BANGKOK, 3 June 2011 (IRIN)
Photo: Greenpeace/Alex Hofford:
Less fish for fishermen
The world's oceans are rapidly losing fish, with more than 85 percent of fish populations overexploited and Asian fishing boats largely responsible, Greenpeace says.
"The ocean fish populations are in a freefall due to overfishing," Sarah Duthie, head of Greenpeace's Global Oceans Campaign, told IRIN on 3 June in Bangkok. "Unless we begin to protect our marine reserves, it's going to be a race for the last fish."
Over the past 30 years, fishing fleets have increased globally by 70 percent, reaching an estimated six million now, most of them Asian. New technology has led to even more destructive fishing methods, such as bottom trawling which indiscriminately scours the ocean floor, causing 50-60 percent of all catch to be thrown back as waste.
Tara Buakamsri, director of Greenpeace in Southeast Asia, said it was expanding its programme in the region, calling for 40 percent ocean protection through marine reserves and awareness on the part of consumers. "Two-thirds of all fish are consumed a continent away," Duthie said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=92884
Photo: Greenpeace/Alex Hofford: Less fish for fishermen
The world's oceans are rapidly losing fish, with more than 85 percent of fish populations overexploited and Asian fishing boats largely responsible, Greenpeace says.
"The ocean fish populations are in a freefall due to overfishing," Sarah Duthie, head of Greenpeace's Global Oceans Campaign, told IRIN on 3 June in Bangkok. "Unless we begin to protect our marine reserves, it's going to be a race for the last fish."
Over the past 30 years, fishing fleets have increased globally by 70 percent, reaching an estimated six million now, most of them Asian. New technology has led to even more destructive fishing methods, such as bottom trawling which indiscriminately scours the ocean floor, causing 50-60 percent of all catch to be thrown back as waste.
Tara Buakamsri, director of Greenpeace in Southeast Asia, said it was expanding its programme in the region, calling for 40 percent ocean protection through marine reserves and awareness on the part of consumers. "Two-thirds of all fish are consumed a continent away," Duthie said.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=92884
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