Kaliningrad, Russian Federation —
A notorious pirate fishing fleet (1) was today tracked down and documented in Svetly, close to Kaliningrad, Russia, by Greenpeace activists on board the ship Arctic Sunrise.
Greenpeace has tracked the vessels for over a year. In that time they havebeen re-named and re-flagged after being blacklisted by the European Union, Iceland and North East Atlantic Fisheries Committee (NEAFC). Despite that they have been re-supplied in Germany, Poland, Norway and now in Russia - all signatories to the NEAFC agreement.
"This is a golden opportunity for Russia to stop these ships, since all these vessels are here illegally", said Frode Pleym, campaigner on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. "If Russia doesn't act it's a clear violation of international agreements. According to the treaties the ships are not even allowed to enter this port, and any service to the ships - including pilot services - is also illegal," added Pleym.
Greenpeace is demanding that Russia follows the NEAFC agreement and deny the pirate vessels all services in port and seizes their fishing equipment.
Since the vessels are in the port of Svetly illegally Russian authorities
must also ensure that these vessels are expelled from Russia, or detained or
scrapped.
NEAFC will meet in Estonia on Tuesday. During the meeting Greenpeace will hand over the documentation from Svetly and demand that the organization take the steps necessary to finally stop the pirate fleet found in Russia.
"Oceans protection begins on land. At the same time as NEAFC is meeting, the UN General Assembly will once more debate the future of the high seas", said Katarzyna Guzek, Greenpeace ocean campaigner. "It is vital that both
organisations act to stop fish from being stolen from our oceans and bottom
trawling from destroying their habitats. Only then will governments show
they are serious about tackling these problems," added Guzek.
The Greenpeace ships, the Arctic Sunrise and Esperanza are exposing the
threat of pirate fishing in Russia and in the Pacific as part of the Defending Our Oceans campaign. Illegal fishing is a global problem, accounting for 20% of the world's total fish catch and worth up to $9 billion a year.
A case study and a fact sheet on the trawlers can be downloaded here:
http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/documents-reports/caught-red-handed.pdf
Notes to Editor
(1) The ships are: Rosita (formerly Okhotino), Carmen (formerly Ostrovets), Eva (formerly Oyra), Juanita (formerly Ostroe) and Isabella (formerly Olchan). At the time these vessels were blacklisted, they were all flagged to Dominica. By March 2006 all had been re-flagged to Georgia.
Neither Dominica nor Georgia is a party to either NEAFC or the United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement.
Further contact information for
reporters to get video, photos or report details
Frode Pleym, ocean campaigner. Tel. + 46 703 353 766 Katarzyna Guzek, ocean campaigner. + 48 500 236 211 Jan Isakson, press officer. + 46 70 608 74 83 All aboard the Arctic Sunrise.
When out of GSM-range call Arctic Sunrise sat. phone: + 871 324 453 810
On land in Kaliningrad/Russia. Alexei Kiselev, campaigner. Tel. +7 903 7705786, Vera Bakasheva, press officer. +7 903 2193287
