Guinea, Africa: At first light yesterday morning (March 28th, 2006), the Greenpeace helicopter flew over a group of fishing vessels 60 miles off the coast of Guinea. One was not on the list of ships authorized to fish. An inflatable boat was launched from the Greenpeace ship M.Y Esperanza, taking a Guinean Navy officer and a fisheries inspector with a crew from Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation on board.
After confirming the ship, the Lian Run No 14 - one of a family of Chinese vessels observed in the area - had no license, the ship was arrested. The Esperanza will now escort her to Conakry and hand her over to officials on shore.
The captain of the Lian Run No 14 claimed documentation was lodged in Las Palmas - the fish laundering capital of the world. In addition, all the boxes being used to pack the stolen fish bore the names of other vessels, proving that even licensed vessels collaborate with the pirates to sell illegally caught fish on the market.
Happiness:The Chinese zombie ships of West Africa - read the weblog
Fish boxes with the names of seven other vessels were found on board the Lian Run No 14, proving how licensed vessels are packing their boxes with illegal catch from the Lian Run No 14.
"Today we found one pirate - but we know there is a fleet of them out here and in every other ocean, stealing fish every day," said Sarah Duthie, of Greenpeace.
"The fact that they had boxes on board destined for Europe and claimed to be represented in Las Palmas shows a clear link between the food being stolen from Africa and the fish being served on the dinner tables of Europe," said Helene Bours of the Environmental Justice Foundation.
Notes
- Pirate fishing is Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) fishing.
- Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation are working together to expose the pirate fishing fleets that operate without sanction across the globe. Together the international environment and human rights organisations are demanding that governments close ports to ban pirates, deny them access to markets and prosecute companies supporting them.
- The drive to make piracy history is the second leg of a 14-month global expedition "Defending Our Oceans", the most ambitious ship expedition ever undertaken by Greenpeace to expose the threats to the oceans and demand a global network of properly enforced marine reserves covering 40% of the worlds oceans. Greenpeace aims to gather a million Ocean Defenders by the end of the expedition in February 2007.
Contacts aboard the MY Esperanza: Sarah Duthie, Greenpeace UK Oceans Campaigner.
Helene Bours, Environmental Justice Foundation. Tel: + 47 514 079 87 / 88 or + 871 3244 69010
Photo and Video of the arrest are available from:
Franca Michienzi: Greenpeace International Photo desk: +31 6 53819255
Maarten van Rouveroy: Greenpeace International Video desk: +31 6 4619 7322
Follow the Defending Our Oceans voyage here.
