Tag Archives: bering sea canyons

Greenpeace calls for Bering Sea protection with thermal airship

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Greenpeace's thermal airship, A.E. Bates, flies over Seattle, a fishing industry hub, to call attention for Bering Sea protection.

Greenpeace’s thermal airship, A.E. Bates, flies over Seattle, a fishing industry hub, to call attention for Bering Sea protection.

Greenpeace will fly its thermal airship over the Seattle area all week with a 75 foot whale-themed banner urging Washington residents to help protect the “Grand Canyons of the Sea.”

Watch news coverage of the airship’s flight, and hear from Greenpeace’s Bering Sea campaigner on just why this area is so important.

Greenpeace and Mission Blue will host an “Evening of Hope” at the Seattle Aquarium to celebrate Alaska’s Bering Sea, a unique ecosystem currently threatened by a billion dollar fishing industry. Continue reading →

William Shatner teams with Greenpeace to protect the Bering Sea

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Today, Greenpeace launched a new video featuring the voice of William Shatner calling for the North Pacific Marine Fisheries Council to protect the Bering Sea canyons from industrial fishing.

Save Kipper features a happy menagerie of domesticated animals–a fish named Kipper, a dog named Sparky, a bird named Boozer, and a cat named Fluffy–all of which have their homes shockingly destroyed by methods ranging from fire to a power saw.

TAKE ACTION NOW TO PROTECT THE BERING SEA! Continue reading →

Time is Running Out on the Grand Canyons of the Bering Sea

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Fur Seals on St. George Island in the Bering Sea

On February 5 in Portland, Oregon the fishery honchos holding the fate of the Bering Sea canyons in their hands will get their first look at the scientific evidence Greenpeace has gathered from its submarine expeditions into the amazing Grand Canyons of the Sea.

These remarkable, life-rich canyons are under serious threat from industrial fishing fleets whose massive trawling operations rip this delicate ecosystem apart from the seafloor up.  Greenpeace has been working night and day to protect these canyons, and now, after years of work, two submarine research expeditions, multiple scientific publications, and support from an unprecedented alliance of indigenous stakeholders, environmental groups, scientists, and even seafood businesses, it’s all coming to a head in June. Continue reading →

As other indigenous peoples around the world joined efforts, so must we, the people of the Bering Sea

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Community Meeting on St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska

George Pletnikoff speaks at a community meeting on St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska. Photo: Greenpeace/Jiri Rezac

For thousands of years, the Aleut People have survived on the bounty of the Bering Sea. By some standards, archaeologists have agreed that the Aleuts are perhaps a unique group of people in that we have lived the longest in one location than any other indigenous group in the world without leaving or migrating, such was the abundance of food. Continue reading →

Our campaign to save the Arctic is just beginning

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The crew of the Greenpeace ship Esperanza in the Bering Sea

As the Esperanza’s tour ends (see our summary and video below), our campaign to save the Arctic is just beginning. Activists around the world have challenged Shell, from its corporate headquarters in the Hague and Houston to gas stations in London and beyond. Supporters all around the world are using social media to expose Shell’s multi-billion dollar Arctic hoax.

Listen to our podcast: Save the Arctic from Shell Oil

This is a global challenge, as the oil industry’s record in the Russian Arctic makes clear; tons of oil are spilled on land each year, and every 18 months more than four million barrels spews into the Arctic Ocean – nearly as much as BP spilled in the Gulf of Mexico. As other oil companies seek to exploit the melting sea ice and begin drilling in Arctic waters, we know we need a global movement to draw a line in the ice and protect this fragile region. More than a million people have come together calling for a global sanctuary in the high Arctic, and a ban on offshore drilling and unsustainable fishing in Arctic waters, and more are joining every day.

Be one of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNLDDaTslH0&feature=youtu.be

Discovering abundant corals at Shell’s Arctic drill site

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Sea ice in the Chukchi Sea at Shell’s proposed Arctic drill site © Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace

Some of the support vessels for Shell’s drilling program have begun to move into the Arctic to exploit the melting sea ice, despite the fact that the company does not have final permits needed to begin drilling, its oil spill response barge has not been certified, and it can’t meet required clean air standards for its drill rig, the 46 year old converted log carrier known as the “Noble Discoverer.” With the threat of Arctic drilling looming, marine biologist John Hocevar took a small research submarine down to the site where Shell hopes to drill this summer, and discovered abundant corals known as “sea raspberry.”

Continue reading →

Exploring the Largest Underwater Canyons in the World

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New findings strengthen the case for protecting the Bering Sea Canyons

Building on the research we did in the Bering Sea Canyons in 2007, Greenpeace completed 14 successful submarine dives in July 2012. Explorers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Waitt Institute, and Greenpeace conducted video surveys in Zhemchug and Pribilof canyons, collecting valuable data on the marine life in these unique areas. Continue reading →

Little fish, big win

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Healthy oceans are only possible with healthy ecosystems. Maintaining the robust fish populations upon which we depend for food and recreation requires protection of their food source. This means protecting the entire oceanic food web. Little fish are hugely important to big fish yet they’re often overlooked in conservation efforts when tuna and whales take center stage. However, recent reform by Mid-Atlantic and New England fishery mangers means a big victory for little fish and increased protection for our oceans. This victory took years of advocacy to accomplish, and will help ensure there’s plenty to eat for the big fish we love.

Continue reading →

Greenpeace explores underwater canyons, calls for their protection

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Greenpeace has returned to the world’s largest underwater canyons, here in the Bering Sea, to continue our efforts to protect these amazing ecosystems.

Today, factory trawl ships pull up over a million tons of fish here each year and their enormous nets scrape along the seafloor, destroying coral habitats in these submarine canyons that are critical for fish, crabs and other marine life.

After years of Greenpeace and others calling for their protection, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council declined once again in 2006 to protect these canyons, saying there wasn’t enough information available about the canyons to justify action.

We are not very good at taking no for an answer when it comes to defending the planet, so we took the Council’s decision as a challenge. In 2007, we set out with the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, along with two small submarines, to explore the canyons and provide the council with the data it said was missing.

Zhemchug CanyonThese corals, sponges, and other marine life are currently unprotected, and could be destroyed by enormous trawl nets dragged through Zhemchug Canyon. Continue reading →

Return to Report: St. George and the Bering Sea

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Community Meeting on St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska

George Pletnikoff speaks at a community meeting on St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska. Photo: Greenpeace/Jiri Rezac

By George Pletnikoff, Alaska Oceans Campaigner

Coming home to St. George sparks a lot of memories. I was very fortunate to grow up in this close knit island community of friends and family that provided for me in my formative years. The abundance of northern fur seals and over 150 different species of marine birds, nesting on thousand foot cliffs lining the northern shore, were a natural laboratory in which to grow. I always new this was a place I had to protect and my family continues to make a pilgrimage each year to return to the seal rookeries and bird cliffs.

A Kitiwake off St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska

A fulmar flies off St. George Island, Bering Sea Alaska

It also sparks memories of the Esperanza’s visit during its 2007 tour to protect the Bering Sea, the largest food fishery in the United States, that is threatened by large industrial fishing trawlers. Continue reading →