Endangered sharks being killed at alarming levels in Pacific, Greenpeace claims, after cutting 20km of vessel’s longline | Sharks

Endangered sharks are killed at disturbing levels in the Pacific Ocean, and industrial fishing places marine biological diversity at an increased danger, Greenpeace He claimed, after activists of a Spanish ship working north of New Zealand.

The campaign group said that this week’s rainbow activists have noticed a long fishing operation by Playa Zahra in the South Fiji basin.

Georgia Whitaker, a major activist of Greenpeace Australia Pacific, was on board during the operation. She claimed that the activists saw while the ship was transporting and killing three endangered sharks in half an hour.

She said that a small crew, including a trained shark processor, boarded a support boat to approach the Spanish ship and released 14 animals that were arrested on its line-including eight semi-threatened blue sharks, four-fish fish thickness.

Activists also removed more than 210 hooks and 20 km of long lines.

“It was destroyed by seeing these beautiful creatures that are arrested, often on their gills, in their mouth, through huge hooks with bait,” Whitaker said. “They were fighting for their lives and after a few minutes, you would see the blood leak on the side of the boat.”

Whitaker said the ship’s crew told Greenpeace that they were behaving legally and mainly targeting the sword fish.

According to the European Union reports to the Western and Central Fishing Committee (WCPFC), Playa Zahara caught more than 600,000 kg of blue shark In 2023 in The Pacific Ocean southwest.

Patricia Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Ferrades Fish, said the company that owns Zahara, in a statement that the boat was spent in accordance with international law and capturing types such as Macco shark and blue shark.

Rodriguez said: “The species mentioned by Greenpeace are within the shares and the limits that the competent authorities allow, and procedures for capturing, dealing, unloading and documenting them are controlled by all the regulations established by the Spanish and Spanish authorities.”

The statement was accused of Greenpeace of “a campaign of misleading information”, violating maritime laws, stealing fishing equipment, and pose risks to the crews on both signs through their intervention.

She said: “Our company is strongly committed to the sustainability of maritime resources and regularly cooperating with the independent scientists, observers and fisheries to ensure compliance with preservation standards.”

A Green Peace Analysis It is estimated that nearly half a million blue piasters were arrested as a friend of the Pacific Ocean last year – the highest number since 1991.

The same report found approximately 70 % of the European Union’s long hungry in the region in 2023 blue sharks.

World leaders will meet next week for the United Nations Conference to discuss The Treaty of Biological Diversity in the High SeasThat signed Australia in 2023 but has not yet believed.

Greenpeace urged the government to ratify the treaty within the first 100 days of its second term. The treaty requires 60 countries to ratify it before entering into force, but so far Only 32 did that.

Shark fishing is a profitable global trade, estimated at approximately One billion dollars annually. Global demand for shark Doubled in the past two decades.

Dr. Leonardo Guida, a shark scientist at the Australian Navy Conservation Association, said the level of exploitation A third of the types of sharks and radiation are threatened with extinction worldwide.

“The sharks are important in the ecosystem, as they usually occupy the top of marine food networks,” he said. “The decrease in the sharp population will lead to food networks that become unstable and ultimately collapses. There is a clear impact that can have their loss on food security for many countries.”

Guida said that the creation of marine havens that do not fill a necessary matter-to preserve marine life and understand how ecosystems respond to common pressures from overfishing and climatic crisis.

“These reserves work as controls,” he said. “It helps us to compare the areas affected by hunting with those that are not, which is very important to build flexibility in the wildlife in the ocean and manage our fisheries in a rapidly changed world, so that we reduce our impact on different types.”