Pacific Tuna On The Line
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The Pacific is the last ocean where relatively healthy numbers of tuna still remain.
More than seventy percent of the world's favourite fish is caught in these tropical waters.
But the calm, clear Pacific ocean belies a harsh reality.
The once seemingly inexhaustable tuna stocks...
...are under huge pressure from unsustainable and illegal fishing practices.
Of the four commercially fished Pacific tuna species...
...yellowfin and big eye tuna are now in steep decline.
And even the more resilient skipjack, the most commonly canned tuna...
...could soon be in serious trouble.
Everybody knows that there are simply too many boats chasing too few fish left...
...and therefore the fishing effort needs to be halved...
...for this fishery to be sustainable.
There is also a high amount of pirate fishing going on in this fishery...
...and the vessels that refuse to play by the rules...
...simply need to be removed from this fishery.
For nearly a decade, Greenpeace has been stopping destructive and illegal fishing practices...
...at sea, whilst promoting solutions to save Pacific tuna stocks on land.
One key element of those solutions is a shift in fisheries politics.
The island nations of the Pacific may be small in land mass...
...but through their territorial waters they control the fishing rights for most of the Pacific.
Outside of these national waters lie four so-called high seas pockets...
...also known as the Pacific Commons.
Almost all purse seine fishing has been banned from these pockets...
...an area nearly half the size of Europe.
But they remain open to longlining by the large Asian fishing fleets.
Greenpeace is calling for these areas to be declared marine reserves...
...sanctuaries where the migratory tuna can breed in safety to replenish the stocks.
By closing down these areas to purse seine fishing...
...the Pacific Island countries have really taken some historic conservation moves.
What needs to happen next is that these areas are also closed to longline fishing...
...because you can only get the full benefits of a marine reserve...
...if you ban all fishing activities in that area.
Over the past decades, Pacific Island nations have been selling fishing rights...
...to foreign fleets who have been taking fish and profits elsewhere.
But now the Pacific is starting to develop its own fishing industry...
...with a view to retain profits in the region and catch fish in a more responsible way.
Greenpeace is promoting these more sustainable fishing techniques...
...such as catching free swimming schools and fishing by pole and line.
These methods result in less bycatch of young tuna and non target species...
...such as sharks and are therefore less harmful to tuna stocks and the wider ecosystem.
On land, Greenpeace has pressured retailers and tuna brands...
...to source their tuna from these more environmentally and socially responsible fisheries.
We have seen massive changes in the retail sector over the last few years...
...and there is an ever increasing demand for sustainable tuna products from the consumers.
We now need to eliminate unsustainable fishing practices from the supply chain...
...and ensure that more of the economic benefits are staying with the Pacific Island countries.
For the people in the Pacific, fish is the most important source of food and jobs.
And for their countries, tuna represents a crucial opportunity for economic development.
Through its work in the Pacific, Greenpeace aims to safeguard a future...
...for the tuna and the people who depend on it.
