Shifting Gears

Posted by: jhocevar | 25 Jun 09 | 4 comments | Permalink

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After a long campaign, the United Nations banned “wall of death” driftnets in 1992. Stretching up to 50 miles, these floating nets were notoriously indiscriminate, snaring enormous amounts of marine life. The Japanese squid fishery alone was estimated to take over 41 million non-target fish, sharks, sea birds, marine mammals and sea turtles each year. Following the UN’s ban on high seas drift nets, the European Union reinforced the move by banning their use in EU waters, and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas further extended the ban to the whole Mediterranean.

Unfortunately, several countries are not respecting the ban. Italy is probably the worst offender, with a large fleet of driftnetters operating in the Sicilian Channel, Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas. The Italian Government has taken some small steps to limit driftnetting, but in general they have chosen to look the other way. We just got some good news, though. After protests by Greenpeace and WWF, Italy just suspended their previous decree that Italian driftnetters would be allowed to operate up to 40 miles from the coast, which would have been in violation of international law.

Hard fought victories like the driftnet ban must be defended, so the Rainbow Warrior is patrolling the central Mediterranean to gather evidence on illegal activity, to be submitted to relevant authorities.

The fishing season for bluefin tuna fishing has ended, and now the illegal driftnet season is in full swing. Driftnetters target swordfish during their June/July spawning season, but the nets catch anything in their path – including bluefin. They operate at night, during the new moon, to make it difficult for fish to see the nets. This is necessary because swordfish have highly developed eyes, aided by an exceptionally high density of blood vessels. Swordfish are able to see far better in low light conditions than humans, to assist them in hunting for prey.

We are now in our target area, with what looks like a driftnet boat on our radar. We’re going in for a closer look, and will continue to patrol throughout the night. Our eyes may not work as well as swordfish, but hey, that’s why we’ve got binoculars.

For the oceans,

John Hocevar and the crew aboard the Rainbow Warrior

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Comments:

greenbabe [Visitor] on June 25, 2009 at 20:06

Well at least some action is being taken. Its good that the bans are being defended, still I think there will always be people who ignore the bans. I mean there's hardly a single law in any country that people don't break. We just have to cope with it the best we can.

jodimarcel [Visitor] on June 26, 2009 at 20:06

Thanks for those people that are doing their best to protect our environment.We know that in some other countries like Japan,killing dolphins are legal that in my opinion should not be tolerated.I hope authorities should imposed a law protecting them.

Unfortunately, these are the kinds of things we have to come together and agree on if we want to change the world. There are so many different standards that we will never (collectively) meet in the middle. I really don't know what to say about the future except its going to take us all to make a difference. However, we are going to have to take on this problem one piece at a time.

Calvin [Visitor] on June 29, 2009 at 15:07

While gathering evidence is commendable, getting up on a moral high horse to preach to the masses just doesn't work. If you really want to change the world, you need to convince the people in power that what they are doing will hurt their bottom-line. Basically, if you can't show the Italian driftnetters and Italian government that driftnet fishing causes them to lose money, they are not going to stop doing it. A complementary course of action is to show other stakeholders within and without Italy that driftnet fishing harms their paychecks/profits. That will cause them to apply pressure to the Italian government. If you can show the neighboring governments that they are losing money because of what the Italians are doing, they'll definitely do something concrete about it. Am I cynical? Heck, yes! Money moves the world. If you don't have money, then you need to persuade someone else with money to move the world for you. Calvin

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About Me

jhocevar
Austin, TX USA

John Hocevar knew that he wanted to protect the world’s oceans from the first time he saw the beach when he was four years old. Since that time, the marine biologist has worked on a host of ocean conservation issues from protecting the habitat of endangered sea turtles in Florida to teaching marine biology and environmental science to students. John has extensive experience in coral reef conservation, and worked with Coral Cay Conservation to develop a coastal management plan for the Government of Belize. In addition to ocean conversation work, John has spent time organizing students around various environmental and social justice issues. Before coming to Greenpeace in 2004, John was the founder and executive director of Students for a Free Tibet.

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