On Saturday we had an open ship day in Svolvær, the largest town in the region, and an important one for the fishing industry. We had over 100 people visit the ship, including local fishermen, school children, the coast guard and tourists. Everyone agreed that the region is under serious threat from increasing oil tanker traffic, over-fishing and bad fisheries policy. Most people say that the pressure to open up the region for oil drilling is a disaster waiting to happen for the local fishing industry and the natural environment.

The message we are getting from coastal fishermen is that the deep-sea trawling fleet, operating in the Barents Sea with increasingly large quotas and illegal activities, poses a real threat to the fish stocks that are critical for the survival of fishermen in the Lofoten region. Most consider our demands for closure of large areas to destructive fishing practices, factory trawlers and oil development as reasonable. We have also been informed by both fishermen and the coast guard that the problems of illegal fishing, illegal transfers at sea to freighters, as well as illegal dumping of target fish in favour of better quality fish is more widespread and serious that we had thought.

Today we sailed to Gravdal some two hours southwest of Svolvær where we will have an open ship tomorrow, continue our dialogue with the public and end off the day with a public presentation and meeting with local residents at the Gravdal school for fisheries management.

- Brad Smith, oceans campaigner