They note that the\npractice of transhipment itself is legal and state that they take measures\nbeyond the industry norm to ensure that they are not involved with any form of\nillegal cargo.<\/p>\n\n

Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

James Hanson, Press Officer, Greenpeace UK: +44 7801 212 994, james.hanson@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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