Activists head for foreign trawlers

Greenpeace activists harassing a Nelson trawler in the Tasman Sea have now sailed on to target foreign trawlers.

The protest ship Rainbow Warrior has sailed away from Amaltal's deep sea trawler Ocean Reward, to hunt for more bottom trawlers from other countries, Greenpeace says.

Nelson-based Amaltal filed for an injunction in the High Court in Auckland yesterday, after two days of high seas drama with Greenpeace activists earlier this week.

The company sought an injunction to prevent Greenpeace from interfering with the Ocean Reward's operation.

The campaigners had been tampering with the boat's nets to stop it trawling for orange roughy in international waters of the Tasman Sea, about 500km off the coast of New Zealand, protesting that the fishing method was destroying biodiversity on the ocean floor.

The High Court in Auckland will make a decision next week.

Greenpeace said Rainbow Warrior had already steamed away from Ocean Reward when it received notice yesterday that Amaltal was applying for an injunction.

"New Zealand is not the only country involved in bottom trawling in international waters," said Greenpeace campaigner Carmen Gravatt.

"We are now taking the Rainbow Warrior further out into the high seas to look for other vessels to show the world the range of countries involved in deep sea destruction."

Amaltal director Andrew Talley was not available this morning to comment on whether the company would push ahead seeking an injunction now that the Greenpeace activists had sailed away from its boat.

The New Zealand Seafood Industry Council said the Greenpeace "assault" on Ocean Reward was "dangerous and disgraceful".

Council chief executive Owen Symmans said the fishing techniques used by the New Zealand industry minimised impact on the biodiversity of the ocean bottom.

He said boats fly trawl gear above the sea bottom to target fish, rather than dragging heavy trawl gear across the floor.

Greenpeace has dismissed the fishing industry's defence of bottom trawling, saying it was being dishonest with its claims.

- nzpa