Boat International - February 2016

A

t home and overseas, Greenpeace UK’s oceans team

has successfully campaigned on a number of key

issues over the past year. In Australia, it deterred

investorsfromfundingamega-minethatthreatenedto

cause devastation to part of the Great Barrier Reef. In the

Pacific, the campaign to save the vaquita, the world ’s most

endangered cetacean, helped mobilise international pressure

to implement a ban on the use of gillnets. And through

a combination of political lobbying, legal challenges and

investigative work, “we’ve been able to give a big voice to

small-scale fishers”, says Willie Mackenzie, Greenpeace

UK’s longstanding oceans campaigner, not least in securing

far-reaching reform of Europe’s fisheries laws that will benefit

both marine ecosystems and the coastal communities that

depend on them for their livelihoods.

Mackenzie is quick to acknowledge, however, that

Greenpeace’s successes depend on collaborations and

coalitions he and his fellow campaigners forge with other

NGOs and marine organisations, and campaigns such as

Selfridges’ Project Ocean, the BBC’sBig Blue Liveand Hugh

Fearnley-Whittingstall’sHugh’s Fish Fight.

As to the diference Greenpeace UK is making globally,

he points to its eforts to clean up the tuna industry. “We have

a lot of diferent abilities,” Mackenzie says, “intervening at

all stages of the supply chain. For example, we can be under

cover on the boats, tackling overfishing; and under cover in

processingplants.Wecanbeinthemarketplacelooking at

what’s on supermarket shelves, holding retailers and brands

toaccount.We’vegotallthebigUKsupermarketchains

sourcing their tuna sustainably now.

“It’samatterofgettingthepeopleprovidingthe fish to

do the right thing. I think we’ve really turned the corner on

thatintheUK.Therewasatimewhentheydidn’tseem to

understand that frozen fish and canned fish were also fish. But

now the major supermarkets are falling over themselves to be

seen as being as good as possible. Even companies like Tesco,

whichhashadalotofbadpress,arewayahead[compared

with a lot of their international peers]”.

He also points to Greenpeace UK’s work in the Arctic: the

signing of an international agreement to prevent unregulated

fishingthatwassignedinOsloinJuly2015,animportant step

towards securing the region’s status as a marine sanctuary;

and Shell ’s decision to abandon its exploration and drilling

operations in the Chukchi Sea. As Greenpeace UK’s executive

director, John Sauven, said at the time: “Big oil has sustained

an unmitigated defeat. They had a budget of billions, we had

a movement of millions. For three years we faced them down,

and the people won.”

Winner – Judges’ Award*

GREENPEACE UK

OCEANS TEAM

Represented by Willie Mackenzie, oceans campaigner

For – its outstanding contribution to campaigns to save importantmarine habitats,

protect endangered species, create marine reserves and push

for important fisheries governance reforms

THE OCEAN AWARDS 2016

*Criteria – the Judges’ Award is for a campaigning group, company or individual, outside

of the previous categories, whom the judges wish to recognise for their outstanding

overall efforts in marine conservation throughout the year

http://www.boatinternational.com | February 2016

Read more about

the Ocean Awards:

boatinternational.

com/ocean-awards