15 May 2007 - International
— Five blacklisted fishing trawlers that
we have repeatedly exposed for illegal fishing
in the North Atlantic are now heading for
the scrap heap. For years, ineffective fisheries
legislation allowed the operators of these
vessels to plunder the high seas illegally
without facing prosecution and continue
to make huge profits out of a declining
fishery.
The trail of the "trawler girls"
Greenpeace documented the activities of
these five fishing trawlers (nicknamed the
"trawler girls" by Greenpeace
campaigners due to the ships names all being
women's names) since September 2005 while
they illegally caught redfish in the Irminger
Sea (an area of the North Atlantic between
Iceland and Greenland).
The ships over-wintered in European ports
and then returned to their old fishing grounds.
This happened despite the fact that all
five vessels were blacklisted by the European
Union, Iceland as well as the North East
Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC).
In December 2005 and again in March 2006,
Greenpeace activists prevented four of these
vessels from leaving Rostock harbor in Germany
and called on the German government to prevent
them leaving port. Prior to their arrival
in Germany these trawlers were called the
Oyra, Ostroe, Okhotino, Olchan and Ostrovets.
While they were in Rostock harbour the owners
registered the ships under a new flag (Georgia)
and changed their names to Eva, Juanita,
Rosita, Isabella and Carmen, a make-over
commonly practiced by pirate fishing vessels
in order to disguise their identity and
avoid inspections. Following the Greenpeace
action in Rostock harbour the German authorities
asserted that they would not re-supply the
vessels but despite breaking EU regulations,
the ships managed to secure enough fuel
and supplies and were able to leave port
at the end month. Read more.
Carmen, the fifth vessel in the blacklisted
fleet had already fled to Poland under the
cover of darkness before we took action
in Germany. But we found her in the port
of Swinoujscie, wrapped her in chains and
hung a banner that read "Stop Pirate
Fishing". The Polish government ignored
their obligation to prevent Carmen from
re-supplying despite their promises to do
so. The vessel was serviced, including a
spell in dry dock and left port with a Polish
pilot on the 31st of March 2006.
Again in March 2006 the same ships showed
up in Lithuania along with several other
pirate fishing vessels. Their hulls were
promptly painted again and Greenpeace demanded
that Lithuania refuse blacklisted pirate
vessels. Read more.
European Union member states like Germany,
Poland and Lithuania violated EU law by
giving these pirate ships shelter, fuel,
service and assistance. The port of Klaipeda
in Lithuania, where these ships showed up,
is notorious for poor reporting and registration
systems, which enables pirate fishing ships
and 'flag-of-convenience' ships to unload
illegally caught fish.
The last season of plunder in the Atlantic
Despite having their crimes so widely exposed,
the "trawler girls" returned to
the North Atlantic last year in April and
spent another five months fishing illegally.
Iceland reported the trawlers but the ships
were still able to trawl in the Irminger
Sea, where vulnerable cold-water coral (Lophelia)
reefs abound.
They were targeting fish species such as
red fish, a species which is showing signs
of over-exploitation. Greenpeace visited
the region where the ships were fishing
on an over-flight with the Icelandic Coast
Guard. We documented the 'trawler girls'
fishing side by side with some 50 other
legal and illegal ships.
Since November 2006 the ships were tied
up in Kaliningrad.
The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise informed
the Russian authorities about their illegal
nature and the obligation of Russian authorities
to stop them. In the last few weeks the
ships have completed their final voyage
-- to the Lepaya scrap yard in Latvia!
In addition to these ships being scrapped,
nine others pirate fishing ships are now
being held by authorities in NEAFC ports.
Following this good news, NEAFC has just
launched new blacklisting and control procedures.
We'll monitor progress carefully, since
NEAFC member states have failed to control
fishing effectively over the last two years.
Too many boats, too little fish
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU)
fishing is a global problem that needs global
solutions. It is primarily caused by the
huge over-capacity of the world's fishing
fleets, the lack of effective laws and the
inability of many countries to police their
waters.
While many states around the world are
addressing the issue on a national and regional
level, they have not been able to deal with
the problem of a highly mobile pirate fishing
fleet ignoring the law all over the world.
Local and regional solutions are simply
not sufficient if the international community
is to deal effectively with pirate fishing
and the theft of marine life from honest
fishermen and future generations.
