Blog: Oceans

CITES: championing extinction?

Posted by Willie — 29 March 2010 at 6:11pm - Comments

I've tried several times to write a 'wrap-up' blog for this year's CITES meeting. But usually I end up just banging my head against the keyboard in despair.

This CITES meeting was a turning point – the governments in the room decided that they weren't there to restrict trade to protect species, but rather there to protect trade as best they could. Nowhere was that more evident than the marine proposals.

Sharks were shafted, corals crushed, and bluefin obliterated, as the assembled governments played politics, and wrung their hands earnestly over the adverse economic effects of actually protecting any of these endangered species. Conveniently ignoring the fact that it's their inability to restrain trade which endangered them in the first place...

Article tagged as: bluefin, CITES, endangered species, tuna

Failing to corral support for conservation

Posted by Willie — 22 March 2010 at 4:03pm - Comments

CITES agreed to protect a salamander at the weekend. I'm very happy for the salamander. But in the great scheme of things this meeting is hardly turning out to be a ringing endorsement of global conservation in action.

We're still reeling from the disastrous result for Atlantic bluefin; heads are being scratched over the failure to be bothered about the polar bears; spiny dogfish are still being ruthlessly battered as we speak, and; in another resounding blow to effectiveness, the proposal to protect red and pink corals was also resoundingly ditched by our collective governments meeting in Doha yesterday.

Article tagged as: CITES

CITES - reality bites. Or rather, reality sucks

Posted by Willie — 19 March 2010 at 2:55pm - Comments

A Steller's sea cow skeleton - first spotted by Europeans in 1741, they were driven to extinction within 30 years © CC Funkmonk

International co-operation is vital if we want to protect the plants and (particularly) animals that we share the planet with. They don't all have a very quantifiable value, and often those most at risk live in countries in the developing world where it is hard to balance the growing needs of the population with effective conservation measures. It's also, of course, rather rich to be lectured by the developed West/North on how to look after your flora and fauna when we have been so remiss ourselves.

Article tagged as: bluefin, CITES, endangered species

Governments fail bluefin in Doha

Posted by Willie — 18 March 2010 at 4:13pm - Comments

The breaking news today is that governments at the CITES meeting at Doha have voted AGAINST a trade ban on Atlantic bluefin.

Words cannot express how frustrating this is. The science and scientific backing is incontrovertible. The public will and pressure is immense. The species could be  commercially extinct within just a few years.

Article tagged as: ban, bluefin, CITES, doha, extinction, mediterranean, oceans, trade, tuna

Governments fail bluefin in Doha

Posted by Willie — 18 March 2010 at 4:13pm - Comments

The breaking news today is that governments at the CITES meeting at Doha have voted AGAINST a trade ban on Atlantic bluefin.

Words cannot express how frustrating this is. The science and scientific backing is incontrovertible. The public will and pressure is immense. The species could be  commercially extinct within just a few years.

Article tagged as: ban, bluefin, CITES, doha, extinction, mediterranean, oceans, trade, tuna

Fishy focus at CITES meeting in Doha

Posted by Willie — 17 March 2010 at 10:44am - Comments

The CITES meeting is now well underway in Doha, Qatar. Greenpeace is there, as are many other NGOs, and it’s clear that there is a very fishy focus for this meeting. As well as proposals to protect sharks and corals, Atlantic bluefin is the species on everyone’s mind. For a meeting concerned with the international trade in endangered species, it’s amazing how much of it could boil down to simple horse-trading.

This meeting, of course, is the chance to get an international trade ban on Atlantic bluefin, a measure that should protect the species from imminent commercial extinction.

Article tagged as: bluefin, CITES, japan, tuna

Tokyo Two trial: stage two

Posted by jossc — 8 March 2010 at 4:57pm - Comments

Tension is rising as round two of the Tokyo Two trial starts today in Aomori, Japan, where Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki are on trial in Japan for their role in exposing major corruption in the government funded whaling industry. This week they get to give evidence for the first time, and the whistleblower who alerted them to the embezlement scandal will also take the stand. Watch the video above for an update on the story so far...

Article tagged as: japan, oceans, tokyo two, whales, whaling

Tokyo Two trial: stage two

Posted by jossc — 8 March 2010 at 4:57pm - Comments

Tension is rising as round two of the Tokyo Two trial starts today in Aomori, Japan, where Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki are on trial in Japan for their role in exposing major corruption in the government funded whaling industry. This week they get to give evidence for the first time, and the whistleblower who alerted them to the embezlement scandal will also take the stand. Watch the video above for an update on the story so far...

Article tagged as: japan, oceans, tokyo two, whales, whaling

Why Greenpeace supports a Marine Reserve in the Chagos

Posted by Willie — 2 March 2010 at 12:00pm - Comments

Greenpeace believes that there is an overwhelming case for giving full protection to the waters of the Chagos as a no-take Marine Reserve and has now formally responded to the UK government's consultation on the Chagos Islands Marine Protected Area.

But the UK Government consultation does not address everything that needs to be addressed in the Chagos Islands: The Chagossian people, who were removed from the islands prior to the creation of the Diego Garcia military base, are still fighting for justice. Early Greenpeace campaigner Rex Weyler tells that sorry tale in his blog here.

Article tagged as: chagos, chagossians, marine reserves

Esperanza featured on 'From Our Own Correspondent'

Posted by jossc — 22 February 2010 at 6:44pm - Comments

For those of you who missed Saturday's edition of one of Radio 4's most popular programmes, 'From Our Own Correspondent', you missed a great piece on the desperate plight of Pacific tuna. Focusing on overfishing by EU and Asian nations around the Cook Islands, it covered the story of our very own ship Esperanza busting a Japanese purse seining vessel which was fishing illegally in Cook Island waters.

You can listen to it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/fooc.

Article tagged as: bluefin, destructive fishing, overfishing, pacific
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