Greenpeace takes action

Malta, June 14: Activists on board seven rubber dinghies launched from Greenpeace’s two ships, the Rainbow Warrior and the Arctic Sunrise, went to “do what governments are failing to do”: save the Mediterranean’s Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus). The European Union declared the end of the fishing season several days ago, ordering all fishing vessels to return to shore. But on Monday the sea was far from empty: non European vessels continued to fish while European vessels watched over tuna being fattened in huge, offshore cages. Bluefin tuna is on the verge of extinction as a direct result of overfishing, its main market being Japan. To boost revenue, fishermen first catch the tuna in large cages and then feed them for several weeks until they reach optimum weight, only then are they killed and sold. One such cage was the target of Greenpeace’s action, which was not well received by the fishermen who fired several warning shots. Maltese coastguards then proceeded to blast Greenpeace with water-cannons.

“Stopping fishing is key to this species’ future” says Giorgia Monti, who is in charge of Greenpeace’s Sea campaigns. “This stock’s condition is the prime example of the failure of fishing policies in the Mediterranean, with resources and ecosystems on the verge of collapse and thousands of burned job opportunities”, she added.

Greenpeace’s proposed solution? To prohibit fishing and create marine reserves in key areas for the reproduction of Bluefin tuna, like the Balearic Islands and the Strait of Sicily. Perhaps then stocks may have a chance of recovery.

Sweden, June 14: Fifty activists were arrested in Forsmark, 115 kilometres north of Stockholm, after having jumped a fence and forced their way into a nuclear power plant. In a video posted on the website of Greenpeace Sweden, activists dressed in bright yellow sunshine costumes appeared waving signs to demand that politicians say “no” to nuclear power.

Sweden relies heavily on nuclear power and has ten working reactors in three power plants and will decide on June 17 whether to develop its nuclear capacity. This is a turn a round from last year’s announcement that the government would be scaling down nuclear activity.

The activists arrested included nationals of Sweden, Norway, Germany, France and Poland; they are being held on charges of breaking and entering. Police said that none posed any danger nor did they resist arrest, however the state owned power group Vattenfall that ownes the Forsmark plant announced it took the incident “very seriously” and would increase security.

Rome, 14 June: The fate of the world’s whales will be decided in just a few days when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Agadir, Morocco. On the plate is the decision on whether to allow commercial whale hunting again or not, a move that would please Japan and anger environmental groups like Greenpeace. An investigation carried out by the Sunday Times revealed that at least seven IWC members (Guinea, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, Granada and Tanzania) vote on decisions according to the amount of money they are granted by countries like Japan. Greenpeace Italy on Monday put pressure on its government, in particular on the Minister for the Environment Stefania Prestigiacomo, to bring an end to IWC bribery. It also asked the government to urgently announce its position as regards the moratorium on commercial whale hunting and urged it to “protect the interests of the whales and not the whale hunters”.