All articles
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Getting to know Colin Russell of the Arctic 30
Nine months after being illegally seized at gunpoint Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya Arctic oil platform in the Pechora sea – our Arctic Sunrise has been released. Colin Russell, one of the Greenpeace activists on board the ship when it was boarded last September, has been working with our ships for the past 15 years. We asked him…
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Celebrate! Kiribati changes its tuna and protects one of world’s largest fishing grounds
Raise your kava glass! After years of a marine protected area being falsely described as “off limits to fishing and other extractive uses” when it was actually being heavily fished, President Anote Tong of the Pacific island country of Kiribati and his government have finally voted to close the historic Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA)…
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Real pirates plunder and steal
It is now more than 30 days since our ship was seized and our 30 friends and colleagues were arrested. They now face a charge of piracy — an absurd charge that carries a maximum 15 year jail sentence. In the meantime pirate fishing is a real threat, recklessly plundering our oceans. It seems like…
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Fishing for a fair deal in the Pacific and why the EU must change their game
It’s fair to say that when it comes to getting access to the Pacific’s fishing resource, power trumps beauty almost every time. Take for example Kiribati—a stunning island atoll in the Pacific —and one with little land mass but surrounded by waters that contain the region’s most valued fish – tuna. Kiribati relies heavily on…
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Pacific tuna boats struggle for survival.
Press release – 12 May, 2013Honiara, May 13, 2013 – Local tuna boat operators targeting albacore in the South Pacific are under threat of being pushed out of operation altogether due to the steady growth in numbers of subsidized foreign fishing vessels. (i)According to a recent report by the Forum Fisheries Agency (ii), certain foreign…
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Plastic and politics: how bureaucracy is failing our forgotten wildlife
Seabirds: the poster children for ocean health. Fishers use them to identify fishing hot spots. Environmental and marine scientists use them as indicators of the condition of the ocean environment due to their ability to cover vast areas. By Jennifer Lavers, Monash University But in Australia, one such species – the Flesh-footed Shearwater – is…
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Hope for the Philippines
Greenpeace ship the Esperanza transported relief goods to communities in the Philippines devastated by typhoon Pablo (Bopha). Mark Dia, our Regional Oceans Campaigner, is currently serving as our onboard team leader for our Pablo Response mission. Blogpost by Mark Dia He sent us the following update from the field just before the Esperanza made landfall…
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Once upon a time we went fishing
Once upon a time in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand there was a great tradition. Hopeful anglers would gather to face off in the annual Whakatane Tuna Tournament. I say ‘once upon a time’ because the Whakatane Tuna Tournament no longer exists.
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The Esperanza’s back in the Pacific
The sun has just set on my first day back on board the Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza. It’s been six years since I last sailed on the Esperanza for our Pacific fisheries campaign and I am glad to see how much the campaign has evolved over the years. Blog by Farah Obaidullah, oceans campaigner at…
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PNG’s governing challenges: the view from Fort Shit Scared
It may be just off the coast of North Queensland, but Papua New Guinea is metaphorically very far way from most Australians. Originally posted by Crikey, Tuesday, 23 October 2012 Arriving in Port Moresby, the distance of experience from Australia’s southern cities could hardly be greater. Physically, the city feels like it is caught mid-step…