The United Nations has failed to agree on listing Bluefin Tuna at the recent meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna [CITES].
The decision occurred after Japan, Canada and many poor nations opposed the measure. Stocks of bluefin tuna have fallen by at least 85% since the industrial fishing era began. Bluefin quotas are set at a ludicrously high 13,500 tonnes by The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT], but realistically over 60,000 tonnes are killed every year. The scientific community believe bluefin tuna may be extinct in the Mediterranean Sea in less than 5 years. The quota is too high, it is not enforced, there is insufficient political willpower to act, the same old story.
Monaco [who tabled the CITES ban motion] argued that the organization responsible for managing the bluefin fishery - ICCAT - had not implemented measures strict enough to ensure the species' survival. Bluefin tuna had been put forward for proposed listing as an Endangered Species on CITES Appendix I – which would result in a complete ban on trade in the species among CITES parties. An expert panel of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization had examined the issue and felt an Appendix I categorization was necessary. In fact even ICCAT’s scientific advisors had recommended a trade ban as being justified.
Japan is once again leading the charge into the termination of the species. Japan worked with her allies and stopped the ban being invoked. Over 80% of bluefin tuna is sold in Japan, and companies holding large stockpiles of the valuable fish are keen to see the species become extinct – they will reap enormous profits and be able to control the market... There is simply too much money involved with greedy self interest groups, illegal fish traders and self-interested political forces having once again won the day. The bluefin tuna have no chance.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (Sea Shepherd) will be arriving in the Mediterranean this summer and will stand against the illegal overfishing of bluefin tuna. Sea Shepherd will do everything possible within the boundaries of international law to protect the magnificent bluefin. By sea, air and land, preparations are well underway for the Mediterranean bluefin tuna defense campaign, and Sea Shepherd’s flagship vessel Steve Irwin, having just returned from intervening against illegal whaling off the coast of Antarctica, is now on its way to enforce international conservation law in European waters.
Steve Roest Chief Executive Officer Sea Shepherd Conservation Society Photo Credit : Gary Stokes / OceanicLove.com
Mark Sanders-Barwick, Sea Shepherd UK’s Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator, will be introducing the UK’s first screening of the utterly compelling film festival hit "Pirate for the Sea" a biographical film of Captain Paul Watson.
Paul was the youngest founding member of Greenpeace Canada. He organized early campaigns protesting the killing of seals, whales, and dolphins. After leaving Greenpeace he started his own organization, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, believing in non violent direct action. Paul went on to intervene against illegal fishing and marine habitat destruction issues worldwide, he stopped Canadian seal hunts for ten years, permanently halted sealing in the British Isles, halted the killing of dolphins on Iki Island, Japan, and is most famous for his actions to protect whales in Antarctica. This documentary witnesses his latest campaigns and explores the personal and environmental history of this passionate marine conservationist.
After the documentary, Mark will be taking questions from the audience on Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
The performance starts at 20:45 Cinema 2 Barbican Centre Silk Street London EC2Y 8DS
Tickets prices are as follows: Standard - £7.50 online (£9.50 full price) / Barbican Members - £6.50 online (£7.50 full price) / Concessions £7.50]
This fascinating series commenced its seven-week run on Discovery Channel on 27 April 2009 and will be released on DVD on 8 June 2009 courtesy of Demand DVD.
They are some of the most beautiful creatures to inhabit the oceans; graceful, intelligent and mysterious. But the planet’s whale population is constantly under assault from the threat of human whaling fleets. Thankfully they have found some protection in the form of The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a band of environmentalists whose ongoing struggle to protect these magnificent giants of the sea is highlighted in the adrenaline-fuelled Whale Wars.
The goal of Captain Paul Watson (Greenpeace co-founder) and his eco-pirates is simple; to eradicate whaling, poaching, shark finning and habitat destruction by any means necessary. Following the crew on a three-month search across the dangerous waters of the Antarctic Ocean, they attempt to hunt down and stop the Japanese whaling fleets from slaughtering these magnificent sea animals in the name of ‘research’.
Follow the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as they wage war against the gigantic Japanese vessels and put their lives on the line to protect the creatures that they love. This captivating series captures all the drama as it unfolds; including multiple engagements, capsizing, possible hostage taking and an alleged shooting that sparked a global media event, all in the perilous oceans of one of the most hostile environments on earth.
Whales are some of the most endangered species on the planet. Growing to sizes that dwarf any animal that has ever lived, these magnificent creatures are constantly under threat from the human species, be it through the climate change that ravishes their feeding grounds, sonar interference from military and commercial vessels and hunting fleets.
In an effort to turn the tide in the favour of the cetaceans, the radical environmentalists at the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society do what they feel no one else is willing to do in order to protect these kings of the sea. ‘Riveting’ - Time Out
'Amazing Stuff' - The Guardian Guide
'Rarely has amateurism been so enthralling - or hazardous - to watch' - Radio Times
The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans
The End Of the Line was filmed over two years and shows first hand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. The film examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.
Tickets for preview screenings at cinemas on World Oceans Day, Monday 8 June, are now available from www.endoftheline.com/things_to_do/screenings.
On Monday 1 June, a preview screening was presented at The Imax Cinema at the Science Museum. Sea Shepherd Director Steve Roest and Shore Crewmember Mark Sanders-Barwick were invited to the preview and discussed the plight of the Oceans with Charles Clover - Author of The End of the Line, Rupert Murray - Director and Producer – George Duffield.
From left: Sea Shepherd UK Director Steve Roest, author of "The End of the Line" Charles Clover, and Sea Shepherd UK Shore Crewmember Mark Sanders-Barwick
Remove the Nets: Join the Shark Angels' Campaign against Shark Nets!
It is difficult to believe in this day in age, with all that we know about sharks' plummeting populations, their critical role in ocean ecosystems, and the minimal risk they pose to humans, that the archaic and destructive practice of installing shark nets for "bather protection" still exists. But in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, a province ironically known around the world as one of the few places left where sharks and the ecosystems they keep healthy still thrive, untold numbers of harmless sharks, turtles, dolphins, and rays meet an untimely and senseless death each year by entanglement in the approximately 28 km of nets that are installed just off the beaches.
What are shark nets? Shark nets are essentially gill nets: long rectangular nylon mesh nets, 200-300 meters in length, that are positioned near the surface of the water and kept afloat with buoys. Sharks swim into these nets and are caught by their gills. The squares of mesh are designed to be just large enough for sharks to become entangled, but not escape. The more a shark or any other animal struggles in these nets, the more hopeless their situation becomes, and the more impossible their chances of escape and survival. The vast majority of these animals die an agonizing death by suffocation. Gill nets are widely considered to be one of the greatest threats to the survival of many species of marine animals.
In South Africa, the shark nets are installed in tiered patterns by the KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board (KZNSB). Just beneath the surface, they do not fully extend to either the top or the bottom and do not even come close to fully enclosing the beach areas. The result is that sharks can easily swim around or under the nets and into the shallow waters in which humans swim and surf. In fact, the KZNSB acknowledges on its own website that at least 33% of the sharks killed in these nets were actually on their way OUT from the beaches, rather than on their way in, and other sources estimate that this number is closer to 70%.
You see, the goal is not to provide a physical barrier to keep sharks away from the beaches, but rather to control shark populations by culling them. In many cases, the KZNSB places baited drumlines just outside the shark nets, which are designed to attract sharks in towards the beaches and kill them, either by biting the baited hooks on the drumlines or by entanglement in the nearby gill nets.
The process is entirely unselective, with nets installed all along the coast, including in Marine Protected Areas! The sole purpose of these nets is to kill all sharks in the area, including highly endangered species that would otherwise enjoy stringent legal protection, such as whale sharks and the great white shark. According to the KZNSB's own website, "The Marine Living Resources Act (Act 18 of 1998) controls the exploitation of marine plants and animals in South African waters. . . . The great white shark is totally protected; in 1991 South Africa being the first country in the world to do so." And yet, the KZNSB, which is governed by the KZN Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism, is exempted from these important conservation regulations in the interest of making tourists feel safe.
Sea Shepherd's Director of Shark Conservation, Kim McCoy, a founding member of the Shark Angels alliance, was outraged to witness first-hand the carnage caused by South African shark nets. "Sharks and other animals don't stand a chance against these nets," said McCoy. "They are brutal, indiscriminate killers designed to systematically cull a species for no other reason than to boost tourism by giving beachgoers a false sense of security against a severely sensationalized threat."
Shark Angels co-founder, Julie Andersen, who frequently leads groups of people on diving trips with the tiger sharks of Aliwal Shoal, clearly illustrates the irony of using shark nets to increase tourism, noting the number of tourists who come to South Africa each year specifically to dive with sharks. "Sharks in South Africa contribute a significant amount of revenue to the South African economy and provide countless jobs," said Andersen. "Live sharks mean tourists, jobs, and money. And that is recurring income-not the one-time income generated when a shark is killed."
Over the last three decades, more than 33,000 sharks have been killed in the KZNSB shark nets. And if that's not alarming enough, consider the 2,000+ turtles, 8,000+ rays, and 2,000+ dolphins who were also ensnared and killed.
In addition to the countless deaths of sharks and other species caused directly by the shark nets, their impact on our collective psyches is damaging to shark conservation efforts worldwide. The very existence of shark nets perpetuates the myth that sharks are bloodthirsty man-eaters, and that humans require some form of protection from them. The installation of shark nets reinforces our misguided and often irrational fears of sharks by legitimizing these concerns as valid. This in turn fuels the biggest issue faced in shark conservation: the public's apathy, or even loathing, towards sharks.
It could be said there was once a time and a place for shark nets. Perhaps decades ago, when the public knew little about sharks, the fear of shark attacks was running high, and shark populations were far healthier than they are today. The practice of installing shark nets in South Africa began in 1952, when little was known about sharks, and humans had yet to spend the next 50+ years ravaging our oceans, causing irreparable damage and the collapse of species after species. The public wanted "protection" from sharks, and shark nets served this purpose.
But since then, shark fishing has skyrocketed, eliminating a large percentage of the world's shark populations, and the public has been exposed to much information about the importance of biodiversity conservation and the true nature of shark behavior towards humans. In recent years, it has been proven that a variety of non-lethal shark deterrents, such as the Shark Spotters program funded by private donations and the City of Cape Town, can be equally effective, and that animals need not be killed to allow for peaceful coexistence in their domain. The need for shark conservation is now a well-established fact, as is the fact these animals are significantly misunderstood, with the actual risk of an unpleasant shark encounter infinitesimal.
Shark nets are an unnecessary and outdated practice designed to address an issue that could easily be tackled in a non-lethal way, and they blemish South Africa's image as a world leader in conservation. It is time for a change. It is time to get these shark nets out of the water, once and for all.
The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans. Filmed over two years, we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food. The film examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.
The Film
The world’s first major documentary about the devastating effect of overfishing premiered at Sundance Film Festival. Tickets for preview screenings at UK cinemas on World Oceans Day – Monday 8 June, now available from www.endoftheline.com/things_to_do/screenings
Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine your meals without seafood. Imagine the global consequences. This is the future if we do not stop, think and act.
The End of the Line, the first major feature documentary film revealing the impact of overfishing on our oceans, had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. Sundance took place in Park City, Utah, January 15-25, 2009.
In the film we see firsthand the effects of our global love affair with fish as food.
It examines the imminent extinction of bluefin tuna, brought on by increasing western demand for sushi; the impact on marine life resulting in huge overpopulation of jellyfish; and the profound implications of a future world with no fish that would bring certain mass starvation.
Filmed over two years, The End of the Line follows the investigative reporter Charles Clover as he confronts politicians and celebrity restaurateurs, who exhibit little regard for the damage they are doing to the oceans.
One of his allies is the former tuna farmer turned whistleblower Roberto Mielgo – on the trail of those destroying the world's magnificent bluefin tuna population.
Filmed across the world – from the Straits of Gibraltar to the coasts of Senegal and Alaska to the Tokyo fish market – featuring top scientists, indigenous fishermen and fisheries enforcement officials, The End of the Line is a wake-up call to the world.
The end of seafood by 2048
Scientists predict that if we continue fishing as we are now, we will see the end of most seafood by 2048.
The End of the Line chronicles how demand for cod off the coast of Newfoundland in the early 1990s led to the decimation of the most abundant cod population in the world, how hi-tech fishing vessels leave no escape routes for fish populations and how farmed fish as a solution is a myth.
The film lays the responsibility squarely on consumers who innocently buy endangered fish, politicians who ignore the advice and pleas of scientists, fishermen who break quotas and fish illegally, and the global fishing industry that is slow to react to an impending disaster.
The End of the Line points to solutions that are simple and doable, but political will and activism are crucial to solve this international problem.
We need to control fishing by reducing the number of fishing boats across the world, protect large areas of the ocean through a network of marine reserves off limits to fishing, and educate consumers that they have a choice by purchasing fish from independently certified sustainable fisheries.
The Science
Overfishing in 2009, by Charles Clover
Overfishing was recognised as one of the world's greatest and most immediate environmental problems in 2002, when it was first demonstrated that global catches of wild fish had peaked around 1989 and have since been in decline.
Globally, some 75 per cent of wild marine fish are now said to be either fully-exploited or overfished, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN FAO). That means these species require conservation and management in order to survive in their present numbers - which they rarely receive.
The number of fish stocks recorded as fully or overfished worldwide is expected to increase significantly this year when the latest figures are published by the UN FAO.
The fish species in the worst shape are highly migratory oceanic sharks; fish that are exploited fully or partially on the high seas, such as the larger tunas; and shared stocks, such as the Patagonian toothfish or Chilean sea bass.
Aquaculture, or fish farming, now provides almost half of all the fish consumed by humans. In the West – but not in Asia - it is mostly carnivorous fish that are farmed. The growth of aquaculture has slowed as stocks of small fish used to feed larger fish are themselves overfished.
The North East Atlantic, which includes EU waters, is one of the worst areas in the world for overfishing – along with the western Indian Ocean and the North West Pacific, according to the UN FAO.
In European waters, some 80 per cent of stocks are recorded as overfished, according to the European Commission.
In UK waters, stocks of palatable fish, such as cod, have been reduced to less than 10 per cent of what they were 100 years ago. This compares with a global average of 25 per cent of stocks actively overfished.
The nation with the least overfishing problem is New Zealand, where only 15 percent of stocks are recorded as overfished. The problem is that in Europe some 50 per cent of the quotas set by politicians are higher than scientists say are sustainable.
The EU was instrumental in arguing for a quota of 22,000 tons of valuable bluefin tuna for next year at a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas in Marrakech in November, even though scientists recommended a quota of only 15,000 tons to avert stock collapse.
The United States had called for a total ban on catching bluefin in the Mediterranean to allow stocks to recover from rampant overfishing, both illegal and legal.
The bleak future predicted for the sea by some scientists already exists in British waters, where in places overfishing has resulted in a simplified ecosystem vulnerable to total collapse.
In the Firth of Clyde, near Glasgow, the cod, haddock, saithe, brill and whiting have all been overfished. All there remains for fishermen to catch is Norway lobster, also known as
langoustine or scampi.
In the absence of cod, which eat diseased Norway lobsters, some 70 per cent of Norway lobsters are now afflicted by the parasite-borne ailment known as smoking crab disease.
Prospects for the Clyde fishermen are not good.
The Campaign
The End of the Line is not against fishing. It is not against eating fish. But it is for a responsible attitude towards the oceans.
The film has three messages for consumers, citizens and companies:
Ask before you buy:
only eat sustainable seafood.
Tell politicians:
respect the science, cut the fishing fleet
Join the campaign
for marine protected areas and responsible fishing
We hope that when people buy fish in a shop or in restaurant, they will ask where it comes from; whether it is from a sustainable source, whether it is an endangered or over-exploited species.
There are useful guides to what fish you can buy with a (fairly) clear conscience. In the UK one is produced by the Marine Conservation Society. You can find the guide on their website.
And the Marine Stewardship Council runs a certification scheme for fish produced according to principles of sustainability, which you can find out about on the MSC website
But we also want people to put pressure on politicians to listen to the scientists and act upon their recommendations. Write to your representative. Sign up to the Pledges.
And, finally, join the campaign to make more of the oceans protected areas, where industrial
fishing is not allowed and where fish stocks can replenish themselves.
At the moment only 3 per cent of the world's oceans are marine protected areas.
You can learn more about why they should be increased and those who are campaigning for them, on the websites on the Organizations page.
World Leaders and Organizations Speak Out on Overfishing
"Once considered inexhaustible, our oceans are now in a state of global crisis as more and more people compete for fewer and fewer fish. Overfishing threatens coastal communities and the food security of the millions who rely on marine fish as an important source of protein. Yet the solutions are in our hands, because what we buy for dinner tonight can determine whether tomorrow's generations will continue to enjoy the oceans' riches. Or not." WWF, the global conservation organization
"The vibrant beauty of the oceans is a blessing to our country. And it’s a blessing to the world. The oceans contain countless treasures. They carry much of our trade; they provide food and recreation for billions of people. We have a responsibility, a solemn responsibility, to be good stewards of the oceans and the creatures who inhabit them." President George W. Bush
"We know that when we protect our oceans, we’re protecting our future." President Bill Clinton
Prince Charles, who is president of the MCS, said it was a "wake-up call" that British seas were in need of urgent help. "There is simply nowhere in Britain's seas where marine life is effectively protected from human impacts," he said. "Never has it been so important to take immediate action to protect marine life." HRH Prince Charles, President, Marine Conservation Society
"The need for nations to agree on urgent action has never been more acute. Measures introduced over the next few years will determine what the future will hold in terms of food security, species survival and the ocean’s ability to withstand climate change, and those measures have to include a robust network of marine protected areas, in national and international waters." Carl Gustaf Lundin, Head of the IUCN Global Marine Programme, United Nations General Assembly, World Conservation Union
"After climate change, commercial fishing represents the greatest threat to life in our oceans. As well as ruthlessly fishing out stock after stock, the way we fish has disastrous consequences for other species and entire ecosystems – but the damage being done is out at sea, out of sight, and out of mind for most people. We need to take drastic action to repair the damage we’ve done to our oceans before it’s too late." Willie Mackenzie, Oceans Campaign, Greenpeace United Kingdom
"Overfishing cannot continue." Nitin Desai, Secretary General of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development
''We've acted as if the supply of fish was limitless and it's not." Steve Trent, Executive Director, Environmental Justice Foundation
''As Europe has sought to manage its fisheries and to limit its fishing, what we've done is to export the overfishing problem elsewhere, particularly to Africa." Steve Trent, Executive Director, Evironmental Justice Foundation
''The sea is being emptied." Moctar Ba, Scientific Consultant, Mauritania and West Africa
"Can the sea really let us eat sushi in these numbers?" Caroline Bennett, Founder, Moshi Moshi sushi chain
"This project allows us to finally start to see the big picture of how humans are affecting the oceans. Our results show that when these and other individual impacts are summed up, the big picture looks much worse than I imagine most people expected. It was certainly a surprise to me." Ben Halpern, U.S. National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
"It is true that fishermen feel an almost desperate need to catch as many fish as they can when they're allowed to. That sense of desperation ... can't be an excuse for the policymakers of the world and this country to allow that to cause the universal collapse of fisheries." James Greenwood, former U.S. Congressman
"Never before have Mediterranean countries had more reason or opportunity to safeguard the region's beleaguered sharks and rays. Officials should heed the dire warnings of this report and act to protect threatened sharks and rays through regional fisheries agreements, international wildlife conventions, and national legislation. Such action is necessary to change the current course toward extinction of these remarkable animals." Sonja Fordham, deputy chairman of the SSG and policy director for the Shark Alliance
"An estimated 40 percent of cod caught in the Baltic Sea are illegal." Mireille Thom, spokeswoman for Joe Borg, European Union Commissioner of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs
Fish Facts
One billion people rely on fish as an important source of protein. - WWF
An international group of ecologists and economists warned that the world will run out of seafood by 2048 - Washington Post
The decision occurred after Japan, Canada and many poor nations opposed the measure. Stocks of bluefin tuna have fallen by at least 85% since the industrial fishing era began. Bluefin quotas are set at a ludicrously high 13,500 tonnes by The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT], but realistically over 60,000 tonnes are killed every year. The scientific community believe bluefin tuna may be extinct in the Mediterranean Sea in less than 5 years. The quota is too high, it is not enforced, there is insufficient political willpower to act, the same old story.
It is difficult to believe in this day in age, with all that we know about sharks' plummeting populations, their critical role in ocean ecosystems, and the minimal risk they pose to humans, that the archaic and destructive practice of installing shark nets for "bather protection" still exists. But in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, a province ironically known around the world as one of the few places left where sharks and the ecosystems they keep healthy still thrive, untold numbers of harmless sharks, turtles, dolphins, and rays meet an untimely and senseless death each year by entanglement in the approximately 28 km of nets that are installed just off the beaches.
Over the last three decades, more than 33,000 sharks have been killed in the KZNSB shark nets. And if that's not alarming enough, consider the 2,000+ turtles, 8,000+ rays, and 2,000+ dolphins who were also ensnared and killed.
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