Greenpeace Blog

To farm or not to farm?

Posted by jossc — 16 May 2007 at 2:51pm - Comments

50 percent of fresh supermarket fish comes from farms

50 per cent of fresh fish sold in supermarkets comes from farms

One obvious response to the disappearance of wild fish from our seas is "Why don’t we replace them with farmed varieties. We do it with land animals, so why not fish?" Of course this is already happening – over 40 per cent of the world's fish production already comes from aquaculture, and 50 per cent of fish sold in UK supermarkets comes from farms. These pen-reared fish grow at a phenomenal rate. For example, wild cod double in size every year, but hatchery cod quadruple in the same period. Given that size determines reproductive rate, at first glance this could be a solution to repopulating wild stocks.

Article tagged as: cod, fish farming, north sea, oceans, salmon, shrimp farms

Tackling trawlers, take two

Posted by jossc — 14 May 2007 at 4:20pm - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

A Greenpeace activist floats in the North Sea with a banner saying 'Stop Battering Cod'Two pair trawlers we encountered yesterday admitted they were fishing for cod and told us confusingly fishy stories. One boat said it was catching lots of big cod, while the other reckoned they'd trawled loads of young fish. Either way they shouldn't be taking any – cod stocks are now only a fraction of what they were a decade or two ago.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, direct action, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, scotland, shetland

Little birds and big fish

Posted by Willie — 13 May 2007 at 11:00am - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

We have a hitch-hiker on board: a small bird, which - from my frantic bird handbook thumbing - appears to be a juvenile stonechat or whinchat. Anyway, everyone's happy to have the tiny stowaway with us for a while although it may leave us when we get closer to land. For now, however, it's proving to be camera-shy and getting fed on breadcrumbs.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, scotland, shetland, whales

Stopping cod trawlers fishing the hard way

Posted by jossc — 12 May 2007 at 11:30am - Comments

A Greenpeace swimmer attempts to prevent a North Sea cod trawler from fishing

We're still out here in the North Sea talking to trawlermen to convince them to stop fishing cod to extinction, and taking action against those who just won't listen.

For a few days now, we've had no luck locating cod fishing vessels, but that finally changed last night when we came across a Scottish trawler fishing for cod 40 miles east of Unst, the most northerly point of the Shetland Isles. They were reluctant to talk to us, so we decided to wait until morning and pay them a visit.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, direct actions, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, scotland, shetland, videos

Biofuels: green dream or climate change nightmare?

Posted by jamie — 9 May 2007 at 12:00am - Comments

As you may have already seen, along with WWF, the RSPB, Friends of the Earth and enoughsenough.org, we've placed an advert in several of today's papers warning the government about the environmental risks of biofuels as an alternative to petrol and diesel. Hang on, I imagine some of you are saying right now, aren't they supposed to be clean and green with the power to save us from the tyranny of fossil fuels? Well, yes... and no.

Article tagged as: biofuels, brazil, climate change, forests, indonesia, road transport, RTFO, transport

From the arms (or legs) of Stronsay

Posted by jossc — 9 May 2007 at 12:00am - Comments

Bird's eye view? Close up of a gannet in flight

The weather gods are shaking their fists at us again, forcing the Artic Sunrise to seek shelter in one of the three large bays of Stronsay in the Orkney Isles. Which is bad news for our mission, but good news for the 'twitchers' amongst the crew as the island abounds with birdlife and we've arrived here smack in the middle of the breeding season. Large colonies of gannets and fulmars live on the cliffs to the south and west, and there's also a loch and marshes which are havens for ducks and waders including the rare pintail (perhaps only 50 breeding pairs in Britain). And there are land (as opposed to sea) birds here too - swallows flew overhead as we lowered our anchor chain yesterday evening.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, birds, north sea, oceans, seals, stronsay

What can EU do?

Posted by Willie — 9 May 2007 at 12:00am - Comments

Greenpeace's call for 40 per cent of our oceans to be set aside as reserves may sound radical, or even far-fetched. But it isn't. Others, such as the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution have echoed what we're asking for. And sometimes, size DOES matter.

Large-scale Marine Reserves build in resilience to the ecosystems they encompass, allowing them to adapt to changes we might not even be able to predict (as well as those we are anticipating, like climate change). Most of what politicians have proposed quite simply doesn't go far enough: they are either too small, or too weak (the proposals, not the politicians).

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, EU, marine reserves

Viking Bank holiday

Posted by Willie — 8 May 2007 at 11:05am - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

We've had 'weather' out at sea, so again we've sought some shelter of the remote island of Fetlar. It's both reassuring to be near land when the wind's blowing, and frustrating when we can't set foot on it. I think many people on board would love to go for a nice long walk that didn't involve stairs or a handrail.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, fetlar, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, scotland, shetland

Jellyfish risotto, anyone?

Posted by jossc — 8 May 2007 at 10:57am - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

Marlin, swordfish, tuna, snapper, sea bass and cod. What have they all got in common, apart from the obvious? Well, they are all large predatory species which occupy the top spot (or close to it) in the food chain in their respective neigbourhoods. Or at least they used to. Last November, an international group of ecologists and economists, led by Boris Worm of Dalhousie University, published a study that made headlines around the world.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, overfishing, scotland, tuna

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