jessmil

Great work, Jess. I'm enjoying following the action here at home. Sounds like it's going well. In honor of your efforts, the Mets have gone on a five-game winning streak, and Manny's been hitting home runs in bunches. Take care.

awesome jess. youre all doing a great job on the esperanza. this is just the beginning to getting these waters listed as MMAs or MPAs.
we're all proud of the work you're doing.
giacomo

that's right sissy- time to show them some queens-style defense action! give 'em hell girl!

so proud. xoxoxo

I am writing this to you because I disagree with Green Peaces approach to the tuna issue. First and foremost, I feel Green Peaces war-like strategy is ridiculous. Do you truly believe that the men that operate these vessels have any say in the equipment or business practices they engage in? Instead of wasting donated money to chase tuna boats around the world’s oceans, why doesn’t Green Peace approach the multi-billion dollar corporations that operate the cannery’s and implement these practices (i.e. StarKist, Chicken of the Sea, etc..)? Painting “Tuna Overkill” on the side of a boat is a little immature. I think Green Peace wasted a lot of donated money and diesel fuel to paint a few words and capture a FAD. You probably could have logged online and purchased a FAD from the manufacture. I have a question, what is the goal? To ban the FAD? If so, why didn’t anyone push for legislation in the International community? What is next? King Crab in the Aleutians? I think most of the Green Peace strives for and believes in is great for the environment, however, I feel there are many hypocrites associated with your organization. Its great to raise awareness but to physically approach and threaten people trying to make a living is unfair. If the Green Peace is so brave, why don’t you guys head on over to the Middle East and start defacing the oil equipment? Better yet, stop the world wide demand for goods and services. Face it as time goes forth, many more people will occupy this planet and the demand will only go higher. Banning the FAD is a good argument, but for the sake of your volunteers save your money and fight with your brain and not your paint rollers.

Furthermore, Jesmill The Cape Finisterre does not use FAD's nor do they break any fishings laws. How would I know this? My father is the Captain. Yes the one your captain spoke to for 30 minutes, claiming to have come in peace only to have your crew sneak up like cowards along-side the boat and deface it. Well I think you chose to attempt to expose the wrong ship. I could bet in a million years you never thought that you would receive a message from someone directly related to the subject. For Green Peace to attack a ship without cause is unfair. I hope this message finds you and your crew and stop trying to exploit people. Go harass the whalers.

Dear bobsanderson,

Unfortunately the fundamental rules of ecology are not taken into consideration when one speaks of “breaking laws.” Regardless of the legality of these fishing practices, it is irresponsible and frankly unethical. You’re right, the men that operate these vessels probably don’t have any say in the equipment or business practices they engage in- but they should- or policy should change so they can continue not thinking of what they’re doing but it will just happen in a safer manner. I'm sure you and your father, of all people, are familiar with the rapid decline of tuna, among other fish in the Pacific waters and across the globe. You only need the most basic education in biology to know that by removing an entire school of fish from the water, you have ultimately ended the line of that population; not to mention the careless and exaggerated disregard concerning bycatch.

I agree, perhaps you are not breaking any international laws; however, if not for organizations like Greenpeace to draw attention to the issue at hand, vessels like the Cape Finisterre will continue to harvest as they wish from the already damaged waters and all hope will be lost. Perhaps with through their [Greenpeace] efforts we can develop have a more effective HMS Fishery Plan where everyone can benefit.

It’s very simple, the data is out there and it is irrefutable. Continuing to ravage these waters is inevitably causing a collapse in the ecosystem. Listen, you’re making the bed we’re all being forced to lay in. Ask your father what he remembers commercial fishing to be like when you were born. If he says it’s exactly the same he’s lying- if he says it’s changed, obviously something needs to be done.

Don’t worry, there are plenty or organizations pushing for legislation in the International community. Everyone has a role in the environmental movement.

Below are a few of many websites you can look through that speak clearly about dangerous fishing practices, the lack of regulation, and the detrimental effects. I would also be glad to take time out and email you some papers written by top scholars regarding the decline in species abundance and biodiversity throughout the Pacific.

www.noaa.gov
www.iucn.org
www.oceanconservancy.org


I wish you all the best,

Hey Jess!

Heath and I are thinking of you. Keep up the good work. We have a room in Florida with your name on it when you return!

Thanks giacomoabrusci, and Jess. Keep it up!

Humans need to think through this whole overuse, oversell instint we have toward the planet. Please publish any legislation that we can help support.

Brothers of GREENPEACE THANKYOU!!!

I live in Michigan, where the shipping industry has
been dumping Ballast Water into the Great Lakes for
years with detrimental effects. Fleet fishing is
killing the ocean habitat. WE DON"T NEED IT TO LIVE!
We do need to protect that witch we coexist with.
What example does a US Company set when we rape
the ocean in front other nations. You can't feed children from a picture in a book,because if this doesn't stop THATS ALL THERE WILL BE ,JUST PICTURES!! WE CAN ALL DO OUR PART STOP EATING FISH THAT ARE OVER SUBJECT TO OVER
HARVEST!!
PLEASE take no offence but NRDC has great links
to this info.

Grace and Peace

Giacomo,

Thank you for your response. I agree 100% with your points listed above. Unfortunatley, I still disagree with Green Peaces approach to the situation. The actions taken on behalf of Jesmill and her colleuges is disturbing. There is an old saying, "Hate the game, not the player". Our world has been seized by human consumption an yes the decline of the tuna population is a direct result of man. I am not arguing this point and either are the men that fish these waters. Eventually, there will be rules and regulations set in place that will protect these species and i hope its sooner than later. But, again the attack on the Cape Finestere was unjust and hostile. If I am not mistaken and would have to confirm this but due to cheap labor overseas the American fleet of tuna boats opertaing in these waters have dwindled, meanwhile,the Tiawanese fleets have flourished. This is not a deflection of the argument, but just to point out the US economy of tuna fishing has been decreasing since the 80's. The only reason these boats are even in these waters is because the state of California banned tuna fishing sometime ago. Even if the south pacific community protects these waters, tuna fisherman or fisherman in gneral will seek new territoy.
You seem to be very educated on the topic and I am very interested in reading these articles and links you have provided. I want to thank you for your time and knowledge, all I ask is that Green Peace exercise there goals in a more professional way. May Father and others like him do not deserve to be humiliated, its the corporations who deserve the grief. Finally, I ask Green Peace to reconsider their future actions (because obviously the issue is not going away) and make their voices heard in another way.
Cheers,

-bs

I visited this site for the first time today. Interested, I found a story dealing with the Pacific Ocean. Two paragraphs in I was disgusted with the decisions you chose. It seems as if emotion played a larger part than discipline. Greenpeace threw their credibility in the gutter with the defacing of someone's personal belongings, the Cape Finestere. In no way would I want to be associated with people who make weak moves like that. Greenpeace, you have defeated the purpose of decency, no matter what your intentions. An apology to the families involved is due.

I am a long time Greenpeace supporter and understand the need to increase public awareness. But I have to say that in this case, I am sympathetic to bobsanderson and his father. I understand that there are other organizations that tackle things like fisheries legislation and wrestling corporate cooperation, but Greenpeace is well aware that there are many ways to increase public awareness. The method chosen in this case was the most unprofessional and probably the least effective. Sorry Jess, I don't applaud those actions and agree with jack buttler that an apology is owed. in the meantime I'll be reconsidering my commitment to Greenpeace.

What harm did you do? You didn't even interfere with the operation's bottom line. But you did get a lot of attention for the cause. Those fishermen themselves will be out of a job soon if we DON'T do something out of the ordinary to work for change. The oceans are dying before our very eyes!

I work in the mining industry and if you climbed up one of our elevators to hang a banner, I wouldn't get all mad and take it personally. There are things we could do better in our operation, and maybe if you embarrased my company they would take positive steps. If they didn't, perhaps one of their competitors would! Such being the nature of free enterprise, when it really IS free, and not allied with the government against the consumer.

As I said, if we don't stop taking this planet for granted, we will not only lose our jobs. We will most likely go extinct. I don't know about most people, but that prospect bothers me a lot more than having to paint over some activist's graffitti.

Rave on!

great work; influince; some dumb college kids into making you greenpeace execs rich . what will you tell thier perents when some hard working fishermen sink a pirate boat in what appears to be a act of endangerment andand piracy; has any one ever told you folks about a collission, prevention area or a cpa you play a dangerous game with other peoples children

Hi Bob

Firstly I have to apologise at the time it’s taken to respond. I am co-ordinating the media onboard and overheard some of the conversation between your father and the Esperanza. And I want to answer some of your questions in regard to what happened.

Fishing is hunting. To hunt easily and sustainably you need to keep your prey happy enough so they are plentiful and it takes the least effort to catch them.

Fisheries have collapsed and are on the brink of collapsing around the world. Things have changed dramatically in our lifetimes. Scientists are saying that 90% of the large ocean predators – tuna, sharks and billfish- have been wiped out since the 1950s.

Therefore, ‘Tuna Overkill’ is literally what has been happening and is happening right now, today.

I want to pick up on a point that Giacomoa made “Ask your father what he remembers commercial fishing to be like when you were born. If he says it’s exactly the same he’s lying- if he says it’s changed, obviously something needs to be done.”

This was the part of the conversation between vessels that I heard. Your father said there appeared to be just as many tuna now as when he began fishing 25 years ago.

I realise that doesn’t necessarily mean he is lying however. The key question is how has the technology changed to hunt tuna in the past 25 years to give the appearance that – despite what the fisheries scientists are saying – there is still as many tuna?

The answer is technology. As fish populations decline, the effort to catch them has to increase to find the prey. We have developed smarter technology to catch as much. Right now in the Western and Central Pacific are not just FADs (Fish Aggregation Device), but floating buoys which can calculate how many hundreds of tonnes of tuna are beneath them and send that via satellite to the purse seiner. It is a method will allow every migrating tuna to be targeted. It is a recipe for disaster – this from a fishing industry that is always claiming that it is in it’s own interests to fish sustainably.

On top of this, other technology that shows plankton blooms (and therefore tuna food) from satellites, helicopter on vessels that search for schooling tuna and other high tech means are used today. The tuna don’t stand much of a chance.

The Captain of the Cape Finisterre also said that he would be horrified if the tuna stocks were in the terrible state we described.

When other fisheries have collapsed fishermen have made similar claims, but your Government already knows tuna are in trouble.

The United States fishing representatives were given the scientific information last year at a meeting in Guam that showed that overfishing was occurring in bigeye and yellowfin tuna populations in the Western and Central Pacific – and have been repeatedly warned since 2001.

How much warning needs to happen before Greenpeace takes action?

This isn’t an issue whether the Cape Finisterre was fishing legally or illegally. It is a vessel that is contributing to the overfishing of tuna in this region that must end. And it will end: either tuna will become overfished to the point where it is no longer economically viable for vessels to hunt them, or we can act now and do what is common sense.

Tuna fishing within waters of Pacific Nations must be cut by 50% for there to be a future in tuna fishing here. And to safeguard against the impacts of climate change, to close the loopholes to pirate fishing and protect biodiversity and migration routes for tuna the pockets of international waters between Pacific Island countries urgently need to be designated as marine reserves.

The fishing industry has taken an extreme toll on ocean life. It is time for balance. That’s where Greenpeace comes in. We are tackling this issue on the ocean waves, in the halls of political power, in the offices of supermarket retailers and on the supermarket shelves across the world – all at once.

- Dean

A comment from Lagi our Oceans Campaigner in the Pacific
Our work reaches out to the 20 Pacific Island countries in this region to move towards a sustainable and equitable fishery. I am from Fiji and as a Pacific Islander allow me to point out that the Pacific is about to hit a catastrophe with the global tuna industry that could see an end to our poor countries' economy and most importantly the livelihoods of my fellow pacific islanders.

Let me give you some shocking facts about the Pacific and I will tell you a bit about why Greenpeace is here in the Pacific and why we do what we do best and that is confront the truth, tell the world by bearing witness and speak the unspoken.

The Pacific contains the last relatively healthy tuna fishery left in the world. Most of our island countries have nothing else but their huge ocean resources to survive on both as an economic need and an important livelihood that most of our people depend on for survival. The ocean for us defines and makes us who we are and I see that this is slowly being taken away from us.

The Pacific supplies 60% of the world’s tuna market and since the 1960s the Pacific have been preyed by the greedy eyes of foreign fishing nations migrating from everywhere around the globe. Over 75% of the world’s fisheries are exploited up to and beyond the point where they can be regarded as sustainable. I remember the famous global fisheries expert Dr. Daniel Pauly saying that in the future people will be eating jellyfish, because that is all that will be left – unless we act now.

Our Pacific people have fished the ocean for thousands of years, managing traditional fishing grounds sustainably. Today over 2 million tonnes of tuna are fished from the Pacific each year. More than 90% of our tuna is caught by fleets from Japan, Korean, Taiwan, China, USA, Indonesia, Philippines and EU countries. The Pacific island countries, typically poor developing states, do not have the resources nor the man power to commercially fish themselves. Unfortunately the future of our Pacific Oceans and of everyone who lives it is, is at the mercy of unscrupulous foreign fishers and a growing global appetite for tuna.

The Pacific is at a crossroad. One path leads to sustainable and equitable fisheries, a healthy marine environment, stable and prosperous island communities while the other path leads to the collapse of the major tuna fishery and loss of livelihood and food supply for the people of the Pacific and for the future of our generations to come.

There are 4 key tuna species; bigeye, yellowfin, skipjack and albacore. Since 2001 scientists have been warning that the Pacific stocks are in trouble because there are simply too many fishing boats out here. Overfishing is occurring on the bigeye and yellowfin stocks. Seven years later and still nothing has been done to improve the management of these fisheries. Albacore and skipjack is now the focus but is just a matter of time till these other 2 stocks are in peril.

Fishing cannot continue the way it is now. It's not about the US boats, nor the Taiwanese. Its about the overall amount of fishing in the Pacific that is just not sustainable.
If you rely on political processes whether regionally or internationally to make decisions – you will cry everyday. The failure of political bodies that are tasked with the management of our ocean resources have failed one after the other around the globe. This is why over 75% of the world’s fisheries are already exploited. Now all eyes are on the Pacific. I have been working heavily within the political arena of this region for the past 6 years and every year I end up disappointed and scared for the future of my people.

Our Pacific island governments want to manage these resources and give hope to our people. But why are they not able to protect these fish stocks? The unspoken – the same fishing nations who have their boats in our waters are the countries that provide aid, development grants and infrastructural support to our nations. Our Pacific governments have tried to reason with these fishing nations but they refuse to reduce fishing.

This is where Greenpeace comes in. We are able to confront the problems and tell the story to the world and why people should care. We have history to make down here. The best way forward is to close off the Pacific Commons (because they are not managed properly and no one really has a true account of how much is being fished out from these areas) and reduce the amount of fishing inside Pacific island waters by half to ensure we save the tuna stocks from collapsing.