10 Jul 2004

Greenpeace flagship protests against tuna pirates

9:15 am on 10 July 2004

The flagship of the environmental group Greenpeace is in Fiji today to commemorate the violent sinking of its predecessor.

It's nineteen years to the day since two French secret service agents blew up the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland harbour, killing a Portuguese photographer.

Greenpeace says the visit of the new Rainbow Warrior to Suva shows that the group's still active in the Pacific region.

But now protests against French nuclear testing have ended, the overfishing of tuna is top of the campaigners' agenda.

A Greenpeace spokesman, Martini Gotje, says fisheries in other parts of the planet are collapsing, driving fishing boats into the Pacific.

Mr Gotje says Pacific nations need to get a fair share for one of their most important resources.