Blog: Oceans

A fishy 'heads up' to France over tuna

Posted by jossc — 19 November 2008 at 4:11pm - Comments

Heads will roll: Tuna piled up outside the French Fisheries Ministry in protest against continued over fishing

OK so I'm a day or two off the pace with this story (courtesy of a long weekend - well even we need a day or two off once in a while), and didn't find out about Monday's tuna direct action in Paris until I showed up at the office again today. So what did I miss? Well, our French colleagues took the opportunity to protest against France's leading role in decimating Mediterranean bluefin tuna stocks by dumping five tonnes of tuna fish heads outside the door of the French Fisheries Ministry.

Timed to coincide with coincide with the opening of the annual meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), in Marrakech, the action targetted France (as opposed to Italy or Spain, the two other worst offenders) in this instance because French Premier Nicholas Sarkozy currently holds the EU presidency. He has been using it to shape the EU position in favour of the short-term interests of his fishing industry above the need to save the Mediterranean bluefin tuna stock from collapse.

Article tagged as: bluefin, destructive fishing, icatt, marine reserves, oceans, tuna

Tinned tuna - a quick guide to fishing methods

Posted by jossc — 17 November 2008 at 11:51am - Comments

Purse seined tuna

Article tagged as: league table, oceans, sustainable seafood, tuna

Tinned tuna - a quick guide to fishing methods

Posted by jossc — 17 November 2008 at 11:51am - Comments

Purse seined tuna

Article tagged as: league table, oceans, sustainable seafood, tuna

Launching Greenpeace Africa

Posted by bex — 14 November 2008 at 6:28pm - Comments

"While the environmental threats facing Africans are urgent and critical, Africa is in a position to leapfrog dirty development and become a leader in helping to avert catastrophic climate change and protect the natural environment. We are here to help make that happen."

Amadou Kanoute, Executive Director of Greenpeace Africa.

 

Greenpeace Africa is here! Marking a whole new era for Greenpeace, we opened our first African office yesterday, in Johannesburg. In the coming weeks, we'll be opening two more - one in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the other in Senegal.

Article tagged as: about, africa, climate change, congo, forests, oceans, senegal, south africa

Closures, resignations and cancelled celebrations batter Japan's whaling industry

Posted by jossc — 12 November 2008 at 4:49pm - Comments

Forced to close - Yushin, Toyko's main whale meat shop

Yushin, Tokyo's official whale meat shop, is closing down © Dave Walsh

Probably better to whisper it at this point, at least if you're a bit superstitious like me, but it has to be said that our much criticised plan to focus all our anti-whaling efforts in Japan, rather than out in the Southern Ocean, is beginning to yield significant results. Even before the whalers prepare to leave port for their annual hunt in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, new revelations of financial and image problems are adding to the woes of the scandal-plagued industry.

Article tagged as: japan, Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, tokyo two, whaling

'Green' grocer caught red-handed with redlist fish

Posted by jossc — 7 November 2008 at 12:55pm - Comments

Loblaws: caught red-handed selling unsustainable 'red-list' fish

Greenpeace Canada exposed the country's largest grocery store chain's claims to be a 'green' grocer as false this week, after an investigation into how they source their seafood. Loblaws, whose stores account for nearly a third of all groceries sold in Canada, were found to be selling 14 of the 15 species on Greenpeace's 'Redlist' - made up of those species that are most destructively fished or farmed.

To get 'redlisted' a species must be in serious trouble, usually defined as facing a 90% reduction in numbers. Currently top of the Canadian list are Atlantic bluefin tuna, Atlantic cod, sharks, skate, shrimp and orange roughy - all of which are sold by Loblaws.

Article tagged as: bluefin, canada, cod, destructive fishing, loblaws, sharks, shrimp, skate

Bluebird red-carded from Antarctic waters

Posted by jossc — 30 October 2008 at 12:29pm - Comments

Oriental Bluebird, left, refueld the whaling factory ship Nisshin-Maru in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, 2007

Oriental Bluebird, left, refuels the whaling factory ship Nisshin-Maru in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, 2007

The Japanese whaling fleet's key supply vessel, Oriental Bluebird, has been de-flagged and fined following a legal ruling by Panamanian authorities, where the ship is registered. The owners of the former oil tanker, used to refuel the fleet in the Southern Ocean and to ship whale meat back to Japan, were fined the maximum penalty after being found guilty of:

  • using the ship for purposes it was not licensed for (ie carrying whale meat rather than oil)
  • violating the MARPOL convention (a treaty designed to eliminate the deliberate, negligent or accidental release of oil and other harmful substances from ships into the marine environment) after illegally refuelling whaling vessels in Antarctic waters.
Article tagged as: japan, MARPOL, Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, whaling

Ocean-friendly cuisine: sustainable recipes from Britain's finest chefs

Posted by jossc — 22 October 2008 at 1:23pm - Comments
A picture of moules frites
All rights reserved. Credit: Archangel12
Moules marinière à la Michelin-starred Raymond Blanc

Let's face it, even if you're Raymond Blanc, buying the right fish these days is not so simple.

And right now many of our traditional favourites, from cod to tuna, are disappearing rapidly from the seas due to overfishing and the effects of climate change. Bottom-trawling boats are sailing farther and fishing deeper than ever before, hauling in hordes of fish with heavy, weighted nets that tear up the ocean bottom.

Article tagged as: gheeti singh, loch fyne, moshi moshi, raymond blanc, recipes, seafood see life, sustainable seafood

Marine reserves can save our seas

Posted by jossc — 17 October 2008 at 2:07pm - Comments
Apo Island Marine Sanctuary, Philippines Apo Island Marine Sanctuary, Philippines

Latest updates from the impressive ProtectPlanetOcean web site provide convincing support for Greenpeace's long-held contention that marine reserves provide the best long-term solution to the problems of overfishing and pollution which threaten the world's marine ecosystems. In case you've forgotten marine reserves are protected areas, national parks at sea where no fishing or other extractive industries (such as oil, gas or gravel extraction) are permitted.

The site has pulled together studies of 124 marine reserves around the world - scientific peer-reviewed research published in academic journals - to provide a clear picture of what has happened where reserves have been established.

Article tagged as: destructive fishing, marine reserves, oceans, overfishing, pollution

Marine reserves can save our seas

Posted by jossc — 17 October 2008 at 2:07pm - Comments
Apo Island Marine Sanctuary, Philippines Apo Island Marine Sanctuary, Philippines

Latest updates from the impressive ProtectPlanetOcean web site provide convincing support for Greenpeace's long-held contention that marine reserves provide the best long-term solution to the problems of overfishing and pollution which threaten the world's marine ecosystems. In case you've forgotten marine reserves are protected areas, national parks at sea where no fishing or other extractive industries (such as oil, gas or gravel extraction) are permitted.

The site has pulled together studies of 124 marine reserves around the world - scientific peer-reviewed research published in academic journals - to provide a clear picture of what has happened where reserves have been established.

Article tagged as: destructive fishing, marine reserves, oceans, overfishing, pollution
Syndicate content

Follow Greenpeace UK