Protesters campaigning against purse seine fishing in the Cook Islands hope to table a petition to ban the practice in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone in parliament next month.
A protest against purse seine fishing in Rarotonga, Cook Islands in April 2015 Photo: Phillipa Webb / Cook Islands News
The director of the NGO Te Ipukarea Society, Kelvin Passfield, says the petition has already gained about 1,000 signatures and he hopes to have 3,000 when it's presented to parliament.
The Cook Island News reports Mr Passfield saying about 500 people attended a protest against purse seine fishing in Rarotonga last weekend.
The clerk of parliament, John Tangi, says he will arrange for his staff to check the credibility of the petition's signatures when it's handed to him, before passing it on to the prime minister to decide a course of action.