It is told that Greenpeace activists from the Rainbow Warrior have been attacked as they attempted to carry out a peaceful inspection of the Spanish fishing vessel, Cabo Tinoso Dos. It is witnessed that the attackers were disguised as activists opened a banner, saying ‘Bluefin Tuna Massacre’, to highlight the unsustainable fishing activities of such vessels, part of the industrial fleets that threaten the entire bluefin tuna industry.
Greenpeace is pressing hard the local authorities to do series of serious inspections of the vessel. Management of bluefin tuna is entrusted to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), an intergovernmental organisation in which the European Union is an active and influential member. Greenpeace believes that ICCAT’s current policies are putting the species at risk of extinction.
Francois Provost, Greenpeace international oceans campaigner, opined that oversized industrial fishing fleets are putting bluefin at risk of disappearing altogether. He added that governments should establish fully protected marine reserves on the species’ spawning grounds to start giving a chance for the population to recover.
It is said that from 2006 ICCAT’s own scientists have been ringing the alarm bell on the dire state of the bluefin tuna stock. The scientists have recommended not to fish above a maximum of 15,000 tonnes, and to protect the species’ spawning grounds during the crucial months of May and June. John Hocevar, Oceans campaign director for Greenpeace USA, who is travelling on the Rainbow Warrior, is said that this is high time to take management of bluefin tuna away from ICCAT before it is too late.
