CCH board president Colleen Heyer, board member Puanani Anderson-Fung, and Executive Director Jonee Peters joined the crew and staff of Greenpeace USA aboard the ship Rainbow Warrior 3 to learn of their latest campaigns and celebrate Hawaiian Community Based Conservation. We enjoyed three events, and our Executive Director was invited to a Marine Conservation Policy Forum.
The first event on August 26th, called Huaka‘i – One Ocean, One Earth, was hosted by KUA (Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo) and Greenpeace sharing with us the process of establishing, importance of, and maintaining CBSFA, or Community Based Subsistence Fishing Areas. They invited CBSFA practitioners from Hawai‘i Island, Maui, and Kauai who spoke on the challenges and victories in their specific locations.
Greenpeace’s Beyond Seafood Campaign was the second event, held on August 28th. Illegal fishing practices were highlighted in a film called “Before you Eat”, exposing the exploitation of hired fishers that were trapped into the modern day slavery system while working on foreign vessels. After the screening, we heard from a panel which included individuals from Greenpeace and an Indonesian labor rights representative.
The last event, held on September 10th, was about understanding the threats of deep sea mining (DSM) . We watched a film titled “Deep Rising”, which took us through the development of DSM, the threats, and showed creatures of the deep oceans. This film was narrated and produced by Jason Momoa. The night ended with a panel discussion from Hawai‘i’s active advocates against deep sea mining.
The Greenpeace staff and crew also sailed to Maui and Moloka‘i to learn and work alongside the community. We thank the staff and crew of the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior 3 for joining Hawai‘i’s fight to save our ocean, and to learn about our struggles in Hawai‘i.
