Greenpeace activists on board the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior disrupted an industrial longlining fishing operation in the South Pacific, seizing almost 20 km of fishing gear and freeing nine sharks — including an endangered mako — near Australia and New Zealand.

Crew retrieved the entire longline and more than 210 baited hooks from a European Union-flagged industrial fishing vessel, including an endangered longfin mako shark, eight near-threatened blue sharks and four swordfish.

The crew also documented the vessel catching endangered sharks during its longlining operation.

The at-sea action followed new Greenpeace Australia Pacific analysis exposing the extent of shark catch from industrial longlining in parts of the Pacific Ocean.

Latest fisheries data showed that almost 70 percent of EU vessels’ catch was blue shark in 2023 alone.

The operation came ahead of this week’s UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, where world leaders are discussing ocean protection and the Global Ocean Treaty.

On board the Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace Australia Pacific campaigner Georgia Whitaker said: “These longliners are industrial killing machines. Greenpeace Australia Pacific took peaceful and direct action to disrupt this attack on marine life.

“We saved important species that would otherwise have been killed or left to die on hooks.

“The scale of industrial fishing — still legal on the high seas — is astronomical. These vessels claim to be targeting swordfish or tuna, but we witnessed shark after shark being hauled up by these industrial fleets, including three endangered sharks in just half an hour.

Rainbow Warrior crew disrupt longline fishing in the Pacific.  Video: Greenpeace

“Greenpeace is calling on world leaders at the UN Ocean Conference to protect 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030 from this wanton destruction.”

Stingray caught as bycatch is hauled onboard the Lu Rong Yuan Lu 212 longliner vessel in the Tasman Sea.

The Rainbow Warrior is in the South Pacific ocean to expose longline fishing and call on governments to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and create a network of protected areas in the high seas.

Greenpeace Aotearoa is calling on the New Zealand government to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty and help create global ocean sanctuaries, including in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand.

New Zealand signed the agreement in 2023.

More than two-thirds of sharks worldwide are endangered, and a third of those are at risk of extinction from overfishing.

Over the last three weeks, the Rainbow Warrior has been documenting longlining vessels and practices off Australia’s east coast, including from Spain and China.

Emma Page is Greenpeace Aotearoa’s communications lead, oceans and fisheries. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Scientists in Samoa have issued a dire warning about the fate of the national bird, which features on the country’s bank notes and coins.

Acccording to ABC News the manumea has been on the brink of extinction for several years.

Conservationist Gianluca Serra is leading a team employed by the Samoan government to stop the bird from disappearing.

He told Mandie Sami of ABC News the situation was desperate.

“There are probably only a few dozens birds left in Samoa,” he said.

Serra said the manumea is a species of pigeon and is special because it is only found in Samoa and is the last surviving relative of the extinct dodo bird.

He said hunting was a major issue.

“We realize that they are being hunted by mistake because apparently people don’t like the manumea’s meat but they kill the manumea while they are targeting another pigeon they like.”

Serra added forest logging and invasive species like rats and cats also put the survival of the bird in danger.

‘Pretty depressing’

“You know our job as conservationists is pretty depressing,” he said. “Every year the planet is losing hundreds if not thousands of species.

“There is not enough awareness and interest by governments and people.

“Public opinion is so interested about cats and dogs but they don’t know that there is wildlife out there and they need help, so it’s really hard.  There’s no money there, only few people are interested in it.”

Serra and his team are working with local villages to establish protected areas and controls around hunting.

Listen to the full interview on ABC News.