Greenpeace finds industrial
fishing taking place in the feeding grounds of whales and penguins, with
vessels involved in oil spills and accidents
Tue 13 Mar
2018 08.01 GMTLast modified on Tue 13 Mar 2018 10.13 GMT
Industrial fishing for krill in
the pristine waters around Antarctica is
threatening the future of one of the world’s last great wildernesses, according
to a new report.
The study by Greenpeace analysed
the movements of krill fishing vessels in the region and found they were
increasingly operating “in the immediate vicinity of penguin colonies and whale
feeding grounds”.
It also highlights incidents of
fishing boats being involved in groundings, oil spills and accidents, which it
said posed a serious threat to the Antarctic ecosystem.
The report, published on Tuesday,
comes amid growing concern about the impact of fishing and climate change on
the Antarctic. A global
campaign has been launched to create a network of ocean
sanctuaries to protect the seas in the region and Greenpeace is calling for an
immediate halt to fishing in areas being considered for sanctuary status.
Frida Bengtsson, from
Greenpeace’s Protect the Antarctic campaign, said: “If the krill industry wants
to show it’s a responsible player, then it should be voluntarily getting out of
any area which is being proposed as an ocean sanctuary, and should instead be
backing the protection of these huge swaths of the Antarctic.”
Last month a study found a
combination of climate change and industrial-scale fishing is
hitting the krill population, with a potentially disastrous impact on larger
predators.
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