Summary of findings from the Esperanza's expedition, September -
December 2011. During the three-month 'Defending Our Pacific'
expedition, the Esperanza monitored the Pacific Commons and
visited Pago Pago in American Samoa, Nauru, and Port Moresby in
Papua New Guinea. In December, Greenpeace and the government of
Palau conducted a joint fisheries enforcement operation in
Palau's national waters. Greenpeace assisted in apprehending and
detaining a licensed vessel engaged in illegal, unreported and
unregulated fishing, failing to report via its vessel monitoring
system and catching and finning sharks, a practice banned in
Palauan waters. The Esperanza encountered 63 fishing vessels in
total during the expedition, including an overt, illegal,
stateless and unmarked purse seine vessel operating with six
other support vessels in what appeared to be a group operation.
Fishing vessels were also sighted transiting through Pacific
countries' waters. Catches of sharks were particularly high on a
number of vessels; in s