The Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise was surrounded by three Turkish tuna vessels which attacked the ship with lead weights as the Arctic Sunrise was there to call for an end to unsustainable fishing and to call for the establishment of a marine reserve between Cyprus and Turkey. According to Greenpeace the ship was there to document the activities of tuna fishing vessels.
All of sudden the three Turkish vessels surrounded the Greenpeace ship, one colliding with the Arctic Sunrise and causing superficial damage midships on the starboard side. After that the Turkish ships crew started hurling lead fishing weights of around four centimetres at the Greenpeace ship. Gunfire was also heard but nobody was injured although the Greenpeace helicopter was damaged.
The incident was notified to the Turkish Iskenderun Port Authority and reported the damage. Greenpeace International Oceans campaigner Karli Thomas, on board the Artic Sunrise, told that the attack was unprovoked as the Arctic Sunrise was staging peaceful protest. He said that the incident endangered the safety of Greenpeace crew and ship and is completely unacceptable. The organization urge the ships owners to instruct their crews to return to port for an immediate investigation.
Banu Dokmecibasi, Greenpeace Mediterranean Oceans Campaigner, opined that the real problem has been caused by the refusal of governments to take action to regulate an industry that is fishing itself to death. Scientists from the international body which regulates tuna fishing, ICCAT, said that the organization is calling on the Turkish government to support the protection of the Cypriot Channel, one of the most productive tuna breeding areas in the Eastern Mediterranean, as a marine reserve.
