Activists Free a Turtle in the Pacific

An activist reaches out to free an endangered Olive Ridley turtle from a hook of the controversial Taiwanese longliner Ho Tsai Fa 18 while another activist holds a banner reading 'Marine reserves now'. The captain of the fishing vessel refused to free all marine life from the line as asked by Greenpeace so activists started cutting sharks, tuna, marlin and a turtle free. Greenpeace is calling for this area of the high seas to become part of the first marine reserves in international waters.

Unique identifier: GP01HLE

Type: Image

Shoot date: 03/05/2008

Locations: Pacific Ocean

Credit line: © Greenpeace / Paul Hilton

Size: 2796px × 2052px 1MB

Ranking: ★★★★★★★ (A)

Containers

Shoot:

Defending Our Pacific MV Esperanza Tour

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.

Related Collections:

Communications Guide 'Win some, win some more' 2017

Defending Our Pacific Expedition 2008 (Photo & Video)

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