No safety net
A dive from a Philippine fishing boat offers alarming lessons in the dangers of overfishing and the risks run by the compression divers sent below to speed up the process, writes Alex Hofford. Pictures by Alex Hofford/Greenpeace.
It’s a rare privilege to dive on the net of a tuna fishing boat.
Tuna fisheries often exist hundreds of kilometres from land, far beyond the reach of recreational divers. The Philippines’ tuna fleet has long overfished its own waters and is turning its attention to the less-regulated high seas.
When I awake to witness marine wildlife being rounded up on an industrial scale, I am 400 kilometres from land, on the Philippine fishing boat Vergene. The crew employs gigantic nets and fish aggregating devices anchored to the seabed by cables eight kilometres long.
Below the surface, nets bulge with dead fish and by-catch; the sea clouds with oily blood and guts; predators such as marlin and sharks are never far away. What I hadn’t expected to witness 25 metres down, though, was a fellow human being.
I am astonished to see a foot pushing up against the black nylon mesh from the inside of a net. Like an underwater shepherd with prune-skinned toes, a pa-aling diver is busy inside, scaring the fish towards the surface.
