Southeast Asian
ships caught illegally transferring fish in the Pacific Ocean
By GREENPEACE
November 15, 2012
PACIFIC OCEAN – Greenpeace
International has uncovered a large-scale illegal transfer of fish at
sea between one ship from Cambodia, one from the Philippines, and two
from Indonesia in the Pacific Commons.
None of the boats are on the
official record of vessels authorized to operate in the area and they
are therefore not allowed to fish or transfer fish at sea according to
the rules of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).
Greenpeace International
collected photo and video evidence showing MV Heng Xing 1, a reefer
sailing under the Cambodian flag, transshipping fish catches with two
Indonesian tuna purse seine vessels (KM Starcki 10and KM Starcki 11)
and one Filipino reefer (Sal 19).
The Indonesian and
Philippine vessels are bound by WCPFC rules and their involvement in
the transshipment is therefore illegal. Cambodia is not a member of
the WCPFC and the reefer is therefore considered unregulated.
In addition, an oil slick,
stretching a mile long was also observed during the transshipment.
Greenpeace will share this evidence with the relevant governments and
the WCPFC.
“The failure to close the
area in which these activities were observed allows illegal and
unregulated activities to continue. The massive multinational illegal
transshipment between these four vessels clearly demonstrates the
urgent need to close the Pacific Commons to all fishing and ensure
regional enforcement is ramped up,” said Farah Obaidullah, Greenpeace
International oceans campaigner on board the MY Esperanza.
Greenpeace activists boarded
the MV Heng Xing and examined the fish hold, which was full of mostly
frozen skipjack tuna and some yellowfin, likely destined for canned
tuna markets. Yellowfin tuna was recently assessed under the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria for
threatened species and are now classified as near threatened.
“Transshipment between
vessels is illegal in this area of the Pacific under WCPFC rules
because it makes fish catch data and the management of key tuna
resources very difficult. Often, this is a way for fishing operations
to avoid paying fees to island nations, communities that need fish and
income to continue surviving,” added Obaidullah.
The Pacific is the source of
70% of the world’s tuna, providing coastal communities not only with
food but also economic prosperity. For years, Greenpeace has been
working with Pacific governments to address overfishing and prevent
foreign fishing nations from plundering their fishing grounds.
Greenpeace is campaigning
for a global network of marine reserves covering 40% of the world’s
oceans, including in four high seas areas known as the Pacific
Commons, and these be declared off limits to fishing. The
environmental group is also seeking a ban on the use of fish
aggregating devices (FADs) in purse seine fisheries and a 50%
reduction in the catch of bigeye tuna.
These measures are important
to keep valuable fish stocks at a sustainable level and will be
reviewed at the upcoming meeting of the Western and WCPFC in Manila
from 2-7 December. Around the world, Greenpeace is working with
retailers and tuna brands across Europe, the Americas and the Pacific
to increase the market share of sustainably-sourced tuna.