PRESS RELEASE: Greenpeace films shrimp boats bottom trawling near vulnerable soft corals.
Northwest Atlantic, Greenpeace is calling on the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) to impose an immediate moratorium on high seas bottom trawling, so that vulnerable areas of deep-sea biodiversity that exist within its boundaries can be clearly identified and protected before it is too late.
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza, is currently documenting the shrimp bottom trawl fishery on the Flemish Cap in the NW Atlantic where they have filmed six bottom trawlers (1) in the last 24 hours. The trawlers are all setting two nets at a time with up to 25 tons of gear going onto the seabed at once. The nets are 200 to 300 meters long and are weighted with heavy steel balls called rockhoppers that prevent the nets from snagging on the bottom. The boats are working 24 hours and hauling every four to seven hours. There is no quota set for the NAFO 3M area but a catch allocation scheme that assigns a number of days and vessels to countries that can fish the area.
The Flemish Cap is also a "biodiversity hotspot" for soft corals according to two Canadian scientists (2). The information is drawn from recent fisheries observer reports and the corals includes cup corals and gold banded corals and in the same area are seapens.
"Next to nothing is known about these corals and very little work has been done to establish how common they are and yet bottom trawling these areas is allowed" said Bunny McDiarmid on board the Esperanza. "NAFO has a blind spot that is resulting in the needless destruction of deep sea life." "NAFO concentrates on the fish stocks under its care and pays little attention to the habitat they live in. There is no protection in place for these vulnerable corals or any other such areas within the NAFO area," added McDiarmid.
The shrimp fishery got underway after the collapse of the groundfish fisheries in the area in the 1990s. The Flemish Cap shrimp fishery is the largest bottom trawl fishery in international waters, and in 2001 it equaled approximately one-quarter to one-third of the catch and value of high seas bottom trawl fisheries worldwide. (3)
"The shrimp boats are trawling up and down the same area as if ploughing the seabed", said McDiarmid. "Talking with some of the fishermen on board the vessels we were told that the shrimp are getting smaller and the boats are getting bigger. Many of these fishermen acknowledge the need for regulation despite their resistance."
Greenpeace together with the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition (4) is calling for a UN moratorium on highseas bottom trawling to allow scientists the time to identify and assess deep-sea biodiversity and to institute the protection required before it is too late.
Contacts:
On board the ship: Bunny McDiarmid +00871 324469014
Racine Tucker-Hamilton-+1 202-436-1039
