The Greenpeace ship MV Esperanza toured in the Pacific Ocean to defend the pockets of international waters between Pacific Island countries – the Pacific Commons - as marine reserves from greedy fishing fleets intent on fishing out the world's last tuna stocks - the world's favorite fish. These mother ships, known as 'reefers', are a gateway for laundering tuna out of the region.
A report was released that estimates that on top of the known fish catch, at least another 34% is stolen by pirates in the Western and Central Pacific.
Scientists have been warning for years that bigeye and yellowfin tuna are suffering from overfishing.
60% of tuna eaten globally each year comes from the Pacific heading mostly to markets in Japan, the European Union and United States.
Greenpeace advocates the creation of a network of marine reserves, protecting 40 per cent of the world's oceans, as the long term solution to overfishing and the recovery of our overexploited oceans.