BLUE Investigations

BLUE Investigations works to research, expose and combat harmful and unsustainable practices affecting our oceans.

Since the outset, BLUE Investigations has tackled the continued overfishing of yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean, as well as deep-sea mining and human rights abuses in the Western Pacific.

In 2018, one and a half million metric tons of yellowfin tuna were caught worldwide. These valuable, highly migratory fish that swim across the jurisdiction of many countries, as well as the high seas, require international co-operation for their conservation. However, many of the regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs) responsible for these stocks are ineffective and toothless, and this has led to widespread mismanagement and unlawful overfishing. BLUE Investigations has been exposing the mismanagement of yellowfin tuna in the Indian Ocean by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC). BLUE has also teamed up with WWF, Bloom Association and Sharkproject to call for a full and independent investigation into deaths and human rights abuses in the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC). This followed the death and suspected murder of Eritara Aatii, the eighth-known fisheries observer to die or go missing in the region since 2009. BLUE will continue to push for transparency in the investigation and reporting of these shocking cases of human rights violations and observer deaths at sea.

2020 saw BLUE Investigations broaden its scope to include deep-sea mining. The deep ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet, making up 95 per cent of all habitable space. With less than one per cent of it explored, it is estimated that two-thirds of its species have yet to be discovered. In addition to being home to uniquely-evolved creatures, the deep sea also helps to regulate our climate, and it fuels fisheries that feed billions. There is no place on Earth that we know less about, yet this reservoir of biodiversity is at risk of being irreparably damaged by deep-sea mining.

Credits:

Tuna fishing: Alex Hofford / Greenpeace 

Deep-sea creatures: Alexander Semenov