18 April 2006 - Las Palmas,
Spain — After a chase of over 1000 miles, a six
day occupation and hours of diplomatic negotiations,
Spain has finally agreed to declare the cargo
from the "Binar 4'" - 200 tonnes of
fish stolen from West Africa - illegal. Guinean
officials also announced they would be fining
the owners and operators of the pirate vessel.
After branding the ship with
"stolen fish", our climbers occupied
the "Binar 4" in the notorious pirate
fishing port of Las Palmas for nearly 150 hours.
When the announcement was made the last two activists
descended to cheers from the gathered crowd, tired
but still smiling.
During the time the Esperanza
was patrolling the waters of West Africa, 104
foreign flagged vessels, from Korea, China, Italy,
Liberia and Belize were documented. Nearly half
were engaged in or linked to illegal fishing activities.
The "Binar 4" was taking fish from ships
licensed to fish, but all the vessels involved
had broken the laws concerning transshipments.
“In every ocean, every day fish
are being stolen. That means that all governments
must act every day to combat it,” said Sarah Duthie
of Greenpeace. “We are delighted that the authorities
have taken action against this illegal reefer,
but this can only be the beginning, not the end.
If Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation
had not acted then Spain would not have done anything
to stop this cargo being sold across Europe.”
“Fining the Binar 4 sends a
strong signal to other pirate operators, but it
is only a fraction of the humanitarian and environmental
cost,” said Helene Bours of the Environmental
Justice Foundation. “West Africa depends on fish
for food and income, but it is the only regional
in the world where consumption is falling.”
According to the High Seas Task
Force on Illegal, Unreported & Unregulated
(IUU or pirate) fishing, up to 20 percent of the
global catch is taken illegally – as much as US$9
billion dollars. Greenpeace and the Environmental
Justice Foundation are working together to expose
the pirate fishing fleets that operate without
sanction across the globe. Together they are demanding
that governments close ports to ban pirates, deny
them access to markets and prosecute companies
supporting them.
