Greenpeace Blog

Fixing fairness in fisheries starts at home

Posted by Willie — 30 March 2012 at 10:23am - Comments
Artisanal fishing boat 40 miles off the coast of Mauritania
All rights reserved. Credit: Greenpeace / Pierre Gleizes
Artisanal fishing boat 40 miles off the coast of Mauritania

Approximately 1.5 MILLION small-scale fishermen live and work along the coast of West Africa. They live a life directly dependent on the seas on their doorstep. And it's not just them - their families and communities depend on it too, of course. Yet here in the seas off West Africa it's clear to see their interests are being ignored in favour of allowing massive, industrialised, factory fishing vessels to gobble up all the fish. Of course some of this is illicit, but much of it is legitimised plunder, such as the huge PFA vessels down here with EU subsidies and paid-for Fisheries Partnership Agreements

Denmark to go 100% renewables by 2050

Posted by petespeller — 29 March 2012 at 1:24pm - Comments
Middelgrunden offshore windfarm in Denmark
All rights reserved. Credit: Paul Langrock / Zenit / Greenpeace
Middelgrunden offshore windfarm in Denmark

Hot on the heels of Germany’s ambitious renewable energy plans, the Danish government went even further and announced last week that they plan to get half of their country’s total electricity requirement from renewable sources by 2020 and 100% of total energy, including electricity, heating, industry and transport, by 2050.

Energy policy in tatters as two more companies scrap plans for new nuclear

Posted by Richardg — 29 March 2012 at 12:16pm - Comments
RWE Nuclear powerstation
All rights reserved. Credit: Paul Langrock / Zenit / Greenpeace

This week two more energy companies abandoned their plans to build new nuclear power stations in the UK. It’s left the government’s energy strategy in tatters – and it’s time for them to admit that the future is not nuclear and start investing in cleaner, safer renewable energy.

Video: Bearing Witness: Oil disaster in the Russian Arctic

Posted by bex — 28 March 2012 at 3:31pm - Comments

In early March, our colleagues in Russia visited Noyabrsk, in the middle of the West Siberian oil fields, to bear witness to a long-lasting battle between local indigenous communities and oil companies, and to document the widespread pollution caused by oil exploration.

Flags, convenience and bending the rules to steal Africa’s fish

Posted by Willie — 26 March 2012 at 5:46pm - Comments

 We’re currently following a stern trawler as it fishes. It’s not the biggest vessel out here, but, like many others it is fishing up and down where the shallow continental shelf meets deeper waters. That there is fish in these waters there is no doubt, and proved by the birds, whales and dolphins we encounter here, as well as the fishing vessels.

What is the UK’s biggest fishing boat doing in West African seas?

Posted by Willie — 23 March 2012 at 2:04pm - Comments

I’m out in the Atlantic Ocean, somewhere off Mauritania in West Africa, aboard the Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise. We’re here to document and expose the shocking overfishing of Africa’s coastal seas by huge fishing vessels from the EU and elsewhere.

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