The twelve ships in Klaipéda have all been blacklisted by the EU, the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission or Norway for their involvement in illegal fishing operations in the North East Atlantic or the Barents Sea. This port is notorious for its poor feedback and registration system, which allows these ships and other flag of convenience vessels to land illegally caught fish here.

Earlier in March, we exposed pirate trawlers in Rostock, Germany and in Swinouscie, Poland. Another of these Georgian-flagged ships, is currently in Klaipéda. The other pirate vessels in port here are linked to illegal overfishing in the Barents Sea, namely the Cambodian reefer Langust, the Georgian reefers Sindbad, Tiflis and Telavi, and the Russian trawlers Michurinsk, Dimas and Obsha, which are all blacklisted by Norway.

Back in January, a Swedish TV4 documentary found that a significant proportion of the fishing in the Barents Sea is illegal and unregistered, with shady links to the Russian mafia and Western fish product companies. Research carried out by ourselves revealed that illegally caught cod sold by the companies Kangamuit and Ocean Trawlers ended up on the European market - in well known supermarket chains and retailers.

The Lithuanian government - as well as the German, Polish and other European governments, need to get real, and start sticking to their commitments under the North East Atlantic Fisheries Commission and the United Nations Organization for Food and Agriculture, if we're ever to stop the chaos of illegal fishing. The first step? Ban all blacklisted & flag of convenience vessels from EU harbours. Next? Develop functioning, centralised registration and monitoring systems to reinforce port controls.

- Dave

©Greenpeace/Christian Aslund

©Greenpeace/Christian Aslund

©Greenpeace/Christian Aslund

©Greenpeace/Christian Aslund