Greenpeace returns pirate fishing nets to Polish authorities

We have also handed over our documentation of the illegal fishing to the
inspectors and two of our activists have testified", says Ida Udovic,
Greenpeace ocean campaigner.

The crew on Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise first spotted several suspected illegal nets Wednesday 13 September, the day after they returned and
confiscated two confirmed illegal nets and took the largely undersized cod
out of them. The area was closed to fishing until September 15. However the
inspector did not want to seize the nets, instead he choose to give them
back to the fishermen claiming he lacked the authority to confiscate them.

"This example clearly illustrates the problem of illegal fishing in the
Baltic sea and the lack of control and firm law enforcement typical for the
Baltic states", says Ida Udovic, Greenpeace ocean campaigner.

The fisherman blamed the incident on the nets, saying that they had drifted into the closed area, an obvious lie.

"The nets were firmly anchored when we found them and hadn't moved an inch since he placed them there. The Polish government need to seriously improve their system for fisheries control, much more money has to be invested in capacity for inspections and law enforcement", says Ida Udovic.

Greenpeace is demanding a network of marine reserves to shut down the pirate trade and allow vital cod stocks to recover. Marine reserves make controls much easier than the current patchwork of regulations that have made control impossible. In addition all fishing vessels in the Baltic should have a device onboard enabling electronic surveillance, controls ashore and off shore should increase and a black list for all vessels caught cheating
should be established.

Greenpeace ships, the Arctic Sunrise and Esperanza are currently in the
Baltic and Pacific (1) exposing the threat from pirate fishing - a global
problem, accounting for 20% of the world's total fish catch and worth up to
$9 billion a year.