Suspicious cod reefer enters Dutch harbour - Greenpeace demands inspection

The Barents Sea is home to one of the world's last relatively healthy cod populations, but the stock is now being heavily exploited. According to estimates from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), 26% of all cod caught in the Barents Sea in 2005 was illegal (1).

"The fishing industry has heavily plundered the cod stock in the North Sea and now they are starting to overexploit the stocks in the Barents Sea," says Farah Obaidullah, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner. "Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing seriously undermines efforts to conserve and manage fish stocks and it poses a severe threat to the Barents cod stock and the entire Barents ecosystem."

A frequent used tactic by trawlers in the Barents Sea is to under-report their daily catches, and to tranship parts of their catch unreported to reefer vessels like the "Mumrinskiy". These reefers then bring the stolen fish in Dutch ports, where landing documents are not verified. This allows illegal fish to be ‘laundered’ and enter the European market through Holland.

The Mumrinskiy has a clear history of illegal operations, including transhipment of fish from blacklisted vessels, ignoring commands from Norwegian Authorities and falsifying documents with double accounting to hide illegally caught fish. The "Mumrinskiy" has often transited through international waters circumventing the Norwegian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), thereby avoiding inspection. Greenpeace calls for a common inspection policy to be put in force urgently in ports receiving fish, which would grant local authorities the right to seizure in cases of documented fishing illegalities.

"It is a scandal that Russian reefers use Dutch harbours to launder their illegal fish," says Obaidullah. "The only way to stop illegal cod from ending up on our plates is to carry out thorough inspections and confirm with the relevant authorities that the catch is legal before it can be offloaded in Holland. The Dutch government and international community must implement international agreements against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. We cannot afford to wait for the EU or indeed international measures to come into force. The Dutch government as well as the international community must act now to help protect our last healthy cod population.”

The Greenpeace ship MY Arctic Sunrise is working in the North and Baltic Sea as part of the organization's global Defending Our Oceans (DOO) expedition. The fleet include the MY Esperanza documenting oceans pollution in the Philippines, the MY Rainbow Warrior confronting the tuna fleets wiping out the last of the great fish in the Mediterranean and the MY Arctic Sunrise, which is exposing the hidden face of pirate fishing in the North and Baltic Seas. The DOO expedition aims at to highlight the wonders of and the environmental threats to the world's oceans and to campaign for the establishment of marine reserves.

Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation, which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force solutions essential to a green and peaceful future.


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