GP Calls On All Mediterranean Countries To Ban Driftnet Fishing

["greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENPEACE CALLS ON ALL MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES TO BAN 
DRIFTNET FISHING. 

Rome, 7 July -- Greenpeace today called on all countries
attending  the meeting of the General Fisheries Commission for
the Mediterranean  (GFCM) to prevent the spread of driftnet
fishing throughout the  Mediterranean Sea.  

"There is increasing concern that driftnets from Italy are being
sold  to fishermen in non-European Union (EU) countries in the 
Mediterranean region" said Alessandro Gianni, Greenpeace 
International observer at the meeting.  "Now that the EU has 
banned driftnet fishing, all other Mediterranean countries must 
urgently agree to do the same to prevent the spread of driftnet 
fishing in the Mediterranean Sea". 

On 8 June, the European Union Council of Fisheries Ministers
agreed  to a phase-out and ban of driftnet fishing by 1 January
2002.  The  ban will apply to all waters under the jurisdiction
of EU Member  States (excluding the Baltic) and to all EU-
flagged vessels fishing  on the high seas.  Fisheries in the
Mediterranean and the Northeast  Atlantic for species such as
swordfish, tuna and sharks are covered  by the ban. 

The EU Council decision was based on the fact that driftnet 
fishing has proven to be a highly unselective method of fishing 
and that the 1992 EU regulation limiting the length of the 
driftnets to 2.5 kilometres per vessel has proven difficult or 
impossible to enforce.

"More than 80 per cent of the catch of the Italian driftnet
fleet in the Mediterranean, by far the largest driftnet fleet in
the world, is bycatch" added Gianni. "Greenpeace's at sea survey
in May clearly  demonstrated that illegal driftnetting continues
to be rampant in  the Mediterranean".

To take one example, the Italian driftnet vessel "B. Colleoni"
was  arrested, fined and its net - measuring over 6 kilometre in
length -  was  confiscated  on 16 May by Spanish authorities. 
Three weeks later the  MV GREENPEACE found the same vessel off
Sardinia fishing with a  similar illegal net.  The MV GREENPEACE
found another 20 illegal  driftnet vessels in less than a month
of surveys at sea.  

The United Nations General Assembly recognized the problem last 
November during the annual debate on the effectiveness of the
1992 UN  moratorium on high seas driftnet fishing.  The United
States,  Australia and South Pacific countries spoke strongly of
the need  to confiscate and destroy illegal driftnets. 
Australia called on  countries to prevent the sale or transfer
of driftnets "to others who  can then continue this abominable
and illegal practice."

Editors note:  The General Fisheries Commission for the 
Mediterranean, a regional treaty organization regulating
fisheries in  the Mediterranean Sea, meets at UN FAO
headquarters 7-10 July. The Greenpeace Statement to the GFCM
meeting is available upon  request. 

Greenpeace on the Internet at http://www.greenpeace.org