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This week politicians from all over the world converge on Wellington, New Zealand for a meeting to decide the fate of deep sea life in the international waters of the South pacific. Greenpeace is also in Wellington to make sure the decision makers know that the world is watching. We'll be in and around the meeting, with a deep-sea sculpture display in Civic Square, messages from the deep, a visiting scientist and more. Stay tuned!
Roses, blobfish, the RFMO and the Official Information Act
February 17, 2006
Weve been here in Wellington for 10 days now and a lot has happened. We may not have gotten the outcome we wanted but weve definitely made some ground in terms of getting support for a moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters.
Greenpeaces objective at the RFMO meeting was to push for immediate and comprehensive protective measures for the deep sea to halt the destruction in international waters while longer term discussions continue. As yet it is not to be.
Weve employed a variety of methods to get our message through including papier mache ghost sharks, roses and poems, scientists, voices from the deep, simile, and good old fashioned lobbying.
Outside the meeting our objective has been to make the unseen seen and to provide some way for people to have their say in an international fisheries policy meeting.
Voices from the deep
 In the weeks preceding the meeting we provided a conduit into the meeting by asking people to write 'messages for the deep' to the meeting delegates. Then, in the three days leading up to the meeting, we set up a display in Civic Square near Te Papa and invited Wellingtonians to write messages to the delegates on deep-sea creatures.
Our deep-sea life display in Wellington proved a big hit. With the giant gorgonian coral, bamboo coral and black coral along with the ghost shark and blob fish really helped us explain the issue to a lot of people.
The terrible toll of bottom trawling
On day two we released 185 shocking new images of bottom trawling bycatch. We extracted the images from the NZ Government and they show bycatch photographed by Government fishery observers aboard bottom trawlers in the two years since Greenpeace began campaigning for a moratorium on bottom trawling in the high seas. They are just some of the images taken by a small number of observers aboard just some of the vessels.
Roses are red, the high seas are blue, implement strong interim
Since the meeting began on Valentines Day we took the opportunity to make a positive gesture and give each delegate a rose and a poem:
 Roses are red
The High Seas are blue
Implement Strong interim Measures
And the world will love you
A side of red herring
On day two there was an announcement by the NZ Government of a fishing industry proposal to protect 31% of NZ waters from bottom trawling. On the face of it this proposal sounds great, and its not all bad, but unfortunately the devil is in the detail. The proposal does show that both the fishing industry and NZ Government now acknowledge the need to protect deep-sea life from bottom trawling and that is a good thing but closer examination reveals some inadequacies and its important to remember that the real problem is in international waters where there are essentially no regulations.
A science event
 For day three Greenpeace organised a side event at the RFMO meeting and arranged to have Dr Alex Rogers speak to the delegates about deep-sea life and the impact of bottom trawling. Dr Rogers made a strong case for action, clearly saying that deep-sea ecology is vulnerable and delicate and that the damage done by bottom trawling is absolute and recovery is slow if not impossible. We also took this opportunity to deliver around 2000 of your voices from the deep messages to the delegates.
Submit a simile - making the unseen seen
In much the same way as international fisheries meetings are hidden from view, the impact that bottom trawling has on delicate deep-sea communities is also hidden from view. Weve used simile to adequately describe the magnitude and the wholesale nature of the harm dealt to our hidden worlds by bottom trawling. The best we've come up with is: Bottom trawling is like dragging a massive net across entire fields, cities and forests in the hope of catching a few cows.
To flesh this out more we've been asking people to think up new ones and submit them to our weblog - and we've had some doozies! My personal favourite is this one by Richard - "Bottom trawling is like burning the haystack to find the needle" but theres been many other excellent contributions ranging from the poignant - Bottom trawling is like a slow death...painful but you know that soon there will be only memories of what was - to hilarious - Does my bycatch look big in this? You can read the rest here.
So the result wasn't all good but we're not giving up. keep an eye on developments in New York and you can continue to be involved in this campaign and other ocean related campaigns by becoming a Greenpeace Ocean Defender.
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Meeting ends with no action on bottom trawling
February 17, 2006
The RFMO meeting at Te Papa in Wellington, NZ has now drawn to a close and the outcome with regard to bottom trawling can certainly be summarised as weak. But were not done yet - our team in New York continues the battle at the United Nation. Continue
reading "Meeting ends with no action on bottom trawling"
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Crunch time
February 16, 2006
A piece of gorgonian coral caught as bycatch © Greenpeace
Today the meeting started with a strange silence. Now we are waiting to see if the talk that followed the silence will result in something more than silence.
Today was crunch day inside the meeting for us. First up this morning was some discussion on interim measures, or in plain english, discussion about what action countries would take now, while a binding legal agreement is negotiated - a process that will in all likelihood take several years.
With all that anticipation, it seemed fitting that the chairs appeal for comment was met by an eerie silence. But then when the discussion started there was plenty of it! Many countries spoke on the issue, but unfortunately for the life in the deep sea, very few had the courage to actually propose anything meaningful. Some suggested there should be no interim measures at all and many others only wanted to talk about gathering data and scientific information.
It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that collecting data for years and years is not going to stop the obvious harm being done to deep sea life right now. As our postcards and tour asked last year; How much more proof do you need How many more huge corals need to be dragged up before countries will actually do anything about it.
There were a few knights in shining armour though. Just when it seemed no one would even mention all the amazing critters that inhabit the deep Kiribati came galloping in and saved the day. They spoke about how this process will take a long time and that in the mean time the impacts of bottom trawling need to be addressed. They also said we didnt need more science to know that bottom trawling has a clear impact.
Vanuatu and France in respect of its territories also made good statements, and Fiji who called for an interim prohibition on bottom trawling until rules are in place to safeguard vulnerable ecosystems.
Greenpeace and many other environmental groups reminded the delegates of the plight of deep-sea life and the need for urgency. We told them about the thousands of messages sent in from you through our website and on the street stalls calling for action. One in particular seemed to say it all so we read that out to the meeting:
Future generations will congratulate you for your foresight
Unfortunately however, a distinct lack of urgency remains in the room and it is looking like the wondrous world of the deep will be left to bear the brunt of further inaction. There were many small groups squirreling away at the moment to draft text that countries will agree to as the basis for moving forward. First drafts though do not bode well for life in the deep sea.
Its not over yet though, tomorrow is the last day and the last hope for this meeting to make a difference. Stay tuned to find out whether words will turn into action tomorrow!
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The hard facts
February 16, 2006
 This morning we packed up our deep-sea sculpture and headed into Te Papa where Dr Alex Rogers from the British Antarctic Survey was about to do a presentation to the RFMO meeting at a side event organised by Greenpeace.
To the museum goers we no doubt presented a slightly odd spectacle as we filed through the museum with an assortment of giant corals and deep sea creatures tucked under our arms. After a brief encounter with museum security we made it up to the auditorium, coral intact. We then set up our deep-sea life display at the front of the auditorium complete with a large fishing net containing about 2000 deep sea creature messages submitted by you through the website and at our street stall in Wellington.
Then, to really make sure the messages got through, we also popped another deep-sea critter message on each seat and waited for the delegates to arrive. And arrive they did - before too long it was standing room only!
Dr Rogers gave an excellent presentation on deep-sea biodiversity and the impacts of bottom trawling. He talked about how seamounts are centres of diversity and important spawning grounds, how coral distribution correlates strongly with bottom trawling patterns, and how orange roughy populations have been severely depleted in many areas. And because orange roughy live for over 100 years and don't reach reproductive maturity until they are 30, recovery of these populations will take a long time. But then on top of that, in the hunt for orange roughy, bottom trawling has destroyed huge swathes of cold water coral eco-systems which could take hundreds of years to recover, if they do at all.
Dr Rogers then concluded by highlighting just how much there is still to learn about the deep sea. Scientists estimate that there is between 50 thousand and 10 million different species living in the deep sea. It is clear that scientists are only starting to fully understand the whole variety of life that is at risk from bottom trawling. There are big questions over species distribution and levels of endemism. Compelling reasons for a moratorium on bottom trawling to at least give science the time to work out what is going on down there.
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The devil is in the detail and still in the deep blue sea
February 15, 2006
Bottom trawling bycatch © Ministry of fisheries
Yesterday the meeting began with a traditional NZ powhiri (welcome) followed by a speech from Jim Anderton the NZ Minister of Fisheries.
This was followed by opening statements. NZ acknowledged the process will take time and that NZ is committed to progressing more immediate interim measures. However at this stage the furthest NZ was prepared to go was to suggest an option of a network of Marine Protected Areas. Then Greenpeace, WWF and ECO also made opening statements.
More substantive discussions followed lunch focusing on the geographic scope of the RFMO as well as the pros and cons of the RFMO approach in general. The meeting has only just begun but suffice to say weve had some full and frank discussions with delegates from various countries.
Probably the most notable occurrence of the day however was the announcement by the NZ Government of the deep sea fishing industry proposal to protect 30% of NZs EEZ from bottom trawling.
On the face of it this proposal sounds great, and its not all bad, but unfortunately the devil is in the detail. The numbers are impressive - 30% of NZs EEZ is a large area - but size is not everything.
The proposal does show that both the fishing industry and NZ Government now acknowledge the need to protect deep-sea life from bottom trawling and that is a good thing but closer examination reveals some inadequacies.
While 30 percent of our EEZ sounds like a very large area to protect, the areas do not seem to represent anything like all the vulnerable areas at risk from bottom trawling. For example, we know that many of the proposed areas are either too deep or too rocky for bottom trawling. While protecting these untouched areas is important, what we really need is protection for the areas that are being impacted by bottom trawling right now.
It's also important to note that the proposal is a distraction from the real subject of debate at this RFMO meeting - bottom trawling in international waters where there are virtually no rules at all.
The type of selected area closure in yesterdays proposal for NZ waters has also been suggested as an interim arrangement for international waters while the RFMO negotiations are underway.
But such an approach would not suffice for international waters. Scientists are still building a complete picture of the sea floor. So right now it would be impossible to prioritise protecting one area without risking leaving an equally vulnerable area open to the impacts of bottom trawling.
Greenpeace will continue to call for a temporary ban on bottom trawling in international waters of the South Pacific while the research is carried out and the RFMO negotiations are underway.
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From Wellington to New York
February 15, 2006
 At the same time as the RFMO meeting here in Wellington, NZ we also have a Greenpeace team at a similar meeting in New York. believe it or not this meeting is known as 'The United Nations Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group of the General Assembly to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction'. We'll call it the UN meeting from now on. You can read more about what's going on there on our international weblog
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Roses are red, the high seas are blue ...
February 14, 2006
This morning the RFMO meeting got under way and so, being valentines day, we took the opportunity to kick it off with a nice positive gesture. We sent a couple of well-dressed Greenpeacers into Te Papa and presented each delegate with a rose and a poem...
Roses are red
The High Seas are blue
Implement strong interim measures and
The world will love you.
Apart from a couple of fishing industry types, the delegates were very happy to receive our token of good will.
And inside the meeting the delegates will each find a Greenpeace CD-ROM full of documents, images and video all making a very strong case for 'implementing strong interim measures' to stop bottom trawling on the high seas while negotiations continue for the next few years.
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Submit a simile
February 14, 2006
Bottom trawl nets are enormous. The biggest bottom trawl nets that hit the sea floor have mouths as wide as the length of a rugby field and are three stories high. Weighted across the bottom with heavy steel rollers that indiscriminately smash and crush corals, they swallow everything in their path. To apply the same methodology on land would be like dragging a massive net across entire fields, cities and forests in the hope of catching a few cows.
Help illustrate the indiscriminate destructive nature of bottom trawling by using the comments form to submit another simile for bottom trawling...
Here's a couple more examples:
- Bottom trawling is like clear-felling a forest in the hope of catching a few birds
- Bottom trawling is like picking apples with a bulldozer.
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This little piggie says: Implement strong interim measures!
February 13, 2006
 We've been in Wellington for three days now with our deep-sea display in Civic Square. We've talked to a LOT of people about deep sea life and the threat posed by bottom trawling. It's a bit of a mouthful but with our deep sea sculpture in the background it doesn't take long to explain to people that there is a mysterious, ancient and delicate ecology in the deep sea,  about which science has only an incomplete understanding, that is being systematically wiped out in unregulated international waters by a particularly destructive and indiscriminate method of fishing called bottom trawling. You just have to remember to stop for a breath in the middle!
We're asking people to write messages to the RFMO meeting delegates urging them to put a halt on bottom trawling in the international waters of the South Pacific Ocean while the conversation about how to manage that area continues for the next few years. These processes can move somewhat slowly and if nothing is done in the interim the destruction will continue unabated.
 Well over a thousand messages to the delegates have been written both at our stall and through our online form and we'll be delivering them to the meeting some time in the next few days.
The messages range from the poignant through humorous to the deadly serious but one of our favourites is this one from Tristram Stewart:
 If I was a sea pig, what I would be saying to you right now in my sea pig voice would probably be "Oink". If I knew better I would say "Give me a chance. I cannot protect myself from bottom trawling. Only with your help will my species, and my friends the Glass Squid, the Rattail, Orange Roughy and the wonderful deep-sea coral we live in be able to survive. On the 14th of February please think of us and not the wallets of the fishing companies. Thank you for listening. Oink. -
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The terrible toll revealed
February 12, 2006
There's an interesting story in the Sunday paper this morning.
Last year in the Tasman sea the crew of the Rainbow Warrior photographed some shocking evidence of bottom trawling's toll on deep sea life. Ancient Gorgonian coral, endangered black coral and other strange bottom-dwelling creatures all hauled up and dumped over the side of NZ flagged vessels.
Industry reps had been saying such things as "NZ fishers simply do not drag heavy trawl gear across pristine sea floor" (Sea Food Industry Council June 2006). So we went looking for more evidence but this time, instead of confronting the fishers on the high seas we used New Zealand's official information act.
 The resulting 185 images were truly shocking. They show a litany of bottom trawling bycatch, including endangered black coral, from bottom trawlers fishing for orange roughy and oreos over the last two years, both within the New Zealand EEZ and in international waters. More shocking though is the realisation that this is just the tip of the iceberg!
They are just some of the photos that were taken by the small number of fisheries observers on only some of the bottom trawl vessels during the 2004 and 2005 fishing seasons.
Amongst the species shown are CITES-listed black corals, gorgonian corals, deep-sea crabs and octopus. The presence of corals shows that virgin areas are being bottom trawled and, with the rocks, crabs and other bottom dwellers, shows undeniably that the nets are indeed hitting the bottom.
While these images tell a disturbing story, what is equally disturbing is the unseen. The unseen destruction of biodiversity that didnt make it to the surface; the many species that died from plumes of sediment and the life that is tossed back overboard when nobody is looking.
View the slideshow
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Making the unseen seen
February 11, 2006
One of the reasons were here in Wellington ahead of the RFMO meeting is to help make the unseen seen. Not only is the deep sea a largely unseen world but often these high level governmental policy meetings are also murky affairs that, for the most part, go unnoticed by anyone but the policy heads and bureaucrats.
With our deep sea creature galleries and sculpture displays we hope to show people something of the wonders of the deep that are under threat; but also, over the coming week, we want to shed some light on the intricacies of the Regional Fisheries Management Organisation and the meeting at which they have the chance to afford deep-sea life the protection it so urgently needs.
So to begin, the map above shows the area of international waters under discussion at the meeting. Basically, its the South Pacific Ocean, the Tasman Sea and that bit below Australia - everywhere that doesnt fall under the jurisdiction of the surrounding countries exclusive economic zones (EEZ).
Bottom trawling companies have been exploiting the fact that there are virtually no rules about fishing in these areas for decades.
We were given a rare insight into the level of destruction in the 1997-98 fishing year when fisheries observers on board bottom trawling vessels collected data about what was coming up in the nets. That year 4,000 tonnes of orange roughy were caught and over 10,000 tonnes of ancient deep-sea corals! It really is like picking apples with a bulldozer.
Many in the fishing industry have strongly resisted having fisheries observers collecting such data presumably because they prefer their harvest of the deep to remain unseen. Right now around 5% of New Zealand-flagged bottom trawlers have observers onboard.
Tomorrow we will release some shocking images taken by government fisheries observers on board NZ bottom trawling vessels over the past two years. We got hold of the photos using the NZ official information act.
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Wellington greeted by creatures of the deep
February 10, 2006
This morning we set up our deep-sea creatures exhibition in Civic Square. The sculpted creatures and coral (which is technically an animal) immediately began attracting people curious to know what the creatures are and why they are hanging out in central Wellington. If you're in the area come on down and say hi, write a message to the meeting delegates and get the low down on the deep sea!
We're getting LOTS of fantastic messages through from our web form and we'll be delivering them to the delegates later in the week. If you haven't done one yet you can do it here.
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Voices from the deep, sculptures and scientists
February 9, 2006
For two years the campaign for a moratorium on bottom trawling in international water, and the destruction it causes, has taken us to the high seas, to United Nations meetings and many places in between. Now it brings us to Wellington.
For 5 days starting on 14th Feb there is an international fisheries meeting at Te Papa in Wellington where government representatives from all over the world will decide the fate of deep-sea life in the South Pacific.
This is a crucial point in our efforts to protect life in the deep sea so we'll also be in Wellingtonboth in and around the meeting. We want to make it very clear to the delegates that the world is watching and that they must take this opportunity to do the right thing. We've got some great stuff planned including a deep-sea sculpture installation, a weblog, messages from the deep and a visiting scientist.
There's more detail below but essentially this meeting needs to result in some strong measures to protect deep-sea life, such as an interim ban on bottom trawling while further discussions continue. You can help by sending a message to the meeting here Continue
reading "Voices from the deep, sculptures and scientists"
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