Las Palmas, Spain - Our volunteers have boarded an illegal cargo vessel full of fish stolen from Guinean waters. Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) tailed the "Binar 4" for six days, as it sailed from West Africa to dump its pirate catch on the European market.
The team of activists will "police" the vessel in the Canary Islands port of Las Palmas until Spanish authorities move to confiscate its illegal cargo. As the "Binar 4" waited to enter port it was branded with the words "Stolen Fish" - painted five times across both sides of its hull.
The fish, taken from the waters of one of Africa's poorest countries - Guinea - is bound for the plates of European consumers. Ships supporting pirate fishing should not be allowed entry to European ports. So Spain, are you going to let this happen?
Working with the EJF, we have been patrolling and documenting the activities of fishing boats in the waters surrounding Guinea. What we've found is certainly confusing, and that's just the way the pirates want it to be.
"In the past few weeks we have begun to unravel the web of deceit around pirate fishing," said campaigner Sarah Duthie, from on board Greenpeace's MY Esperanza. "The way the legal and illegal ships work together is designed to deceive, but in the end it is a simple case of stealing food from others."
"The Guinean authorities have confirmed this ship broke the law. We will ensure that no further laws are broken before the authorities in Las Palmas confiscate the stolen fish on board," she added.
On April 6th we found the Binar 4 being loaded with fish boxes from two Chinese fishing vessels - Lian Run 24and Lian Run 27. Two more, the Lian Run 28 and Lian Run 29 were standing by, waiting to unload their catch. All four trawlers have been fishing in Guinea - so transferring their catch (transhipping) in international waters is illegal. The only place where transhipping of Guinean-caught fish is legal is in the port of Conakry. All four Lian Run boats are licensed to fish in the waters of Guinea and we've documented three of the four doing just that.
| "As much as 20 per cent of the annual global catch is illegal" - UN High Seas Task Force on Illegal Fishing |
The appearance of our helicopter provoked a dramatic reaction - it was like a cat amongst pigeons. The crews dashed around the decks closing hatches, disengaging the crane hook about to transfer a load of fish, and releasing the lines securing the ships to one another. With in half an hour, the Binar 4 was heading north, while the trawlers headed back into Guinean waters. Talk about acting suspiciously!
This isn't an isolated case - during the Esperanza's patrol off the coast of West Africa, we documented 104 foreign flagged vessels, from Korea, China, Italy, Liberia and Belize. We gathered evidence suggesting that around 50 percent of the ships were involved in, or least linked to illegal fishing activities. This includes fishing without a license, operating with no name or hiding their identity, trawling inside the 12-mile zone restricted to local fishermen, or transhipping anywhere other than the Guinean capital Conakry.
We made radio contact as the Binar 4 steamed north. They told us they were heading to Las Palmas and had been in international waters to tranship because they were "worried about the army in Guinea Conakry". They had 10,000 boxes of fish on board - and the ship still wasn't full! Apparently their dramatic departure was due to having "just got a call from Las Palmas" saying that that they needed to go there... What a coincidence!
According to UN and Spanish regulations, vessels supporting pirate fishing should be refused entry to European ports. This is where we can stop the pirates from laundering their fish - once the fish onboard the Binar 4 has been landed in Las Palmas it has made it into the European market. Tell the Spanish authorities to say no to Piracy, don't let the Binar 4 into port.
"This is Spain's chance to prove they are serious about making piracy history," said Sebastian Losada of Greenpeace Spain, after delivering the documents to officials in Madrid. "If they do not act, they will become partners in crime with the pirates."
Read our detailed report on the activities of the Binar 4 here.
