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3 October 2006

Victory! Russia acts on trawler girls

By Ivona, onboard the Arctic Sunrise


The trawler girls - not going anywhere for a while
© Greenpeace/Jensen
The first thing I heard in the mess room this morning was: “WE WON”. “We Won?”, I repeated to myself still half asleep. “We won”, I said again, this time more awake. After a moment I fully realized what this meant for us.

We received a letter from the Russian authorities late last night. Consequently, the events of the last 24 hours mean that our demands regarding the “trawler sisters” (as I outlined in my last report) are being met by the Russian authorities. They are as follows:

1) the ships and the crew are going to be detained for as long as it is necessary to make a substantiated decision about this crime

2) An active ban on the provisions and services was applied, until a final decision is made

3) An inspection of the ships was also ordred to evaluate the situation.

We are absolutely impressed and happy, and a bit surprised that our lobbying here was so swift and smooth, and fast. It was something reminescant of the reaction to the Probo Koala case last week! I feel we are breaking all kinds of beaucratic red-tape. This is a very meaningful victory in our fight with fishing pirates!

Russia, a member of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission, reacted positively, which is very promising for future circumstances dealing with pirate fisheries. We sincerely hope our work here will set a precedent on how countries around the world react to fishing piracy. We also hope that the events of the last hours will resurrect the importance of the NEAFC rules and regulations.

Despite our victory today, we are going to follow next steps in this case, and we will have an eye out for the “trawler girls”. We hope they are decomissioned, and can steal no more.

   

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