Fishing

While my colleagues have been doing big, bold and brash things like confronting oil drilling in the Arctic and taking on Tescos over their slipped commitments on sustainable tuna, I was reading reports by the European Commission and poring over the minute details of European Regulation. Doesn’t sound very Greenpeace, does it?

Sea turtles live in the ocean. They don’t loiter around so much as cruise the whole sea, taking in shallow coastal lagoons, stopping by seamounts, and crossing the open ocean on high seas highways, only ever returning to land to lay eggs.

They are truly creatures of the ocean. And they are pretty special.

Today is World Turtle Day – so what better excuse to shell out a bit of love and respect to these most iconic ocean ambassadors?

Every ten years the European Union’s set of laws on fishing, the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), gets an overhaul. Today sees that process get its final approval and rubber-stamping from Members of the European Parliament, as they formally approve the last piece of legislation. So it’s a good time to pause and take stock on what CFP reform means, and why this time round has been a game-changer.

Have you heard the one about Greenpeace controlling the French Navy? No, me neither. But you might be forgiven for being confused by some recent reports about the Russian trawler seized in West Africa.

Pirate fishing is a big problem. Sometimes it’s fishing over quota (catching more than you should, or species that you shouldn’t), sometimes it’s fishing in ways or places you shouldn’t. Overfishing may seem like a victimless crime – but it isn’t, and the ultimate effect is bad news for our oceans, the creatures that live in them, and the humans whose livelihoods or future food source depends on them.