脆弱天堂 22

After our cameraman left the Esperanza

Greenpeace continued their journey

And captured these images of the world's biggest purse seiner

With a capacity almost four times larger than the New Guinea vessel.

It's a Spanish ship fishing for Pacific tuna to stock European supermarkets.

The presence of such large vessels

from countries that have already over-fished their own tuna stocks

Has riled the operators of local fishing fleets

Perhaps with some justification.

Some biologists have recently warned

that tuna populations in the Pacific will be crashing within five years

unless urgent action is taken.

Perhaps it's time to think again about the ways we fish.

These pole and line fishermen are Solomon Islanders

And this fishing is a local industry.

They target specific species, and mature individuals.

There's almost no bycatch - no seabirds, no sharks.

And they can be selective - flicking juvenile fish off their hooks

So they can grow and breed.

Because it's impossible to hook every last fish in a school

Some are always left to fight another day.

And since the fish don't suffer for hours in nets

This meat is of a high quality.