Environmental activist group Greenpeace harassed a bottom trawler in the South Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand on Friday, June 27.
Greenpeace activists launched into small boats from their vessel Rainbow Warrior and manoeuvred dangerously alongside the New Zealand-registered trawler Amaltal Atlantis while the latter was in the Chatham Rise on the afternoon (local time) of Friday.
Upon reaching Amaltal Atlantis, the activists used "non-toxic paint" to write the words "ocean killer" on the trawler's hull as part of their photo ops.
Greenpeace Aotearoa Spokesperson Juan Parada said the activity on Friday was done to, "expose the bottom trawling industry for what they are: ocean killers."
Parada claimed that the bottom trawlers owned by New Zealand-based seafood company the Talley's Group, "bulldoze everything in their path, including killing precious marine life from coral to fur seals, dolphins and seabirds."
Like the UK Government, Greenpeace has cited TV naturalist David Attenborough's recently released documentary film Ocean, pointing out, "shocking footage of bottom trawling."
Parada described the harassment operation as a "peaceful action" taken to, "call out this destruction and demand that bottom trawling stop."
However, amid calls by activists and their supporters in various governments to ban bottom trawling, fishing associations such as the Scottish Fishermen's Federation and the Alaska Pollock Fishery Alliance insist that science-based fisheries management programs rather than "blanket bans" would provide an, "appropriate response to fishery challenges."