It is found in recent study that Pacific is the home of nearly 60 percent of the world’s tuna stocks and mostly the two key species namely bigeye and yellowfin, of tuna are in danger of becoming overfished. Greenpeace is constantly keeping an eye on the development of tuna stocks in the Pacific waters. To stop this Greenpeace is touring the Western Pacific Ocean in the ship, Esperanza, so that it could gather information and evidence of illegal and excessive tuna fishing practices.
In one of its attempt Greenpeace took action against the US purse seiner, Cape
Finisterre, in a pocket of international waters between Pacific Island countries known as the Pacific Commons. Greenpeace Pacific campaigner onboard the Esperanza Lagi Toribau told that the advancement in technology meant large ships (floating factories from countries as far away as the US and Europe) could catch as much fish in two days as the fishers of some small Pacific Island countries catch in a year.
Toribau informed that the dwindling number of tuna in other oceans have forced the floating factory ships to move into the Pacific, making it harder for local fishing fleets to catch tuna which is a vital food source for the region. Greenpeace asked the Australian Government to support the Pacific Island nations to make fishing in the region sustainable by turning some of the Pacific’s international waters into no-take marine reserves.
According to the organization only this will allow tuna stocks and all other marine life to recover from overexploitation. The organization also demand for a 50 percent cut to the fishing effort in the Pacific to ensure there is tuna left to catch in the future. Greenpeace said that there is a need of creating a network of marine reserves, protecting 40 percent of the world’s oceans to protect the overfishing species.
