Greenpeace Denies Accusations: “Taiwan Longliner Let Us On Board Voluntarily”ff

Greenpeace issued a press release in which the environmental organization reports that it has responded in writing to the accusations of the Taiwanese Fisheries Agency that it had forced the Captain of the Taiwanese longliner Nian Sheng 3 to accept activists on board by the dangerous maneuvering of the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. Greenpeace says that the Captain had voluntarily agreed to let
activists inspect the vessel on the 21 April 2008 in the international waters of the Pacific (1).

Below the full text from the Greenpeace press release:

”There was a friendly dialogue between the crew of the Esperanza and the Captain of the Nian Sheng 3. The Captain gave us permission to come onboard and we have evidence that establishes this,” said Lagi Toribau, Greenpeace Australia Pacific Oceans Campaigner onboard the Esperanza. “The Captain invited our video and photographer team onboard and permitted them to document contents of the holds and record evidence of the ship's shark and tuna catch”.

The Esperanza then peacefully escorted the vessel out of international waters and into Solomon Island waters where it had a license to fish. The Esperanza stayed a safe distance away from the vessel throughout the whole activity.

All countries that have vessels fishing for tuna in the region -including Taiwan- have been warned since 2001 that overfishing of yellowfin and bigeye tuna is occurring. They have ignored these warnings. Last December, Taiwan and other Asian countries blocked conservation measures advocated by Pacific Island countries at the Western and Central Fisheries Commission to protect bigeye and yellowfin tuna from overfishing.

”There are simply too many fishing vessels here in the region. Taiwan’s huge tuna fleet operating in the Western and Central Pacific is contributing to the overcapacity of tuna vessels in the region,” concluded Toribau.

Greenpeace is calling for the creation of a network of marine reserves, protecting 40 per cent of the world's oceans, as the long term solution to the overfishing and the recovery of our overexploited oceans. The Esperanza is in the international waters between Pacific Island countries -the Pacific Commons- campaigning for the these areas to be designated and protected as marine reserves (2).

Source: Greenpeace Press Release


Copyright Greenpeace

Pacific map showing the territorial waters (EEZ) of Pacific countries and three areas of international waters (1, 2, 3). Greenpeace is campaigning for these ocean areas to become designated as the first marine reserves in international waters. According to Greenepace “this would protect tuna spawning areas and migration routes, seamounts and close a loophole that allows tuna pirates from operating in these areas and stealing tuna from the Pacific”.