July 26, 2005 – Citing a recently finished study, an international environmental conservation activist organization yesterday called for a moratorium on the use of nets to dredge for fish in the North Atlantic.
In a statement announcing the release of a report documenting the rapid depletion of fish and the destruction of ocean habitats, Greenpeace called on the United Nations to issue stay on deep seas bottom trawling, the use of weighted nets to more easily harvest sea creatures from the ocean floor, and accused the international agency empowered to oversee fish stocks of failing "to protect the marine environment" in the North Atlantic Ocean.
According to the report, "The Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization: A Case Study In How Regional Fisheries Management Organisations Regularly Fail To Manage Our Oceans," Greenpeace blames weak NAFO regulations for previously allowing companies to overfish areas, detrimentally depleting stocks to the point where, the activist group notes, NAFO has been forced to shut down all fishing indefinitely in some areas.
Additionally, the report said, NAFO has been derelict in enforcing its own statutes, a claim disputed by the organization, according to the Canadian Press.
In response to questions about the Greenpeace report, NAFO Executive Secretary Johanne Fischer told the Canadian Press that the organization would not impose a ban but "would be willing to discuss better protection of sea mounds" in the future.
NAFO?s published materials are inconclusive on the damage trawl fishing does. According to two reports published this year, some species of sea life, like skates, are adversely affected by the practice while young and female sharks are more likely to avoid being ensnared by the nets as they tend to stay above the ocean floor.
Twelve nations plus the European Union belong to NAFO, including the United States, Canada, Iceland, Cuba and Russia.
