Bye Bye to Bycatch
Many fisheries catch fish other than the ones that they target; these unwanted fish are referred to as bycatch. Often, these fish are thrown dead or dying back into the sea. To combat this wasteful problem, Greenpeace has called attention to destructive fishing practices that contribute to bycatch, namely bottom trawls and driftnets.
Bottom trawling is a destructive way of “strip-mining” the ocean floor by dragging a net across the ocean’s bottom. This results in bycatch of commercially unattractive animals like starfish and sponges. A single pass of a trawl removes up to 20 percent of the seafloor flora and fauna.
Driftnets are vertical nets that hang attached to flotation devices dragged by the boat. The net has thin mesh that travels through the ocean like a wall of death, ensnaring any and all undersea organisms in the way.
Ted Turner’s Driftnet Documentary Gathers Footage
In the summer of 1983, the campaign encountered Japanese driftnet vessel Yahiko Maru in U.S. waters of the Bering sea. It documented them killing porpoise and seabirds. The crew then deployed motorized rafts and gave chase to prevent the setting of the Yahiko Maru’s nets.
For the first time in history, human intervention stopped a driftnet from being deployed. As an inherently destructive technology, this is the only way to prevent a massive bycatch: don’t let those nets go into the water in the first place.
WTBS, under contract with and oversight from Greenpeace, subsequently produced the internationally-aired special “From No Man’s Land a Porpoise Cries,” the first documentary of driftnet destruction and a wake-up call to people and fisheries of the world. By 1984, Japan was denied entry into U.S. waters of the Bering Sea.
Governing Bodies Take Notice
We helped expose this reckless destruction, fueling public outrage. As a result a U.N. moratorium on high seas large-scale driftnets was passed in 1989, followed by a worldwide ban in 1992. This victory was the culmination of 15 years of Greenpeace campaigning.
The end result was that fishing would now be more efficient, less likely to needlessly destroy ocean wildlife. Preserving ocean ecosystems meant better long term fishing, ensuring jobs and food for much of the world’s population that otherwise may not have access to them.
