October 19, 2005
Postcards from the Edge
Most people who grew up in New Zealand have photos like this of me and my sister in the late 1970s.
In most cases its not possible to repeat the catches of 25 years ago because intensive commercial fishing has taken away so much sea life and kaimoana.
These images found in family photo albums are documentary evidence of profound changes in the health of the ocean.
Its not just family photos that track the changes, people who took photos while working on fishing boats also have important evidence. You may have been a deckhand, a fisheries observer, onboard cook, an engineer or a skipper.
Bosses in the fishing industry claim bottom trawl nets fly over the sea floor. We know theyre wrong and are continue collecting photographic evidence. Greenpeace is interested in photos you may have of significant bycatch from bottom trawlers like corals, giant squid or... of things we may not even know about.
Your photos couldve been taken within New Zealand waters, the South-West Indian ocean, Tasman Rise, off Africa, North Atlantic, the Louisville Ridge or elsewhere.
If you have photos we may be interested in, please tell us about them by sending us a message to this confidential email address: bottomtrawlnginfo@nz.greenpeace.org
