The Black Fish

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The Black Fish is a Europe-wide marine conservation organization. Founded in 2010 by activists in Amsterdam , The Black Fish now has around 100 active members in Germany, England and the Netherlands.

The Black Fish carries out actions to document, detect and report illegal fishing in ports and markets in Europe. In addition, The Black Fish wants to bring the issue of overfishing back into society through teaching material, information events, lectures and various creative activities.

The Black Fish Deutschland eV was founded in 2016 in Bremen and is therefore the youngest offshoot of the organization. This has become the most important pillar of the organization and coordinates the campaigns within the Citizen Inspector Network. A total of 18 volunteers work for The Black Fish Germany in Bremen, Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Erfurt. The Black Fish is financed exclusively through donations made by private individuals and foundations. In addition, there are project funding and crowdfunding campaigns .

history

During the last few years many actions against illegal fishing have been carried out, both in the Baltic Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea . For example, The Black Fish has investigated illegal tuna fishing in Croatia , tracked down and removed illegal fish collectors on the Sicilian coast, documented the dynamite fishing off Tunisia and the illegal catch of deep-sea sharks in Morocco in collaboration with the English fin fighters .

After intensive work in southern Italy , The Black Fish exposed the widespread use of illegal driftnets . This led to the signing of an official cooperation agreement with the Italian Coast Guard in 2014 through close cooperation with the authorities .

Citizen Inspector Network

A volunteer citizen inspector during a campaign in Sweden

To counter the increasing extent of overfishing , The Black Fish developed the Citizen Inspector Network. Since illegal fishing often takes place in highly frequented ports and authorities seem overwhelmed by it, The Black Fish began to set up a network of independent fishery observers who should help to uncover illegal fishing in Europe. The Black Fish trains people as volunteer fisheries inspectors (Citizen Inspectors) and involves them in undercover investigations. Since the Citizen Inspector Network started in 2014, 60 people from 9 different European countries have been trained. Active marine protection should be opened up to as many people as possible from all walks of life and not become something that is exclusively reserved for "activists". During a five-day training course, the Citizen Inspectors learn everything about fishing methods, types of ships and the most common fish on fish markets. The Black Fish campaigns are organized, financed and carried out exclusively by volunteers.

The results of the monitoring activities at ports and fish markets are summarized in detailed maps and reports which are intended to support the regional and national authorities in their work. Direct reports from fish markets or ports to the coast guard led to the confiscation of illegal catches and the confiscation of illegal nets. The large number of volunteer fisheries observers means that the area in question can be monitored more intensively than the coast guard could.

Lecture tours

In addition to covert investigations, education and public relations are a focus of The Black Fish's work. Books, reports, short films and videos are published (e.g. The Bluefin Bonanza, Losing Nemo or Deserted Ocean). In addition, The Black Fish regularly organizes large lecture tours where public and free lectures are given in many cities over several weeks. Such lecture tours were organized in England in 2011 and 2013, once around the Baltic Sea in 2014 and in Germany in 2016. The Voice for the Ocean Tour, for example, went through 16 German cities in September 2016 and reached almost 500 people. In 2018 he gave some lectures on the subject of "marine deserts" in the Bremen area.

Alliances

The Black Fish also works on a political level to campaign for sustainable fishing in Germany and Europe. The Black Fish relies on the experience and evidence that has been gathered during the campaigns. In 2018, The Black Fish therefore joined two larger alliances.

  • "Stop to Electric Pulse Fishing in Europe" is an alliance that was brought into being by the French organization Bloom and which wants to prevent the approval of electric fishing in EU waters. To this end, Bloom started a large petition, which The Black Fish joined as the only German organization.
  • "Make Stewardship Count" is an alliance led by Shark Project, which addresses the controversial MSC and calls for drastic reforms in the award criteria of the MSC seal.

Publications

Campaign reports

  • October 2013: "Illegal driftnetting in the Mediterranean"
  • November 2013: "Mediterranean Driftnet Campaign 2013"
  • November 2014: "Swedish Nephrops Fishery 2014"
  • November 2014: "FAD Campaign Sicily 2014"
  • April 2015: "The Illegal Fishing and Organized Crime Nexus"

Brochures and non-fiction books

  • 2012: "The Bluefin Bonanza"
  • February 2017: "Deserted Ocean"

Movies

"Losing Nemo" An animated short film about overfishing and illegal fishing has been viewed over 200,000 times on Vimeo.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Our story | The Black Fish. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  2. ^ Fish - The Next Fight, Costing the Earth - BBC Radio 4. Retrieved June 4, 2018 (UK English).
  3. ^ Topic of the day> The Black Fish. Retrieved on June 4, 2018 (German).
  4. ↑ Partners | The Black Fish. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Nizozemski aktivisti: Tune su ugrožene! Ministarstvo: Nisu! In: Dnevnik.hr . ( dnevnik.hr [accessed June 4, 2018]).
  6. ↑ FAD Campaign Sicily 2014 | The Black Fish. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  7. ↑ CAMPAIGNS. Retrieved June 4, 2018 (American English).
  8. ↑ The Black Fish signs historic agreement with Italian Coastguard | The Black Fish. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Black Fish - Sea Hearts. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  10. ^ Matthew Green: The Black Fish: undercover with the vigilantes fighting organized crime at sea | Matthew Green. February 24, 2016, accessed June 4, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Interview with 'The Black Fish': fighting illegal fishing . In: Livingdreams.tv . April 20, 2017 ( livingdreams.tv [accessed June 4, 2018]).
  12. ^ The Black Fish - Working For The Oceans . In: Make The Ocean Great Again . April 18, 2018 ( maketheoceangreatagain.blog [accessed June 4, 2018]).
  13. ^ John Vidal: Black Fish activists vow to confront illegal tuna fishing in Mediterranean. August 18, 2012, accessed June 4, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Raceforthebaltic. Retrieved June 4, 2018 (American English).
  15. ^ "Voice for the Ocean" - The Black Fish (young NGO on tour in the Golden Rose / Halle) - Halle disorder . In: Halle disorder . ( hallesche-stoerung.de [accessed on June 4, 2018]).
  16. ↑ Theater Kampnagel Hamburg: the black fish presents: Voice for the Ocean Tour 2016 . In: Theater Kampnagel Hamburg . ( kampnagel.de [accessed on June 4, 2018]).
  17. ↑ GREEN Bremen: Deserts of the Sea - How fishing is changing our oceans. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  18. ^ Fiona Harvey: European parliament votes to end electric pulse fishing. January 17, 2018, accessed June 4, 2018 .
  19. ↑ NO to the electrocution of fish and the disappearance of small scale fishers! In: STOP the electric fishing in Europe! ( bloomassociation.org [accessed June 4, 2018]).
  20. ↑ Home . In: Make Stewardship Count . ( make-stewardship-count.org [accessed June 4, 2018]).
  21. ↑ Illegal driftnetting in the Mediterranean | The Black Fish. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Driftnet Campaign 2013 | The Black Fish. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Swedish Nephrops Fishery 2014 | The Black Fish. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  24. ↑ FAD Campaign Sicily 2014 | The Black Fish. Retrieved June 4, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Dr. Teale N. Phelps Bondaroff: The Illegal Fishing and Organized Crime Nexus: Illegal Fishing as Transnational Organized Crime . Ed .: The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime and The Black Fish. Geneva and Amsterdam 2015.
  26. ↑ Deserted Ocean - Katharina Rot Illustration. Retrieved on June 4, 2018 (German).
  27. ↑ mrlee.tv: Losing Nemo. May 19, 2013, accessed June 4, 2018 .