Esperanza and Trawlers in North Atlantic

The Esperanza with French bottom trawler CLAUDE MOINIER 2 on the radar and Spanish trawlers and KALAMENDI and INTXORTA MENDI on the horizon. In march and April 2011, the Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, undertook a one month documentation expedition in the North East Atlantic to document deep sea fisheries, especially on French and Spanish vessels. This deep sea fishery is particularly destructive. 100% of the fish populations targeted by deep sea bottom trawling in the north east Atlantic are overexploited. If we keep on fishing the way we do today, the oceans will be empty in 35 years. Europe can still turn the tide on overfishing : the Common Fisheries Policy is up for review. To get fair and sustainable fisheries, Europe needs to limit the size of the fleets, and their capacity to destroy the seas, obviously by putting an end to the deep sea bottom trawling fisheries.