Take the islands of New Zealand. Beyond the farmed landscape are wild places where nature can flourish. More than a quarter of the country is set aside in national parks and other reserves. In contrast, less than 1% of the Pacific Ocean is protected. Instead, it is divided up into fishing zones. Each island nation owns the fishing rights up to 200 miles offshore. Beyond these territorial waters are the so-called "high seas". Bounded by national waters, the high-seas pockets of the western Pacific cover half a million square miles. The surrounding island nations would like these pockets to be declared marine reserves - safe havens where migratory fish can breed. The idea is being promoted by Greenpeace.
Greenpeace made their name campaigning to save the whales. They're now responding to concerns about the future of the Pacific's fish.
The high-seas pockets they're now patrolling were once a fishing free-for-all. Although now regulated by international treaty, they are rarely policed, so Greenpeace have assigned a monitoring role to themselves. This is the Esperanza - Greenpeace's largest vessel. The crew are searching for any sign of fishing activity but it's a huge area. After two weeks at sea, a blip on the radar indicates a fishing vessel is near. Greenpeace want to discover where the vessel is from and what it's been catching. They launch their inflatable boats. Although Greenpeace film their own activities, we put our cameraman on board to ensure an unbiased record of events. As these are international waters, any nation can fish here legally, and many do, including the US, the European Union, Japan and other East Asian countries. This is a large Taiwanese long-liner. Taiwan has a large fishing fleet, with many vessels fishing almost exclusively in international waters. The encounter turns out to be entirely amicable. Visitors are rare for fishermen on the high seas, and these men are not aware they have anything to hide. Greenpeace ask if they can inspect the vessel's catch and the fishermen oblige. In a freezer, there are several dozen frozen sharks but the valuable parts are being stored elsewhere. The shark fin, what do you...? Do you sell them in Taiwan too? No, no. In another freezer are a dozen sacks of shark fins. The fins from hundreds of sharks. By documenting these catches, Greenpeace hope to highlight why it's necessary to declare these high-sea pockets marine reserves, and to back the growing movement from Pacific Islanders for protection. This would help to protect all ocean life, especially the valuable tuna.