Around 20 Greenpeace activists protested yesterday in Cartagena against tuna fishing in the Mediterranean. The organisation repeated its demand that this practice be abandoned immediately. The activists simulated a cemetery hanging crosses outside a tuna fish farm.

According to Greenpeace the situation is urgent because the numbers of red tuna fish in the Mediterranean are dangerously low. It said that measures should be taken to recuperate tuna stocks. The organisation claims that they are running out due to pirate fishing and disastrous management. It said that a recovery plan should be implemented immediately and special protected areas of for tuna fish should be set up.

In 2005 tuna fishing amounted to around 50,000 tonnes which is 56% above the set quota of 32,000. Greenpeace said that this level of illegal fishing could be linked to the high number of tuna fish farms in the Mediterranean, most of which are in Murcia.