Kategorie: News
Video footage shows brutality of driftnet fishing
Sea Shepherd has launched a campaign called Operation Driftnet focussing on the illegal and destructive method of driftnet fishing in the Indian Ocean, with a new video that exposes the brutal reality of this fishing technique.
In January 2016, the Steve Irwin (flagship of the Sea Shepherd organisation) intercepted a fleet of six ships from the Fu Yuan Yu fleet in the Indian Ocean. They had been using driftnets, a fishing method outlawed by the United Nations in 1992 due to its indiscriminate capture of all sea animals in its path.
When the Sea Shepherd crew confronted the poachers, they fled, leaving behind 4.5km of their nets. When it was retrieved on board, there were 321 dead or dying marine animals inside, including dolphins, sharks, seals and endangered bluefin tuna that had become entangled in the nets and perished in agony. Only 20 animals could be saved and were released back into the ocean.
The Steve Irwin crew documented the carnage using video footage and numerous photographs. With the remoteness of the location, the fleet had obviously thought that their illegal deeds would be undetected. To aid in investigations, the crew has submitted the evidence they recorded to the authorities.
According to the campaign website, the objective of Operation Driftnet is “to locate the Fu Yuan Yu fleet, to document and gather evidence of their illegal activity, disrupt their operations and confiscate their illegal driftnets”. In doing so, the operation will be shut down and attention be drawn to the resurgence of large-scale industrial drift netting vessels on the high seas.
Siddharth Chakravarty, the campaign manager and captain of the Steve Irwin, said: “Driftnets were banned in 1992 by a United Nations moratorium. The nations of the world were concerned 24 years ago about the negative impact of this form of fishing. Driftnets didn't have a place in the world's oceans then and they don't today. Our role is to ensure the ban is enforced.”
More information is available on the campaign website: www.opdriftnet.org/home
The latest news dated 18 March 2016 on the campaign website states that the Steve Irwin is currently in pursuit of one of the fishing vessels, Fu Yuan YU 076. Keep updated on this exciting development at tinyurl.com/hh8vz6c.