Are
you eating an endangered species? Does farmed
salmon do more harm than good?
17 June 2008 - Far too often, we're left
without answers when we're trying to find
out if seafood on our supermarket shelves
is sustainable -until recently it's been
almost impossible to know. Now we are providing
an international red list of fish that both
consumers and retailers should avoid.
The red list is available
at our new seafood website, which also provides
background information on the overfishing
crisis and advice for industry and retailers
on developing sustainable seafood sourcing
policies.
Our international red
list includes 20 endangered species, including
tuna, cod and shark, which companies must
stop selling unless they can prove that
the fish stocks they source from are in
a healthy state, and are not fished using
destructive techniques. Our offices in Spain,
the US and Canada are also launching national
red lists, together with assessments of
national retailer seafood procurement policies.
The fish species on
the red list are included because:
- the species has a
life history that makes it vulnerable to
overexploitation
- the species is sourced from overfished
and depleted stocks, or is being fished
at such high levels the stock will soon
be overfished
- the fishing methods used to catch the
species are highly destructive to other
marine life and/or marine habitats
All over the world,
fish stocks are in crisis. Aquaculture operations
- fish farms - are adding to the problems
when they're not sustainable.
The need for action is acutely clear. Cod
is one of the species on the list. The Grand
Banks in Newfoundland was once the world's
most productive fishery but it collapsed
completely in 1992 and has never recovered.
Right now huge industrial fishing fleets
are chasing dwindling tuna stocks to the
brink of extinction.
Sustainable seafood
is catching on
The required solutions
can be implemented now. Indeed some are
already being implemented. Major UK food
retailers M&S and Waitrose have sustainable
seafood policies. Suppliers like Young's
Bluecrest, are now leaders in the sustainable
seafood. These are the examples the seafood
industry need to be following.
Our new website helps
retailers and seafood processors to understand
what the problems are and how they can develop
a sustainable seafood purchasing policy.
They have a powerful and unique role to
play in turning the crisis facing our oceans
around, but they need to act, now, if they
want to ensure that customers like you have
fish on your plates for years to come.
The seafood website
will keep you updated with news from around
the world of how supermarkets and food chains
are meeting the challenge of sustainable
seafood.
Global marine reserves
You can read more about
why we're campaigning for a global network
of fully-protected marine reserves, covering
40 percent of our oceans: they're an essential
way to protect our seas from the ravages
of climate change, to restore the health
of fish stocks, and to protect ocean life
from habitat destruction and collapse. You
can also catch up with the latest news from
the Arctic Sunrise in the Mediterranean,
confronting the overfishing of endangered
bluefin tuna.
If we want fish on our
plate tomorrow we need marine reserves today.
+ More
Philippine's leg of
Quit Coal tour wraps up
20 June 2008 - Philippines
— “We believe there is no place for coal
in a world beset by climate change and certainly
there is no place for coal in Albay”
That was the statement
of Governor Joey Sarte Salceda, setting
the tone for our one month Quit Coal tour
of the Philippines. Since the Rainbow Warrior
arrived in the country we’ve taken our Quit
Coal message to the places it needed to
be heard, and generated real progress on
the ground and in the corridors of power.
At Pagbilao, we went
into action to blockade shipments of coal.
The peaceful actions of our local activists
and the crew of the Rainbow Warrior helped
secure commitment from leading politicians
to bring the Renewables Energy Bill to the
floor of the Philippine Senate. The bill
has already been passed by the Philippine
Congress, but had been ignored by the Senate.
Now we’ve secured the support of influential
senators, including the chair of the Senate
Committee on Natural Resources who said:
“I am one with Greenpeace
in aiming for a coal-free Philippines. The
threat of climate change demands a shift
towards a sustainable, clean and low carbon
future.”
In Taguig City, we painted
the Quit Coal message onto the driveway
of the Department of Energy. Head of that
department is Secretary Reyes, who as chairman
of the Presidential Task Force on Climate
Change should have known better than to
sanction the construction or expansion of
nine coal fired power stations in a country
with huge renewable energy potential.
In Iloilo City, we constructed
a climate camp to show our support for the
residents of Iloilo City who are fighting
to avoid the construction of a new coal
fired power plant. At events organised with
the Catholic Church and local civil society
group RISE (Responsible Illongos for Sustainable
Energy) we brought home the message that
the Philippines is one of the countries
most at risk from global warming, and that
burning coal is the single biggest source
of CO2 emissions and a major cause of climate
change.
Later we moved our camp
to the site of the proposed coal fired power
station to bring our message to the local
communities who will be affected by the
new power plant. Tensions ran high when
workers from Panay Power Corporation acting
under orders from their management tried
to dismantle the camp and cut off the activists
from the outside world. Our response was
to take our protest to Metrobank, one of
the largest banks in the Philippines and
the owners of Panay Power Corporation. This
is just the beginning of a grassroots campaign
to put pressure on the financiers behind
the coal plant.
The tour concluded with
visits to Antique and Boracay. In Antique
local governor Salvacion Z Perez declared
her province coal free saying:
"The earth has
provided us with renewable energy. It is
time to harness this energy to generate
electricity, and it is our aim to drastically
[reduce] and ultimately stop the use of
fossil fuels especially coal as source of
energy.”
In Boracay, we launched
our “Save the climate, Save Boracay” project,
part of an initiative to enlist top island
destinations in South East Asia to reduce
their carbon footprints. The people of Boracay
face inundation from rising sea levels,
but are determined to set an example to
the world with their use of renewable energy
and efficient energy technologies.
The Rainbow Warrior
carries the Quit Coal message on to Thailand
now, but work in the Philippines continues
through our South East Asia office and allies
in civil society.
