Raül Romeva i Rueda

Aquests dies, com sempre, estic pendent de molts llocs del món. Un d’aquests llocs és al centre mateix del mar Mediterrani, entre Malta i Sicília, i té per protagonista el Rainbow Warrior, el vaixell insígnia de Greenpeace. Tinc previst embarcar-m’hi divendres, si la climatologia ho permet, per participar en les tasques de supervisió que estan duent a terme aquestes dies en relació a les activitats pesqueres irresponsables, com algunes relacionades amb la Tonyina Vermella, o amb l’ús d’arts il.legals (com les xarxes de deriva). Preparant el viatge vaig telefonar ahir al meu contacte a bord, François Provost, responsable de campanyes al Mediterrani de Greenpeace. Des del telèfon satèl.lit del vaixell em van respondre que no era a bord, sinó a terra. En telefonar-lo al mòbil em va respondre des de la comissaria de La Valetta, Malta. Greenpeace va tenir ahir, segons el mateix François: ‘one of these days’. Malta és un lloc conegut per la ‘flexibilitat’ de les autoritats a l’hora d’exercir el control sobre les activitats pesqueres. La corrupció és, aquí, la norma. Diverses organitzacions, la Comissió Europea, i de fet jo mateix, hem denunciat reiteradament aquest fet. Ahir, Greenpeace va desplegar una pancarta amb el lema ‘Blufein Tuna Massacre’ davant d’un dels vaixells de la companyia espanyola del Grupo Fuentes, responsable de la meitat de les captures de tonyina del Mediterrani. La tensió és alta, en aquesta mena de situacions, i ahir no va ser una excepció. Tot plegat va acabar, com tantes d’altres vegades, a comissaria. Tal i com ja he explicat sovint en aquesta bitàcola, la situació propera al col.lapse d’una espècie tan important pels ecosistemes marins com la Tonyina comportarà una pèrdua irreparable al mar, però també a moltes societats que en depenen. Als grans inversors els preocupa ben poc aquest fet. Quan s’hagi acabat tota, passaran a una altra cosa. Però què passarà amb la dramàtica modificació de la cadena tròfica (la Tonyina és un dels predadors marins més importants)? I amb tota la gent que en viu?. En tot plegat hi tenen una responsabilitat especial les grans companyies d’encercladors espanyols, francesos i italians. El temps passa, les solucions hi són (moratòria, reducció flota, transparència, persecució i sancions dissuassòries de les males pràctiques, promoció pesca responsable, establiment de santuaris, conscienciació consumidors/es, etc…), però encara som lluny del compromís polític que caldria per tal que aquestes solucions fossin aplicades amb la immediatesa i la profunditat que reclama la situació. Per això em prenc tant seriosament aquest assumpte, i per això m’embarco divendres al Rainbow Warrior.  (segueix…)

Greenpeace activists attacked during protest against EU fishing vessel

La Valetta, Malta, 22 June 2009- Greenpeace activists from the Rainbow Warrior have been violently attacked as they attempted to carry out a peaceful inspection of the Spanish fishing vessel, Cabo Tinoso Dos. The attack came 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 calling on  local authorities to carry out an official inspection 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. However, with this year’s ‘recovery  plan’ still allowing legal fishing at 47% above the upper sustainable limit(1), Greenpeace firmly believes that ICCAT’s current policies are putting the species at risk of extinction.

“Oversized industrial fishing fleets are putting bluefin at risk of  disappearing altogether,” said Francois Provost, Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner.  “Governments should establish  fully protected marine reserves on the species’ spawning grounds to  start giving a chance for the population to recover.”

Since 2006, ICCAT’s own scientists have been ringing the alarm bell  on the dire state of the bluefin tuna stock. They have advised 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. 

The actual haul for 2007 has been estimated at 61,000 tonnes(2), twice the legal limit for that year, and more than four times the recommended level to avoid collapse of the bluefin tuna population. As industrial fleets continue to rampage across the spawning  grounds, local people, who have been fishing for generations, are now reduced to transferring the last of an endangered species to pens, to be fattened before being exported to the other end of the  world.

“It’s time to take management of bluefin tuna away from ICCAT before it is too late,” said John Hocevar, Oceans Campaign Director for Greenpeace USA, who is travelling on the Rainbow Warrior. “We want to see the Obama administration and other influential governments end international trade in this endangered species.”

Greenpeace has just completed a monitoring survey of the Central Mediterranean purse seine fishing grounds. Preliminary findings show that after over a decade of massive overfishing, illegal catches are still a huge problem across the Mediterranean region.(3) Moreover, the amount and average size of the bluefin tuna captures are in serious decline, confirming the latest warnings of an imminent collapse of the stock.(4)

Greenpeace advocates the creation of a network of no-take marine reserves, protecting 40% of the world’s oceans, as the long-term solution to the overfishing of tuna and other species, and the recovery of our overexploited oceans.

Contacts:

François Provost, Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace International : + 33 623 590 963

John Hocevar, Oceans Campaigner at Greenpeace USA : + 1 512 577 3868

Saskia Richartz – Greenpeace EU oceans policy adviser: +32 (0)2 27419 02, +32 (0)495 290 028, saskia.richartz@greenpeace.org.

Yesim Aslan, Communications Officer at Greenpeace International: + 

90 532 316 73 65

Greenpeace International Picture Desk: +44 7801 615889

Notes:

(1) Report from the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics (SCRS): http://www.iccat.int/Documents/SCRS/ExecSum/BFT_EN.pdf

(2) In November 2008 at the 16th Special Meeting of ICCAT, the 

European Union extracted an agreement on a Total Allowable Catch of  22,000 tonnes for the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery in 2009. See ICCAT Rec 08-05 – Recommendation amending the recommendation by ICCAT to establish a multiannual recovery plan for bluefin tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean : http://www.iccat.int/Documents/Recs/compendiopdf-e/2008-05-e.pdf

(3) On 30 April 2009, the Yasar Reis II, unauthorised to fish for  bluefin tuna in either the Turkish or ICCAT registries, landed  between 400 and 500 of 12 to 20 kg each. http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/turkey-tuna-fishery-suicide110509

Additional catch of juveniles have been reported in:

http://www.agi.it/food/notizie/200904281511-eco-rt11216-pesca_sequestrati_9_quintali_tonno_fuori_misura_a_messina

http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/id/24954934/

(4) Report from the Standing Committee on Research and Statistics

(SCRS): http://www.iccat.int/Documents/SCRS/ExecSum/BFT_EN.pdf

WWF Mediterranean Tuna Collapse Trends:

http://www.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/mediterranean/news/?162001/Mediterranean-bluefin-tuna-stocks-collapsing-now-as-fishing-season-opens

http://assets.panda.org/downloads/mediterranean_tuna_collapse_trends.pdf

Foto: Activistes de Greenpeace, intentant pujar al vaixell tonyinarie Cabo Tinoso II, del Grupo Fuentes. Font: Greenpeace France.