We spotted the first ship, the Amaltal Voyager, in Tuesday's early morning light, and hailed them by radio. We explained who we were, and stated that we would not interfere with their fishing in any way. We called them several times, but got no response. Interestingly, the Amaltal Fishing Company is a shareholder of the Orange Roughy Management Company, whose headquarters was the site of a recent protest by Greenpeace.

Two inflatables were launched from the Rainbow Warrior, the crews including Roger, our photographer, and Wooly, our videographer, who were later joined by lead campaigner Carmen and Kat, our marine biologist. The Amaltal Voyager was trawling at the time and was moving quite slowly, so it was easily reached in the high-speed Greenpeace boats. Our boats stood off all morning, monitoring the situation. After 1pm, the trawler began pulling its nets up. As the 'cod end' of the net was hauled in through the stern of the trawler, our guys tried to get footage of the fairly small catch as well as the bycatch/ (the unwanted fish caught in the net). It wasn't to be - their view was obscured as the Amaltal Voyager swung round suddenly, causing the inflatables to take evasive action. As the trawler steamed off with its haul on board, our folks returned to the Rainbow Warrior.

Later in the afternoon, we continued our trawler bonanza, locating two more ships, the West Bay and the Corsair, both from New Zealand. Again we tried to contact the vessels, stating our intentions, but they didn't seem to want to talk to us! Still, we launched an inflatable, and sent a team over for a look. As the West Bay hauled up its nets, there was a chance to get a few photographs and video of the catch being brought on board.

The crew of the Corsairwere also hauling, and our team headed down to get a look. At a glance, it seemed that much less than half of the fish netted were orange roughy, the trawler's target fish. While it wasn't possible to get close enough to inspect the fish caught in the net, it was possible to see lots of white fish, and disturbingly, the muzzles of several shark could be seen poking through the net. None of the trawlers were bringing up catches of any great size - indication of the devastation caused to the area?

Our discovery couldn't have been better timed - while we were finding trawlers, a Greenpeace delegation is taking part in talks at the United Nations, trying to secure a 'time out' on bottom trawling on the high seas.

Caught!