Greenpeace calls for global marine reserves on World Oceans Day
As the kick-off to the football world cup approaches, how's this for a key pre-match statistic? Every four seconds, marine life in an area of ocean floor the size of ten football fields is wiped out by high seas bottom trawlers.
Today (6 July) has been designated World Oceans Day, but before it is over, the global fleet of around 300 high seas bottom trawlers will have dragged their heavy nets across an estimated 1,500 km2 of deep-seabed, destroying some of the most diverse, ancient and fragile ocean life on the planet. Criminally, as much as 70 percent of what is caught in the nets will be bycatch - species with no commercial value which are simply thrown back into the sea, dead or dying.
"If this was happening on land, there would be an international outcry. It's a question of out of sight, out of mind with the destruction of these beautiful ancient undersea worlds - and all for just a few fish" says Greenpeace Oceans campaigner Sari Tolvanen. "Huge bottom trawl nets are dragged along the seabed sweeping up all the fish in their path, while at the same time smashing ancient corals, ripping up sponges and destroying the other marine life which makes up these fragile deep-sea communities that have taken thousands of years to develop."
The deep-sea is believed to contain the largest pool of undiscovered life on earth, supporting between half a million and 100 million species, according to scientists. The danger is that this untold diversity will be destroyed before we even have a chance to study it. Greenpeace is part of a global coalition of organisations, including over 1,500 scientists and an increasing number of states which are calling for a United Nations global moratorium (or suspension) on high seas bottom trawling to end the threat that this destructive fishing activity poses to deep-sea life.
"A moratorium on high seas bottom trawling would allow the necessary 'time out' for scientists to assess the extent and nature of deep-sea biodiversity and policy makers to develop legally binding mechanisms for the protection, sustainable use and management of international waters. The moratorium would be a step towards one of the key solutions to the range of threats our oceans are facing" said Karen Sack, Greenpeace International Oceans Policy Advisor.
"As the world focuses its attention on the world's oceans today, the source of half the oxygen we breathe, we need to put pressure on governments to protect the mysteries of the deep for future generations. Unless high seas bottom trawling is halted now, the entire area of vulnerable deep-sea corals will have been trawled at least once within the next 16 years - that's in just four World Cup's time", said Sari Tolvanen.
The job is large but not insurmountable. Next week, world governments gather in New York once again to discuss issues related to the protection of deep-sea biodiversity where progress on the high seas issues can be achieved.
Our campaign for a UN moratorium on high seas bottom trawling is part of the most ambitious ship expedition we've ever undertaken. The 14-month long "Defending our Oceans" expedition is exposing the key threats to our oceans and offering real solutions, a global network of properly enforced marine reserves covering 40 percent of the worlds oceans: places that will be protected from industrial exploitation and destruction, from industrial fishing and hunting, and places from which our oceans can begin the process of repair and recovery.
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We are aiming to sign up one million people as Ocean Defenders and campaign for a global marine reserve network. Together, we can form a critical mass able to pressure governments, corporations and the UN to respect our oceans and the people that depend on them. Click here to sign up and find out how you can take action right now.
