Greenpeace
frees Pacific marine life from hooks of Taiwanese longliner
(BASED ON PRESS
RELEASE) - On May 3, Greenpeace freed sharks, tuna, marlin and
an endangered "Olive Ridley" turtle from the hooks
of a Taiwanese longline vessel fishing in the international
waters of the Pacific.
The activists
encountered Taiwanese longliner, the Ho Tsai Fa 1B, while it
was hauling tens of kilometers of fishing line. The activists
asked the Captain to release all marine life hooked on the lines
and painted "PIRATE?" on the hull of the ship because
the vessel had a previous record of controversial landing of
shark fins .
Pacific activist,
Ana Jitoko, held banners calling for "Marine Reserves Now!"
and "Taiwan Pacific Tuna Destroyer" in front of the
vessel.
"The Captain
refused to free the fish and marine life, so we started to do
so, and we also confiscated a radio beacon. Following this, the
Captain agreed to free all marine life from the hooks himself
in exchange for return of the beacon," said Miss Jitoko.
Crew on the Greenpeace
ship Esperanza also started to haul in the other end of the line.
The line was kept on board and will be returned to the company
owner, JyhGwo in Taiwan. The Esperanza is in the Pacific
to defend the pockets of international waters between Pacific
Island countries as marine reserves from fishing fleets intent
on fishing out the Pacific people's principal resource, tuna
- the world's favorite fish.
According to
scientists, overfishing of both bigeye and yellowfin tuna is
putting recently healthy tuna stocks in jeopardy.
Long lining is
also killing thousands of turtles and at least a million sharks
each year in the Central and Western Pacific alone - and 50
million sharks globally each year. "We painted 'PIRATE?'
on the side of the vessel because even registered tuna vessels
like this one take advantage of loopholes between legal and illegal
fishing. Authorities cannot be sure to what degree this vessel
has engaged in pirate fishing activities", said Greenpeace
Lead Campaigner Lagi Toribau onboard the Esperanza.
"Greenpeace
confiscated the fishing gear and freed fish, sharks and the turtle
because the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission
(WCPFC) - which is supposed to protect tuna and sharks from overfishing
and protect endangered species - is failing to do so. If the
WCPFC will not do their job and secure the future of this important
marine life, then we will," said Toribau.
The Ho Tsai Fa
18 is registered to fish for tuna in the pockets of international
waters the Pacific Commons between Pacific Island
Countries but because the WCPFC has not agreed to control and
reduce the amount of fishing in this region, fishing in these
unregulated areas is significantly contributing to the overfishing
of key tuna stocks.
Greenpeace wants
to see these biodiversity rich areas of international waters
set aside as the world's first high seas marine reserves where
no fishing is allowed.
After the activists
freed all the catch on the lines, the Captain of the Ho Tsai
Fa 18 agreed to leave the area Greenpeace is defending as a marine
reserve.
The Captain agreed
to fish only inside the waters of the Pacific Island countries
where they hold a valid license and would be better controlled.
Last December,
Taiwan, Korea, mainland China and Japan blocked conservation
measures advocated by Pacific Island countries to protect yellowfin
and bigeye tuna from overfishing. "Time is running out for
tuna, turtles and sharks in the Pacific. Greenpeace wants to
see the international waters of the Pacific protected as no-take
marine reserves where tuna, sharks and other marine life can
recover from over-exploitation", said Toribau.
The Pacific provides
approximately 60 per cent of the world's tuna and each year,
foreign fishing fleets rake in over US$3 billion from the sale
of Pacific's tuna to markets in Asia, Europe and the USA. Pacific
nations are being ripped off only receiving 5-6 per cent of the
value of the catch caught by foreign vessels in their national
waters. This is because of the unfair and unsustainable agreements
negotiated by foreign companies and countries for access to fish
for tuna in their waters.
"Greenpeace
is asking the Pacific coastal states with these unfair and unsustainable
agreements to reduce and control access to their tuna by closing
off these areas of international waters as marine reserves and
halving the overall amount of fishing in the region.
This also means
that retailers around the world should stop buying tuna from
unsustainable, unfair and illegal sources," concludes Toribau.
Greenpeace advocates
the creation of a network of marine reserves, protecting 40 per
cent of the world's oceans, as the long-term solution to overfishing
and the recovery of our over-exploited oceans.
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