Last week, the Senegalese government cancelled all fishing permits for foreign“pelagic trawlers,” large fishing vessels that drag nets below the surface of the ocean.

Greenpeace ship's Arctic Sunrise arrives in Dakar welcomed by a flotilla of local fishermen on their pirogue boats. 02/15/2012

This should remind leaders that with political will and courage, they can change things and shape the future of their people for the better. Our work to make this decision permanent in Senegal continues, as does our work to make sure that the European CFP (Common Fisheries Policy) reform process works for all Europeans, not just powerful fishing interests.

The timely decision by our government here is a huge step forward in the struggle to end overfishing by foreign ships in Senegal, and throughout the West African region, where foreign trawlers, especially from Europe, plunder our waters of fish having already exhausted their own.

For nearly a year now, Greenpeace has been leading an intense campaign to convince the Senegalese government cancel the fishing permits. Not only do these permits lack a strong legal basis, they also pose a serious threat to the livelihood of millions of Senegalese who rely on fish for jobs and food.

Greenpeace undertook numerous initiatives including a project entitled “My voice, my future”, which included a march alongside small-scale fishing communities, an online petition, political lobbying, and of course, sending our ship Arctic Sunrise to take action and document the oceans crisis unfolding in Senegalese waters.

Greenpeace has been working around the world to stop the plunder of African’s waters by foreign vessels. In Europe, numerous Greenpeace offices are demanding that the current CFP reform process include measures to keep EU vessels from plundering foreign waters and mechanisms to rescue Europe’s oceans.

After meeting with Greenpeace representatives as a candidate, Macky Sall, now Senegal’s president, publicly declared that he would put an end to the pillaging of Senegalese waters by foreign fishing boats. He has now fulfilled the process, a move that gives us hope that a new generation of politicians putting the interests of all of us above their own may be upon us here in Senegal.

We hope that this inspires politicians to not stand by as Africa’s valuable fish are taken from us. West African waters remain a favourite target for foreign fishing boats, which often use destructive fishing gear that take more than just fish, often with the complicity of other leaders in the region.

We will keep you posted on how our work to reform fisheries laws – for the benefit of all of us, not just large-scale fishing industries – in Europe and here in Africa continues

Every day, Shell oil creeps closer to the Alaskan Arctic. When Shell likely obtains final US governmental approval sometime in the next month, they will send their two rusty rigs into the Beaufort and Chuckchi Seas to drill exploratory wells–and begin sucking the life out of one of the last wild places on earth.

There is no safe way to drill for oil. Even with a supposedly state of the art rig built in 2001, such as the Deepwater Horizon, spills are part of the business. The Kulluk, Shell’s premier Arctic drilling vessel, was built in 1983, and to bring that thirty year old rig, one that must be retrofitted before it can safely leave port, well, that alone presents an unconscionable risk. That in addition to the company’s track record cleaning up their messes in much less rigorous environments makes it even more atrocious.

The Alaskan Arctic is home to animals like the polar bear, narwhal, Arctic fox and other iconic species in grave danger because of global warming. Instead of working to protect these species, Shell is looking to exploit the areas of the sea opened up by melting sea ice, which is abhorrent.

With every move Shell makes, the vise tightens around this fragile ecosystem.

Which is why Greenpeace is taking action.

As most of you know, Shell has been granted a preliminary injunction against Greenpeace USA that will last the duration of this summer’s drilling window. Shell’s move toward injunctions are meant to quiet our voices by restricting our rights to bear witness. It’s a nice try that complicates things legally, but does not prevent us from traveling to the Arctic to directly shed light on the risks posed by Shell’s offshore drilling operations.

Which is why the Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza, is going to the Arctic to monitor Shell’s operations. We will be conducting independent scientific operations, meeting with Alaskan Tribal Communities, and hold Shell accountable. We don’t want to see any more photos like these, just unearthed from the government accounts of the Deepwater Horizon.

Greenpeace will be working to protect the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas from climate change and extraction industries, doing everything legally permissible within our power for the Arctic. We have a dedicated team, ready to expose Shell as the poster child of Arctic destruction.

This campaign will continue as long as big oil wants to destroy the Arctic. And we want you to be a part of this campaign. So here, in the comments, on Facebook, and on Twitter, we want your ideas of what we should do as we track Shell through Alaska on the Esperanza.

The injunction keeps us up to a kilometer away from the drill rigs and other vessels involved in the drilling—but they can’t keep us in the dark. Let us know your best ideas about how to hold Shell accountable while we’re up there—here, on Facebook, or on Twitter #SaveTheArctic.

The crew of Esperanza is watching you, Shell. And we’re bringing the world with us.

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Greenpeace’s Carting Away the Oceans report has evaluated supermarket sustainability since 2008, and up until this year no retailer had earned a green rating. This year, for the first time, the CATO report features two retailers that have earned green ratings, vaulting them to the top of the list. Find out who topped the list.

Through varying combinations of progressive policy development, public support for conservation measures, and the elimination of unsustainable seafood inventory items, two companies – Safeway and Whole Foods – have transformed themselves into undeniable leaders within the industry. Although the two retailers are extremely different in business model, consumer demographic, and size, they have each found ways to excel in their promotion and adoption of sustainable seafood. Certainly they still have a great deal of work to do – sustainability is, after all, a moving target, as it is inextricably linked to the dynamics of our oceanic ecosystems and to the vagaries of our changing climate – but Greenpeace celebrates the achievements of these companies and eagerly awaits similar outcomes from other retailers that are poised to embrace sustainability to a greater degree.

While it makes sense to acknowledge those companies that are leading the pack, it’s also important to recognize the progress made by retailers that, while not quite at the forefront of the industry, have made powerful strides. Companies like Harris Teeter, Aldi, and Delhaize have made substantial improvement over the past year and are tackling the difficult issues thwart many companies less determined to achieve greater sustainability within their seafood operations.

It is clear that certain markets have become deeply invested in making better decisions and providing safer, more sustainable seafood options for their customers. At the same time, an opposite, dismal truth has become impossible to ignore: there are still a few seafood retailers out there that even now have yet to take any responsibility for the seafood they sell, or for the damage they are doing to our oceans.

Take action now.
Read the full report.

In an effort to prevent destructive oil drilling in the Arctic, dozens of Greenpeace Nordic activists have boarded and occupied a Shell-contracted icebreaker in Helsinki harbor as it prepared to leave for the Alaskan Arctic. At 10:30 in Helsinki, Finland, 20 activists from 13 different countries boarded the Nordica and have locked themselves down throughout the ship, from the cabins to the top of the mast.

We are calling on the oil giant Shell to abandon its controversial plans to open up the fragile Arctic for oil drilling. You can show your support by writing to Shell now.

“We are here on behalf of the nearly 400,000 people around the world who in just a couple of months have spoken out demanding that Shell cancel its reckless campaign of Arctic destruction,” said Greenpeace campaign manager in Finland Tapio Laakso. “Oil companies know full well that an oil spill off the Alaskan coast would devastate the environment and prove impossible to clean up.”

For the first time in our history we are faced with the possibility of a world without ice at the North Pole, without a home for polar bears, narwhals and walrus. It is fundamentally wrong that Shell is making money drilling for more of the oil that has caused this melting in the first place.

The Nordica is one of two Shell-contracted icebreakers owned by the Finnish government. It is heading to Alaska to join its sister ship, the Fennica, to support the Kulluk and Noble Discoverer, the two drilling vessels en route to the north coast of Alaska to drill five exploratory wells for Shell in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas later this summer.

Shell is the first major international oil company to make exploitation of the Arctic a serious corporate focus. If it strikes oil this summer, other global oil giants will quickly follow and spark a dangerous Arctic oil rush.

Photo: (C) Greenpeace / Matti Snellman

It’s hard to quantify how environmentally harmful the foods we eat are, but the Huffington Post has taken a stab at it for Earth Day by compiling a list of the “Top Ten Most Harmful Foods for the Environment.” Tuna comes in at #8 on the list in terms of carbon footprint. But how accurate is that when we look at overall environmental destruction? When I think of the way tuna company Chicken of the Sea treats our oceans, US canned tuna merits a podium position.

The fishing practices used by canned tuna manufacturers like Chicken of the Sea are ripping up our oceans and bringing many tuna species to the brink of extinction. As well as overfishing, the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) with purse seine nets mean that sharks, turtles and other marine life are caught as “bycatch” and then often thrown dead or dying back into the sea. For tuna lovers, another part of the problem is that large numbers of juvenile bigeye tuna end up in the can too, adding to the overfishing that has already put the species at risk of extinction.

I know Chicken of the Sea are aware of the destruction they’re causing because we’ve told them. And you’ve told them! Here at Greenpeace we also know canned tuna is an American favorite. But until the tuna industry begins investing more in sustainability and less in failed advertising campaigns [link], we need to find alternatives to tuna caught by destructive and wasteful practices.

Enter: Think Outside the Can. A new Greenpeace contest asking all of you good people to come up with alternative-tuna recipes. By Thinking Outside the Can, we can let Chicken of the Sea know that we won’t buy tuna caught unsustainably. So far we’ve had some great entries using tuna alternatives ranging from trout to garbanzo beans; you can check out a selection of them here to get some inspiration and to get those creative juices flowing.

So send Chicken of the Sea a message and send in your alternative-tuna recipes! First prize wins a $250 gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma!