Our expedition into the Tasman Sea was a success - with the sun shining and the sea like a millpond, we were able to observe bottom trawlers hauling up objects - fish, coral and even rocks - from the sea floor. We went out there to do a job, and we pulled it off, showing the world that these fishing practices are destructive to deep sea life.

On board the Rainbow Warrior, there's a sense that a chapter is closing... but a new one begins for everyone. Some of the crew are staying on board, for the Rainbow Warrior's next voyage. Some are heading home, others are taking some time off. There's no sense of finality though, there's way too much to do. We haven't stopped bottom trawling on the high seas!

While we were out on the Tasman, last week, the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) took place in New York. Several organisations, including Greenpeace, had hoped to secure a recommendation to the General Assembly for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling.

Despite our work at sea, the efforts of Greenpeace people attending the UN, the thousands of cyberactivists who helped out, and the collaboration of other non-governmental organisations, the UN failed to make this crucial recommendation, mostly because of unhelpful blocking by certain countries. However, other nations from around the World expressed full support for a prohibition, including Norway, Thailand, Costa Rica, The Republic of Palau, and Trinidad and Tobago.

While we're all disappointed by the UN outcome, we're not demoralised. This issue isn't going to go away - Greenpeace will be continuing its defence of the millions of rare, protected and undiscovered species in the deep sea.

But back to our return to New Zealand, after more than three weeks away from civilisation. So much has happened on board the Rainbow Warrior in that time, that even things that took place on board events seem to be in the distant past, and the realities of land-based life are even more distant.

I joked in an earlier blog about the crew 'seeing other people'. We're looking forward to seeing lots of people this Saturday - docked at Queens Wharf in Wellington, the Rainbow Warrior crew be letting down the gangway to the public for an official Open Day 10am-4pm. So if you're in Wellington, come along and say hello to us!

Dave Walsh, Web Editor