Who are the criminals, what do they steal and how much damage do they cause?
Ocean criminals can be either of the three categories:
- Those who actually break the law
- Those who legally speaking don’t break the law, but definitely cause damage
- Activists that in fact break the law (social order etc.) but may move society in the right direction
The thieves
At No. 1 is probably illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. This is classic stealing with enormous negative consequences on ecosystems, sustainability of fish stocks and includes modern slavery. IUU activities are responsible for the loss of 11–26 million tonnes of fish each year, which is estimated to have an economic value of US$10–23 billion.
CNBC made this documentary about illegal catch and modern slavery.
Second place? Hard to tell.
Beach thieves are less known, but cause great damage to coastal ecosystems. Organised crime has actually gotten into the sand stealing business, and hundreds of people have been murdered over sand in the last few years.
The Italian mafia is another example. ‘Ndrangheta, a criminal organisation from Calabria, Italy, has been involved in radioactive waste dumping since the 1980s. Ships with toxic and radioactive waste have been sunk off the Italian coast.
There is much more to steal from the ocean, like minerals, oil, gas, marine organisms for medical use, corals, algaes perhaps and more.
Reinhold Gallmetzer at Center for Climate Crime Analysis, writes that it’s time to start prosecuting climate criminals. He points out that “prosecuting climate scofflaws as criminals under laws that already exist has been sorely under-utilised”.
He calls for innovative approaches to report climate crimes by collecting publicly available information and leads through open-source investigation techniques; collecting additional information through targeted requests and crowd sourcing; conducting legal and forensic analysis of information in light of potential.
The UNODC Global Maritime Crime Programme assists Member States in enhancing and coordinating their efforts against maritime crime. In 2019, UNODC issued a manual for criminal justice practitioners.
The “criminals”
Not directly breaking the law, the no. 1 “criminal” is clearly the oil industry. Historically a blessing for the modern world, but that changed. People working in the oil industry are as decent as any other worker. However, lawsuits are filed against oil companies for systematically and intentionally misleading consumers about the role their products play in causing climate change.
ExxonMobil is one example. Last year, the Massachusetts high court ruled that the US’s largest oil company must face a trial over accusations that it lied about the climate crisis and covered up the fossil fuel industry’s role in worsening environmental devastation.
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest in history, led to a $20 billion settlement in 2015. 12 years later, operator BP is still fighting hundreds of lawsuits.
And then you have the super rich “criminals” with their private jets and hyper consumption.
In 2015, the Netherlands’ supreme court ruled that the government had explicit duties to protect its citizens’ human rights in the face of climate change and must reduce emissions. Since the landmark ruling, lawsuits against climate crime have become more common.
Stealing from the poor
The market for marine biotechnology is growing fast. So are the worries about who will own the rights. After all, most of what is taken from the ocean is from international waters, outside countries’ exclusive economic zones. Anyone who wants to develop products and make money from international waters can do that. Developing countries fear that the rich ones will take most of the earnings.
For example, 12.998 genetic sequences from marine organisms are patented. Chemical giant BASF has patented 47 per cent.
The heroic “criminals”
Climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion are often silenced in court. Their methods are controversial, but blocking traffic and parliaments, and throwing paint on artworks or gluing themselves to Picassos is frankly speaking nothing compared to destroying the natural world. As The Guardian writes “It’s not ‘the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ if campaigners cannot explain their motivations to a jury”
Without civil resistance, who change’s the world?
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