I have been doing diving
jobs for Greenpeace as part of our campaigns
for 7 years. I have seen beauty, destruction
and saved little lives under water. Some
very bizarre dives also fit into these years.
Once I was even in a telephone box at the
bottom of the North Sea “calling for action”.
And I have just been diving with cardboard
tunas in Taiwan together with local divers,
with questions marks, Chinese and English
slogans written on them deploying the message
“the last tuna?”.
We had over 30 fantastic
and enthusiastic local divers join us for
the first photo shoot with this message
last Sunday at Kending national park, but
the weather wasn’t on our side and the visibility
was too poor to make justice for the image.
So we gathered some local enthusiastic divers
again at our next stop, the small island
of Xiaoliuqiu, in the south west corner
of Taiwan. With the winds calmer and the
sun out - we managed to pull off our little
underwater theatre.
With the images we gathered
comes a serious message that I hope will
spread here in Taiwan. The island of Xiaoliuqiu
is in the Pingtung county of Taiwan. A place
where for generations the local community
has an annual bluefin tuna festival. These
majestic and valuable fish migrate by the
east coast of Taiwan supplying food, income
and joy to the local communities. It has
also been a major tourist event for the
county bringing far reaching economic benefits.
Now these valuable fish, the pinnacle of
Japan’s sushi culture, are so depleted that
the county is looking into alternatives
for the annual festival as a tourist attraction.
With bluefin tuna, we
really are at the point of the last tuna.
When a species of fish stops being economically
viable it brings ruin to those dependant
on it for food and income. Xiaoliuqiu Island
is a beautiful spot with an abundance of
green turtles and the county is now looking
for ways of promoting eco-tourism instead
of fishing.
There is also more of
a tuna story in Xiaoliuqiu than meets they
eye on its sleepy streets and beautiful
beaches. Many of the hundreds of captains
working on Taiwanese tuna long-liners in
other oceans come from this island. They
often spend up to three years at sea. The
salaries are too low these days for a Taiwanese
work force below the captain’s rank so the
crews often come from South-East Asia.
I have searched for,
met and taken peaceful action against many
of these fishing vessels involved in legal
and illegal tuna plunder and destruction
of marine life in the international waters
of the Pacific. I can't help feeling a bit
spooked and humbled being at the home town
of the men who risk their lives at sea to
satisfy the insatiable appetite of the world’s
luxury seafood markets. Often for little
economic returns as the big powerful traders
and middle men reap the majority of the
profits.
The root of the problem
is that there are too many of these fishing
boats out in the oceans. They are simply
too efficient in catching fish. Taiwan and
other fishing nations must cooperate and
reduce fishing capacity to sustainable long-term
levels. If they don't - the bigeye, yellowfin
and albacore tuna will follow the the fate
of bluefin tuna.
During our East Asia
Oceans Defenders tour, we hope to engage
local communities and ocean lovers such
as the wonderful divers. Fixing the mess
on the water will take some bold decision
from the fishing industry and Taiwan's Fisheries
Agency. I sincerely hope these will be done
before it is too late and we have to face
the prospect of the last tuna in the Pacific.
If this happens the way of life of thousands
of people such as those in Xiaoliuqiu will
be changed forever.
