![]() | |
Founded | 2010 |
---|---|
Type | Registered charity (Germany) |
Focus | Marine conservation, Overfishing |
Location | |
Method | Investigations, Public Awareness, Direct action |
Key people | International Director: Valeska Diemel [1] |
Website | fishact.org, 2048.fishact.org |
Formerly called | The Black Fish |
FishAct (formerly The Black Fish) is an international marine conservation and activism organisation based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its name was changed in 2018 to FishAct. FishAct's stated mission is to "end the industrial overfishing of the oceans" and to "empower individuals to get actively involved in building grassroots citizen-led conservation communities". [2] The non-governmental organisation was founded in 2010 and has active local chapters in Germany and the United Kingdom. To achieve its goals, the organisation uses a combination of investigation, education, and non-violent direct-action. Campaigns have included gathering support for the release of captive cetaceans, actions against dolphin drive hunts and campaigning to end overfishing of the endangered bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean Sea.
In September 2010, activists of The Black Fish cut the nets of holding pens in the harbour of Taiji, Japan to allow dolphins to escape, [3] which were destined for the international dolphinarium trade. Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society publicly questioned the effectiveness of the action, saying nets had been cut but no dolphins had managed to escape. [4] These allegations were later answered by the activists involved, claiming dolphins did escape from the pens. [5]
After only a few weeks of campaigning by The Black Fish and other organisations for the closure of a run-down dolphinarium in Münster, Germany, in the fall of 2010, its owners announced that the facility would be closed down and the four dolphins kept there, re-homed. [6]
By early 2011, The Black Fish had founded the Orca Coalition together with seven other organisation, with the aim of securing freedom for a captive orca named Morgan. The young female killer whale had stranded on the Dutch coast in June 2010. Although she regained her strength and was nursed back to health, the dolphinarium where she was held refuses to release her, instead planning for a transfer to the marine park Loro Parque on the Spanish Island of Tenerife. The initial legal proceedings brought against the responsible Ministry by the Orca Coalition secured a landmark court ruling, effectively blocking the export of a captive cetacean for the first time. [7] However, two months later a second judge ruled that orca Morgan could be moved to Loro Parque. [8]
In July 2012 the organisation successfully released over 1.000 endangered bluefin tuna from a tuna farm off the island of Ugljan, Croatia. [9] English writer and environmentalist George Monbiot hailed the action and branded the activists as heroes for 'putting their lives on the line in the fight to save endangered tuna'. [10] Croatian Deputy Fisheries Minister Ljubomir Kucic criticised the action, proclaiming that bluefin tuna are 'not that endangered'. [11]
In December 2012 a stranded humpback whale off the Dutch coast [12] gathered a lot of controversy as local authorities refused access to the stranding site by independent cetacean experts to free the animal. After an initial attempt by local authorities to pull the animal back to open water had failed, [13] the local mayor declared a state of emergency, prohibiting anyone from entering the site. For a number of days the whale lived on, even after an unsuccessful euthanasia attempt. [14] On the 5th day after the stranding, The Black Fish deployed a boat and visited the stranding site with Dutch politician Marianne Thieme and a medical team to assess whether or not animal was still alive. The Black Fish skipper and one of the boat's crew were held by police and a report was filed for possible charges of breaching the state of emergency. [15]
In an interview with The Guardian in August 2012, co-founder of The Black Fish, Wietse van der Werf, announced that the organisation's focus would switch exclusively to exposing and challenging illegal and destructive fishing practices in the Mediterranean Sea, with initial actions aimed at combating illegal bluefin tuna fishing and the illegal use of driftnets. [16] The BBC broadcast a programme in April 2013, in which The Black Fish founder Wietse van der Werf announced that the organisation will start using drones to patrol for illegal fishing activity in the Mediterranean. [17]
Cetacea is an infraorder of aquatic mammals belonging to the order Artiodactyla that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel themselves through the water with powerful up-and-down movement of their tail which ends in a paddle-like fluke, using their flipper-shaped forelimbs to maneuver.
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal in the clade Odontoceti. Dolphins belong to the families Delphinidae, Platanistidae, Iniidae, Pontoporiidae, and possibly extinct Lipotidae. There are 40 extant species named as dolphins.
Porpoises are small dolphin-like cetaceans classified under the family Phocoenidae. Although similar in appearance to dolphins, they are more closely related to narwhals and belugas than to the true dolphins. There are eight extant species of porpoise, all among the smallest of the toothed whales. Porpoises are distinguished from dolphins by their flattened, spade-shaped teeth distinct from the conical teeth of dolphins, and lack of a pronounced beak, although some dolphins also lack a pronounced beak. Porpoises, and other cetaceans, belong to the clade Cetartiodactyla with even-toed ungulates.
A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna up to the Atlantic bluefin tuna, which averages 2 m (6.6 ft) and is believed to live up to 50 years.
Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in their natural habitat. Whale watching is mostly a recreational activity, but it can also serve scientific and/or educational purposes. A study prepared for International Fund for Animal Welfare in 2009 estimated that 13 million people went whale watching globally in 2008. Whale watching generates $2.1 billion per annum in tourism revenue worldwide, employing around 13,000 workers. The size and rapid growth of the industry has led to complex and continuing debates with the whaling industry about the best use of whales as a natural resource.
Risso's dolphin is a dolphin, the only species of the genus Grampus. Some of the closest related species to these dolphins include: pilot whales, pygmy killer whales, melon-headed whales, and false killer whales.
Oceanic dolphins or Delphinidae are a widely distributed family of dolphins that live in the sea. Close to forty extant species are recognised. They include several big species whose common names contain "whale" rather than "dolphin", such as the Globicephalinae. Delphinidae is a family within the superfamily Delphinoidea, which also includes the porpoises (Phocoenidae) and the Monodontidae. River dolphins are relatives of the Delphinoidea.
The toothed whales are a parvorder of cetaceans that includes dolphins, porpoises, and all other whales possessing teeth, such as the beaked whales and sperm whales. 73 species of toothed whales are described. They are one of two living groups of cetaceans, the other being the baleen whales (Mysticeti), which have baleen instead of teeth. The two groups are thought to have diverged around 34 million years ago (mya).
The Irrawaddy dolphin is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the Australian snubfin dolphin, which was not described as a separate species until 2005. It has a slate blue to a slate gray color. Although found in much of the riverine and marine zones of South and Southeast Asia, the only concentrated lagoon populations are found in Chilika Lake in Odisha, India and Songkhla Lake in southern Thailand.
The rough-toothed dolphin is a species of dolphin that can be found in deep warm and tropical waters around the world.
The false killer whale is a species of oceanic dolphin that is the only extant representative of the genus Pseudorca. It is found in oceans worldwide but mainly in tropical regions. It was first described in 1846 as a species of porpoise based on a skull, which was revised when the first carcasses were observed in 1861. The name "false killer whale" comes from having a skull similar to the orca, or killer whale.
The striped dolphin is an extensively researched dolphin found in temperate and tropical waters of all the world's oceans. It is a member of the oceanic dolphin family, Delphinidae.
A dolphinarium is an aquarium for dolphins. The dolphins are usually kept in a pool, though occasionally they may be kept in pens in the open sea, either for research or public performances. Some dolphinariums consist of one pool where dolphins perform for the public, others are part of larger parks, such as marine mammal parks, zoos or theme parks, with other animals and attractions as well.
Cetology or whalelore is the branch of marine mammal science that studies the approximately eighty species of whales, dolphins, and porpoises in the scientific order Cetacea. Cetologists, or those who practice cetology, seek to understand and explain cetacean evolution, distribution, morphology, behavior, community dynamics, and other topics.
Cetacean bycatch is the accidental capture of non-target cetacean species such as dolphins, porpoises, and whales by fisheries. Bycatch can be caused by entanglement in fishing nets and lines, or direct capture by hooks or in trawl nets.
Dolphin drive hunting, also called dolphin drive fishing, is a method of hunting dolphins and occasionally other small cetaceans by driving them together with boats, usually into a bay or onto a beach. Their escape is prevented by closing off the route to the open sea or ocean with boats and nets. Dolphins are hunted this way in several places around the world including the Solomon Islands, the Faroe Islands, Peru, and Japan, which is the most well-known practitioner of the method. In large numbers dolphins are mostly hunted for their meat; some end up in dolphinariums.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society engages in various demonstrations, campaigns, and tactical operations at sea and elsewhere, including conventional protests and direct actions to protect marine wildlife. Sea Shepherd operations have included interdiction against commercial fishing, shark poaching and finning, seal hunting and whaling. Many of their activities have been called piracy or terrorism by their targets and by the ICRW. Sea Shepherd says that they have taken more than 4,000 volunteers on operations over a period of 30 years.
The Taiji dolphin drive hunt is based on driving dolphins and other small cetaceans into a small bay where they can be killed or captured for their meat and for sale to dolphinariums. The new primary killing method is done by cutting the spinal cord of the dolphin, a method that claims to decrease the mammal's time to death. Taiji has a long connection to whaling in Japan. The 2009 documentary film The Cove drew international attention to the hunt. Taiji is the only town in Japan where drive hunting still takes place on a large scale.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the Conservation of Cetaceans and their Habitats in the Pacific Island Region is a Multilateral Environmental Memorandum of Understanding concluded under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), also known as the Bonn Convention, and in collaboration with the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP). The MoU provides an international framework for coordinated conservation efforts to improve the conservation status of the Pacific Islands Cetaceans and came into effect on 15 September 2006.
The Swiss Cetacean Society or Swiss Society for the Study and Protection of Cetaceans is a Swiss nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of marine mammals and other endangered marine species in their natural habitat. Founded in 1997, its headquarters are in Lausanne in Switzerland.