Deja vu, anyone? Our flagship, the Rainbow Warrior is pulling away from Prince's Wharf, Auckland, the crew poised for a pursuit of trawlers wrecking the ocean floor. Bottom trawling is the most destructive fishing practice in the world - and it's destroying the largest pool of undiscovered life on Earth....
It's a familiar scene. Exactly a year ago, the crew of the Rainbow Warrior - myself included - left Auckland to track down bottom trawlers in the Tasman Sea. We found them, hundreds of miles west of the New Zealand coast, dragging their nets across the Challenger Plateau. We documented the activities of seven ships - six from New Zealand, and one registered in Belize - as they trawled seamounts for their target species of orange roughy. We watched them raising tonnes of fish, corals - and even rocks from the ocean floor! Dozens of species of 'unwanted' deep sea life, snapped from habitat 1000km below us, were turfed over the side of the bottom trawlers, internal organs blown apart from the violent change in pressure. Hundreds of albatross - a bird usually considered a loner, drifting at the mercy of the winds - squabbled over the dead or dying fish.
The crew of the Rainbow Warrior bore witness to this pitiful waste of deep sea life, sending video and photographs to our colleagues at the UN, where the laws of the sea were under discussion. But although we were supported in our demands for a moratorium on bottom trawling by scientists worldwide - no action was taken.
At the beginning of October, the largest of our ships, the Esperanza, left Falmouth in Cornwall, rounded the coast of Ireland, and trekked into the Rockall-Hatton area of the North Atlantic. I was fortunate to be on board, as was Vanessa, one our NZ campaigners. For six gruelling weeks, the crew of the Esperanza battled with relentless force 10 gales as we shadowed Spanish and Lithuanian trawlers while they strip-mined the Atlantic's seamounts. In one sobering afternoon, 41 dead sharks were dumped out through the bycatch chute of a Spanish bottom trawler - along with loads of other species. On another occasion, a team of activists spent a rough night on the deck of a Lithuanian-registered bottom trawler, and an attempt to prevent it from setting its nets.
While the Esperanza toiled on the high-seas - our New-York-based people were raising the issue at the UN, this time at the General Assembly. Again, there was lots of talk - but neither the UN or national governments offered any real commitment.
So we're back - and ready to sail again.
There's some familiar faces on board, from both last year's expedition, and the North Atlantic trip. We'll introduce the crew in the coming weeks, such as Pete Willcox, captain of the first Rainbow Warrior when it was bombed in Auckland harbour, 20 years ago. Back then, the Warrior was preparing to confront nuclear testing in the Pacific. The spirit of that event still endures - the current Warrior's task of bearing witness to the obliteration of our oceans.
Deja vu - we've said it before - we're saying it again - time is running out for deep sea life.
- Dave
Comments
Hey guys
Just letting you know that our school (Rangitoto College) is doing a big unit on your organisation as an example of a Social Action and we are keeping an eye on your progress and the 20 year anniversary activities. Over 100 students are studying the consequences of your actions and most seem VERY impressed! Lets hope one or two will be working on the boat in 10 years time! Keep up the awesome work.
Sarah
Posted by: Sarah Wakeford at June 2, 2005 06:52 PM
Hi All,
An explaination about my last post: I didn't say Peter's 'email' stinks, what I meant is that the email SERVER stinks! It won't let me get anything through! I need to go back and read about these swells he just told me about, when I can steal the computer back from my son. But just to keep you on your toes, Peter, last night? Yankees 1, Sox 17. hehehe... :) Love, Janet
Posted by: Janet at May 30, 2005 02:14 PM
Just wanted to say thank goodness for people like you, if no one cared where would it all end the bottom of the ocean is just as important as the earth we stand on, the damge being done is unknow by many, the coral reef needs to be saved as do many of the fish and mammals, after all we are one, could we survive without it all this.
Posted by: jane at May 30, 2005 11:52 AM
Dave - excellent night photo - you are making me green with envy.
Vaya con Dios, Rainbow Warrior! Why do we never learn?
I guess that's why we need you to keep on keepin' on and showing the world.
Kate ( : =
Posted by: Kate Buckingham at May 28, 2005 09:05 PM
Jerry says it all; we are not anti-fishing, but some fishing practices, such as bottom trawling (and dredging) are so environmentally destructive that they should be outlawed.
First things first; preserve what remains in international waters, and see to it that a moratorium on bottom trawling occurs there. THEN, see to it that this barbaric practice is outlawed, in both international waters and then within the waters of any EEZ.
Go Greenpeace! Go Rainbow Warrior!
Posted by: Steve O'Shea at May 28, 2005 10:03 AM
Go team, i will be watching out for you good luck and fair winds ric
Posted by: ric o at May 28, 2005 04:34 AM
Hey there,
Well, just keep on saying it until the message gets through......safe trip, J
Posted by: Jen at May 28, 2005 02:58 AM
We will be watching your progress.
We wish we could join you out there.
We have spoken with Roger Grace about this very real and unknown problem to the general public. Somehow you need to be able to show the general public just what is going on out there before, like most things its to late.
I,m sure there would be a human out cry if people knew the truth obout bottom trawling practies
Ivan.
Keep up the good work! Hopefully people will start to listen. Peter, your email stinks, but the link worked!! Love ya & see you in September with the maggots! :)
Janet
Posted by: Janet at May 27, 2005 04:41 PM
Bottom Trawling is an appalling method of fishing! There is no need for it. As a former fisherman in the ocean's around NZ I have seen the destruction caused by these factory boats first hand. It is disgraceful to see what comes out the by-catch chute. The method of fishing I was using was bottom longlining, which causes little or no harm to the sea bottom and is a very targetted method with little by catch. If our lines were set where a bottom trawler had been working it was a waste of time, as it was like setting them in a desert. Trawling is a very aggressive method of fishing and the quality of the product caught is low. How could it be anything but low when it is dragged around, squashed in with tons of other fish and then hauled to the surface? Good on you Greenpeace, good luck and safe sailing.
Posted by: Jerry Millichip at May 27, 2005 12:25 AM
It's good to see Rainbow Warrior back in NZ, though a sad reason to have you here. Keep up the excellent work.
