This week activists from the Greenpeace ship ‘Esperanza’ have occupied the dry dock where one of Dongwon''s purse seine ships, MV ‘Granada’, is being repaired.
The activists closed the dock with a large banner saying "Dongwon's Destructive Fishing Starts Here".
This follows Greenpeace’s protest at the company’s headquarters in Seoul last week against its “unsustainable fishing practices”.
Dongwon owns the biggest purse seine fishing fleet in South Korea (16 purse seine vessels). Granada is part of Dongwon's Pacific fleet that uses FADs, which Greenpeace is against because of their high levels of bycatch.
Greenpeace is also protesting against that fact that Dongwon fishes yellowfin and bigeye tuna, two species that are designated as near threatened and vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"Dongwon can choose to lead the Korean fishing industry in sustainable fishing, or will continue to be Korea’s number one tuna destroyer. The Korean public deserves to know that their most famous tuna brand is emptying the Pacific of tuna and needlessly killing other ocean life," said Yuen Ping Chow, Greenpeace East Asia Senior Oceans Campaigner.
Korea currently ranks second globally in terms of distant water tuna catch. The South Korean government has been accused of undermining global efforts aimed at protecting the oceans in order to “prop up its fishing industry”.
The government has also earmarked funds for the tuna industry to build new fishing vessels, which Greenpeace says is ignoring the scientific advice that is calling for a global reduction in fishing fleets.
