----- forwarded message -----
Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2001 10:05:13 +0100
From: info <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Greenpeace Protests Against Pirate Fishing
Subject: [EF!] Greenpeace Protests Against Pirate Fishing
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2001 15:29:58 -0800
From: radman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: "Greenpeace Press Releases" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001
Subject: GREENPEACE PROTESTS AGAINST PIRATE FISHING
:
GREENPEACE PROTESTS AGAINST PIRATE FISHING WHILE WORLD GOVERNMENTS HAVE LAST
CHANCE TO ACT
ROME, 22 February 2001 --- As governments begin final negotiations on an
international plan to stop pirate fishing, Greenpeace activists protested at
the Trevi Fountain to highlight the destruction caused by these renegade
fishing fleets.
The activists entered the fountain with four model fishing vessels bearing the
four main flags of convenience (Belize, Honduras, Panama, St Vincent & the
Grenadines) bought by pirate fishing companies to avoid fisheries regulations.
Below the Trevi fountain's statue of Neptune, the activists displayed a banner
saying: "Pirate fishing kills ocean life".
A new Greenpeace report (1) released this week exposes the role of "flag of
convenience" - or pirate fishing (2) vessels - in the destruction of marine
ecosystems worldwide. Their unregulated nets and lines snare not only
countless tons of fish, but also hundreds of thousands of sharks, dolphins,
sea turtles, albatrosses and other endangered seabirds and non-target fish
species. Scientists estimate that in four years at least 330,000 seabirds were
caught and drowned by pirate fishing vessels in the Southern Ocean around
Antarctica.
Greenpeace estimates that there are some 1300 industrial- scale fishing vessels
flying flags of convenience. The "registered" owners of the vessels are located
in some 80 countries, but most are based in Taiwan, the European Union
(primarily Spain), Panama, Belize and Honduras.
"The number of pirate fishing vessels is growing," said Desley Mather of
Greenpeace International. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize
that unless this loophole in international law is closed, more and more fishing
companies will buy these flags to dodge fishing rules at the expense of the
marine environment".
The final round of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN
FAO) negotiations on a draft International Plan of Action begins today.
Greenpeace is extremely concerned that, in its current form, the plan will fail
to achieve its objective, that is to "prevent, deter and eliminate Illegal,
Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing".
In its new report, Greenpeace criticises Brazil, Mexico and the EU, the three
key "pirate protectors" during the negotiations so far (2).
"In blocking tough regulations, these countries are protecting pirate fishers
at a time when fishery experts tell us that about three-quarters of the
world's fisheries are already fully exploited, overexploited or depleted," said
Mather. "If governments will not tackle these lawless fleets, how can they
expect to manage what is left?"
Greenpeace has been actively campaigning against pirate fishing. In the past
two years, it conducted two ship expeditions in the Southern Ocean and one to
the Atlantic Ocean to document pirate fishing for Chilean sea-bass (Patagonian
toothfish) and tuna.
Greenpeace demands that governments:
close ports to FOC fishing and support vessels;
close markets to FOC-caught fish;
close or otherwise prevent companies and nationals from owning or operating
FOC fishing and support vessels.
For more information:
Desley Mather, Greenpeace International, mob. +31 6 1509 3589
Luisa Colasimone, Greenpeace Communications, mob. +31 6 2129 6920
Stills and footage available on request (+31 6 21 29 69 20)
Interviews available in English, French, Spanish, Italian and
Portuguese.
Check Greenpeace International website: { HYPERLINK
http://www.greenpeace.org }http://www.greenpeace.org
and the FAO website: { HYPERLINK http://www.fao.org
}http://www.fao.org
Notes to Editors:
(1) The report "Pirate Fishing plundering the oceans", Greenpeace
international, February 2001, is available on request.
(2) Brazil has rejected any requirement under the plan that countries only
allow charter arrangements with fishing vessels and companies that operate in
compliance with international law. This week, Greenpeace released photographs
of a vessel Wen Shun 606 ?flagged to flag of convenience country St Vincent &
the Grenadines and chartered by a Brazilian company? unloading tuna in the
Brazilian port of Cabedelo, Paraíba. The International Commission for the
Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) believes that the Wen Shun 606 has
been fishing in violation of international rules established by this regional
fisheries organisation.
Mexico has opposed any action to restrict market access or deny port access to
flag of convenience vessels, claiming that this would pose an impediment to
free trade. Greenpeace believes that free trade arguments cannot justify the
continued plundering of fish stocks and other marine life by pirate fishing
companies.
The European Union has successfully deleted or weakened most of those
provisions in the draft Plan of Action that call on governments to penalise
companies based in their country which own flag of convenience vessels. Lloyds
Shipping data for 1999 reveal that 168 vessels flying the flag of one of the
top 10 flag of convenience countries are owned by companies registered in
European Union countries.
end
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For more information on this press release please contact:
Greenpeace International Press Office
T: ++ 31 20 5249515
F: ++ 31 20 5236212
