When a bottom trawler gets rumbled in the Tasman Sea, it causes a thunderstorm in New York...
With all the media coverage the Rainbow Warrior has been getting worldwide, we've had people sending emails, wondering about how weird it feels to be in the middle of nowhere, yet still at the centre of attention. While we were discovering bottom trawlers in the Tasman, the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea (UNICPOLOS) has been happening New York. Greenpeace have a crack team in attendance, working round the clock on pushing for a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling. Thanks to them, the conference delegates know exactly what we've been doing on the Rainbow Warrior.
We've been in constant communication with the NYC crew, with emails and phone calls bouncing back and forth across the Pacific Ocean, so we've been getting a good sense of what's being achieved by everyone involved. Earlier this week, our onboard campaigner, Carmen did a 3am press conference by phone to the UN in New York. As she was waiting to be patched through, the UN technician asked her 'So where are you phoning from?'. When Carmen answered 'I'm in the middle of the Tasman Sea', he was blown away. 'Wow... man, that's so cool!'.
Cool it may be. But we need more than mere coolness to do this job - Greenpeace are in both the Tasman and the UN to remind the UN policy makers that they, and national governments, are the stewards of the oceans. The NY team have presented the UN with a petition of over 6000 signatures, and we want them to realise the impact of bottom trawling, and learn from what we've discovered. Some countries are already on board - Costa Rica, Thailand and Palau have all called for an immediate moratorium on bottom trawling in the plenary session, while many other countries have shown support.
But it still feels strange. While there's several seasoned sea-dogs on board the Rainbow Warrior, many of us have never spent so long at sea. We haven't seen land in two weeks, so things like trees, cars and horizontal floors have already become abstract ideas rather than 'real' things. Then there's the fact that there's 25 of us cooped up on a 55m long ship. It never feels too busy or packed, unless we're all milling around the mess. It got so hectic last night, that Chris was comparing it to 'human Tetris'. Apart from the occasional trawlerman, we've seen no one else for a couple of weeks.
As we head back to port, I can imagine the tearful disclosures amongst the crew; 'I think... it's time we saw other people... all of us'. Then, as the Rainbow Warrior draw up the wharf, 'look, look, I see another person, whoohoo!'. I jest, of course: we're getting along like a house on fire. We're really just one big happy family... albeit a rather strange one.
