Tuna stocks in the Pacific are running out due to overfishing from illegal and commercial fishing fleets, says Greenpeace.
About 60% of the world’s tuna stocks come from the Pacific, and scientists believe that two key species – bigeye and yellowfin – are in danger of becoming overfished.
Greenpeace is currently touring the Western Pacific Ocean in the ship, "Esperanza", to gather evidence of illegal and excessive tuna fishing practices.
Today, Greenpeace took action against the US purse seiner, "Cape Finisterre", in a pocket of international waters between Pacific Island countries known as the Pacific Commons. Activists painted the side of the vessel with the words 'Tuna overkill' and held a banner reading ‘Marine reserves NOW’. The fishing vessel was asked to leave the area immediately.
A few days ago, Greenpeace confiscated a Fish Aggregation Device (FAD) it found in the Pacific Ocean. Fishing fleets use FADs to lure schools of tuna to a specific spot so they can be quickly caught in huge nets. However, juvenile bigeye and yellowfin tuna as well as other fish are killed as bycatch when caught in the nets.
The organisation also deployed a banner reading ‘Marine Reserves Now’ near the bow of a Korean purse seine vessel called Olympus, while it asked it to leave the area. The ship is owned by Korea’s largest tuna company, Dongwon Industries Co. Ltd, which is suspected of being involved in illegal fishing in 2006.
Greenpeace Pacific campaigner onboard the Esperanza Lagi Toribau said that advances in technology meant large ships (floating factories from countries as far away as the US and Europe) could catch as much fish in two days as the fishers of some small Pacific Island countries catch in a year.
"As tuna catches in other oceans have declined because of overfishing, the floating factory ships are looking to move into the Pacific, making it harder for local fishing fleets to catch tuna which is a vital food source for the region," Toribau said.
Greenpeace is calling on the Australian Government to support the Pacific Island nations to make fishing in the region sustainable by turning some of the Pacific’s international waters into no-take marine reserves. The organisation claims that this will allow tuna stocks and all other marine life to recover from overexploitation.
Greenpeace is also calling for a 50% cut to the fishing effort in the Pacific to ensure there is tuna left to catch in the future.
