Ending the days of plunder: halting the pirates

We’ve already called on the German government in the past to prevent these same fishing vessels leaving port. Back in December last year, they were called the Oyra, Ostroe, Okhotino, Olchan and Ostrovets. In 2005, they were involved in the collapse of the redfish stocks of the North Atlantic. Now their owners have changed the ships' registrations and they're named like a Spanish chorus line: Eva, Junita, Rosita, Isabella and Carmen, and are registered to a new flag state: Georgia. But the German government didn’t stop them setting out again, so we did.

Andrea Cederquist, marine biologist at Greenpeace Germany, says the fact that the German government allows known pirate fishing vessels to set sail is incredible. “Knowing these ships are leaving port without making sure they will keep to international fishery agreements in future is unacceptable," she added.

Update - The One That Didn't Get Away
Under cover of darkness, the fifth vessel in the blacklisted fleet sneaked away to Poland. Our activists have paid a visit to the Carmen, in the port of Swinoujscie, wrapping it in chains and hanging a banner that reads "Stop Pirate Fishing".

The Carmen is currently in dry dock, presumably in preparation for another bout of pirate fishing. As in Germany, where the sister vessels were illegally re-supplied, the Polish government are so far ignoring their obligation to prevent the Carmen from re-supplying, despite its being blacklisted for repeated breaches of European, north east and north west Atlantic fishing regulations.

We have obtained information indicating that these trawlers have set their sights on either plundering the rich fishing waters off the coast of West Africa (Mauritania) or going farther afield to trawl the depths of the Pacific. Both are regions where proper controls are lacking and pirate fishing is flourishing.

Pirate fisheries are estimated to cost countries between 3.4 and 7.6 billion euros each year. They also wipe-out the unknown worlds of the deep-sea. Many pirate vessels are engaged in a fishing technique called bottom trawling which is known to cause huge destruction to vulnerable deep-sea marine life such as cold water corals. Over the next few months, in partnership with the Environmental Justice Foundation, our ship the Esperanza will expose how fishing pirates in the Atlantic are wiping out marine life and destroying the livelihoods of the communities dependent on our oceans for food.

So what needs to be done to stop this? Our Oceans Campaigner Sari Tolvanen thinks governments should put their money where their mouth is – and now. “They need to stop these boats from leaving port and support a United Nations moratorium on high seas bottom trawling. This would send a signal to pirates that their days of plundering the oceans are over,” she said.

Send a signal to governments everywhere and sign up as an Ocean Defender.