NAIROBI (Reuters) – Greenpeace has discovered the widespread use of illegal floating nets in the northwest Indian Ocean, which it says decimates marine life in what is one of the world’s most vulnerable fishing grounds.
During two weeks at sea, the environmental organization says it filmed seven ships within a radius of 50 square kilometers using floating nets to catch tuna. It detected eight other ships on radar using navigation patterns that also suggest the use of networks.
“If the yellow-winged tuna continues to decline at the current rate, then food security in the region as well as local economies will have a major impact,” Greenpeace said.
Nicknamed the “walls of death” for the amount of marine life they catch in addition to the fish for which they are intended, nets were banned by the United Nations 30 years ago.
Greenpeace shared footage with Reuters of sharks and mantle rays that had been killed in nets about 800 miles east of Somalia. “Because of bycatch problems, we are concerned about all the fish in the Indian Ocean,” he said, adding that the same area has seen a huge increase in unregulated squid fishing.
“What’s the point of a UN ban on floating nets when all the fishing vessels I’ve seen use floating nets?” asked Will McCallum, the head of the oceans for Greenpeace UK, in comments to Reuters.
“There are few or no applications in international waters … We need a global ocean treaty … to address this huge governance gap.”
The nations are due to meet in August for negotiations on such a pact, aimed at trying to establish guarantees for parts of the ocean similar to land-based reservations.
Last month, representatives of 30 nations met to discuss ways to save rapidly depleting tuna stocks in the Indian Ocean. The meeting closed without a new agreement.
Reporting by Katharine Houreld and Maggie Fick; edited by John Stonestreet