Last week we broke the story about French fishermen coordinating an attack on Oceana’s research vessel, Ranger, in an attempt to get their hands on the pictures our crew has been taking of them using illegal driftnets.
Now everyone’s talking about it, including our friends at NPR. They aired a segment on the confrontation on their top radio show, “All Things Considered.” And footage of the assault is racking up hits on YouTube. Remember, you heard it here first.
Driftnetting is a highly indiscriminate form of fishing in which huge numbers of fish and marine mammals die every year. As part of our global campaign to reduce bycatch (estimated to involve as much as 10 percent of the life taken out of the ocean globally by commercial fishing, and even more in the Mediterranean), Oceana has been campaigning vigorously to enforce the European laws which forbid driftnetting.
You can follow our adventures on the water and in Parliament through the Ranger blog.
