Greenpeace today renewed its demand to governments around the world to end illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. The call for stricter enforcement and the elimination of loopholes in fishing regulations came this week as Interpol convened its first ever meeting to address the illegal fishing crisis in Lyon, France.
As back up to its call, Greenpeace released the detailed documentation of illegal fishing activities encountered during two ship expeditions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans in late 2012 highlighting the need for urgent action. The evidence included documentation of illegal activities last November by Indonesian-, Philippine-, and Cambodian-flagged fishing vessels in the Pacific. It also included details of Greenpeace encounters with fishing vessels from Japan, Taiwan and Sri Lanka engaged in illegal or suspicious fishing activities in the Indian Ocean. All vessels were taking advantage of poor at-sea enforcement and loopholes in the law.
As overfishing decimates fish stocks, fleets are moving further and further from homeports to catch valuable fish species such as tuna. Greenpeace is demanding that governments prohibit the transfer of fish at sea, end fishing vessels