IWMC: Greenpeace Too Focused On EU Dolphin By-Catchff

In its March 2005 Newsletter The World Conservation published the following article, under the tile “Greenpeace has cried Wolf too many times already. Get a real issue”. Herewith the full text of this article:

Pity the poor sea bass. It has big fishy eyes and no forebrain, and will never leap for food held by the fingers of aquarium employees. So no one apparently cares that it is being scooped out of its environment with trawl nets suspended between two ships full of Frenchmen, or full of UK fishermen. It may be surviving quite nicely and the harvest of it may be entirely sustainable. Or not. The EU Fisheries Management Plan, if it is really operable, may contain data on its abundance. Or not. But is Greenpeace out in the English Channel in “rigid inflatables” trying to bring attention to the plight of hundreds of thousands of sea bass and other fish species? No.

Greenpeace is out in the Channel in rigid inflatables, backed up by their ship Esperanza, putting metal junk in the way of pair trawlers, because of their concern for the dolphins that are by-catch of the trawl operation. As far as we are aware, there is no solid data base of stock abundance or scarcity for either the fish or the dolphins of that area.

If Greenpeace is concerned solely about the dolphin by-catch, they might at least publish their biologically based reasons for that concern, and take them to the EU Parliament. But they have not shown any biological data indicating that dolphins are endangered at this time, or that the by-catch definitely or even probably, constitutes a threat to their continued existence. The fishermen are understandably outraged that some fools in small boats are motoring purposefully in the path of the trawlers, endangering themselves and slowing or stopping the fishing operation. They are also outraged at the sight of buoys with drag hooks, chains and other obstructing paraphernalia being purposefully put in their path, to damage their engine props and their nets.

Even if the fishing operation is fully documented as sustainable for both species, however, Greenpeace would be out there protesting that dolphins are being inadvertently killed. If the biology doesn't back them up on the endangerment issue, they will protest that it is cruel that they are killed in this manner, because it is “inhumane” when they are "mutilated" by the trawls. Greenpeace is not calling for any specific modification of the trawl technology to decrease the by-catch of dolphins.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace volunteers are endangering themselves and others in this endeavor, in order to attract the attention of the press, and so bolster their Internet campaign against pair trawl operations. Pair trawls must be extremely efficient, compared to single trawl operations, or they would not be conducted. More fish per unit of effort is one measure of catch efficiency.

The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency has objected to both the alleged firing of flares at the Greenpeacers, and to the allegations that Greenpeacers have purposefully put out metal junk in the English Channel to obstruct the trawlers. Both parties to the dispute have been given letters of warning and or reprimand.

IWMC World Conservation Trust wants the world to know that there is a welcome trend in thought about fishing operations. They should be proven sustainable with the best available science, and the goals should be sustainability of entire ecosystems, not just target species. This is an attainable goal. Individual species, all examined with valid statistical methods, and analyzed by biologists, who examine stock age profiles, can continue to be used sustainably for the benefit of people.

Individual species that are cult objects (such as dolphins) deserve the same consideration because they are also an integral part of the marine environment. They do not deserve special treatment merely because members of the public, spurred on by special interest groups, then contact their politicians and demand special protection for dolphins at the expense of the economic and food security quests of others.

This is not our fathers' ocean. Because of the modern innovations in fishing technology, ecological conditions are changing constantly, and fishermen need to concede that their operations should be subject to ongoing research, and human fisheries should then proceed accordingly. When this is an established fact of life then fish and whales, dolphins, seabirds and fishermen, shall all prosper. Maybe someday, even Greenpeace will work towards this goal.