Hello from Wellington, where the weather has, well, become wet and windy! We're in the middle of doing more 'open boats' at the moment - fair play to everyone who's been braving the elements to visit the Rainbow Warrior. As this phase of our deep sea life campaign rolls to a close, we're leaving Wellington today, en route to Auckland for the 20th anniversary of the sinking of the first Rainbow Warrior. This weblog will be coming to an end - but you can follow the adventures of the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand via the Greenpeace NZ website. Thanks to everyone's who's been following the weblog over the last few weeks - especially all of you who took the time to post comments. The crew of the Rainbow Warrior have been delighted, excited and amazed by the huge response, which has been a source of inspiration while we've been out at sea.
On Thursday night, New Zealand TV channel TVNZ showed an interesting feature on bottom trawling, on current affairs program 20/20. With interviews from both marine biologist Steve O'Shea and the head of Amaltal Fishing, Andrew Talley, it was pretty exciting stuff, and made for dramatic viewing. The segment showed our protests on the high seas, as well as damning footage of deep sea 'graveyards' - areas devastated by bottom trawling - and our footage of gorgonian coral being dumped off the Waipori.
On one hand, both Greenpeace and Steve O'Shea were shown to point the (fish) finger at the fishing industry for destroying deep sea life through bottom trawling. On other, Andrew Talley was sticking to his (spud)guns, claiming that our statements were "unsubstantiated claptrap".
But the thing is, there is lots of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, such as the coral dumping and the bycatch we collected, as well as other footage shown by 20/20. Mr Talley's response to this was quite simple - he says we're not telling the truth. Which is pretty incredible - how much more truth does he need than footage of massive corals from the ocean floor being hauled off bottom trawlers?
It's fitting that this piece aired just as we arrived in New Zealands Capital. With all this clear evidence on the table and now in peoples lounge rooms, the government will have to act. The future of deep sea life is in their hands.
Our voyage grows closer to its end. This morning, we got our wake-up call from Abri at 7:30am, and stumbled out on deck, rubbing eyes and nursing hot drinks in the chilly dawn air. We were already in sight of Wellington, and the harbour pilot was on board, directing the Rainbow Warrior toward's Queen's Wharf, right in the downtown area. Again, this morning, the setting moon caught our attention - directly off the bow, and above the city. Behind us, the sun was beginning to rise, and off to port, I could hear people beeping out salutes on their car horns.
As we drew alongside the wharf, the sun was started to flash off the skyscrapers, and bemused morning commuters stopped walking and watched us arrive. Some even detoured down to see us coming in, coffee in one hand, briefcase in the other. As we completed our arrival, and pottered about the ship doing our chores, people stopped by to chat, or ask questions.
"What flag is that you're flying, and why", asked one man, pointing up at the red, white and blue of the flag on our mizzen mast.
"It's Dutch," I answered
"It's what?"
"Dutch. The Rainbow Warrior is registered in Amsterdam."
"Ah... thanks!" He smiled, waved, and moved on.
Later, the sun grew higher, and the day turned into a hot one - t-shirt weather in winter! This certainly defies the Wellington's weather reputation - wet, windy and wild. Last year we were almost washed and blown away when we arrived here.
Later, a woman and young man walked by. They stopped, and pointed to the cables running from the masts to the deck;
"Excuse me, my son would like to know what those furry things up there are for?"
"They're for protecting the sails from being damaged. But sometimes we like tell people that we use them to clean rainbows". I winked at her, in conspiratorial manner.
She laughed, her son grinned sheepishly, and she told me that she's a Greenpeace supporter.
"Come on down on Saturday or Sunday and visit the ship, we'll show you around!"
Yes indeed - another two days of open boats this Sunday in Wellington, from 10am-4pm both Saturday and Sunday. See you there!
Over the last couple of days, we've been making our way from Nelson, on the South Island, to Wellington on the North Island. Our exit from Nelson was a little bumpy - straight into the tail end of some fairly rough weather. As we left the harbour, it was rough enough that a surfer lying on his board in the breakers managed to wave to us!
As we headed out through the bay, the Rainbow Warrior was rolling in some fairly vicious swells, which made eating dinner a little testing - just trying to keep food on the plate was tough work.
By 8pm, we ducked into Croisilles Harbour, a large natural inlet surrounded by craggy hills, where we dropped anchor for the night. Some dolphins were playing around the ship as the Tasman Swimstop Team got ready for yet another dip in the ocean - in the dark! We didn't stay in long this time - with all the cold fresh water running off the hills, the water was rather... cold.
Long white clouds lay low around the hills, eerily visible even in the dark, and we wondered what the place would look in the morning. I've wanted to visit the beautiful Marlborough Sounds for some time - and I hadn't managed to explore them on my last visit to New Zealand. The sounds are a maze of inlets on the north end of the South Island - the ferry from Picton to Wellington has to navigate its way through one of them, Queen Charlotte Sound.
In the morning I woke up pretty early, but dozed off into some semi-dream state, until I was awoken by Carmen.
"Dave, grab your camera and come quick to see the moon setting!"
I jumped out of bed - not something that I'm very good at - and ran up on deck with my camera and tripod. I'd have to work fast - a beautiful golden moon was about to drop behind the mountains, its light shimmering on the water beside the Warrior. I tried a couple of long exposures - but even with the slow lazy rolls of the ship, the photographs were way too blurred.
No matter - the sun was already beginning to drop hints from the other end of the inlet, through a veil of modest clouds. Even though it was still pretty early in the morning, about half the crew were on deck and the hardcore barbecue team already in full swing. The combined squad of Chris, Logi, Emilse, Logi, Carmen and Mal delivered up a massive feast - eaten out on deck, of course. Poached eggs on toast while watching the sunrise from the deck of a ship in the Marlborough Sounds - perfect.
The day brightened, and the sun tried to burn through the cloud, a large halo could be seen around it - and I did manage to catch this on camera. By mid-morning the sun was warm, and the crew were out cleaning parts of the exterior of the ship. When I had a spare moment, I jumped into one of the small inflatables with Oscar, and we went for a quick circle around the ship - to get some photographs.
Another quick swim, and then it was back to work, up with the anchor and away, making for French Pass - a narrow passage between the mainland and D'Urville Island, which Dean, the NZ Communications Officer, told me has a lot of greenstone rock, which promotes a whole series of plants endemic to the island. The scenery on the way to the pass was beautiful, all classic New Zealand hills and cliffs, erupting out of the sea.
The weather was so warm that we ate out on deck again, and as the hills closed in around us, most of the crew was on deck to enjoy the view.
As we slipped through French Pass and out towards the Cook Strait, one angry little pied oystercatcher did two circuits of the ship, bleating out his territorial song. There were hundreds of birds of various kinds sitting on the calm water, and others diving in for fish. Up on the roof of the bridge - where Luiza, Logi and I were taking photographs, I could see splashing up ahead:
"Dolphins!"
Various twos and threes of dolphins were zipping around - a few joined the ship, briefly, before scooting away again.
By nightfall we entered Port Gore - another beautiful natural harbour, fringed by an amazing sunset.
When you go on a tramp (hike) in the mountains here in New Zealand, you start in the lowlands walking among nikau palms, then as you get higher you head into rimu and rata trees, and then continuing even higher you end up in beech forest that eventually thins out to shrublands and mountains tussocks.
As the altitude changes on a mountain you get different types of plants and animals that have adapted to the conditions. And in much the same way undersea mountains also have different zones with different animals the deeper you go. (They are all 'animals' down there - corals included!... because it's too dark for any plants to photosynthesise.)
These rocky seamounts or plateaus cover less than 4% of the deep sea globally and are the targets for deep sea bottom trawlers. The rest of the deep ocean floor is 'muddy ooze'.
Well, imagine you're way down in the cold darkness of the deep sea, where thickets of bamboo coral glow in the dark when something bumps into it.
An umbrella octopus is brooding her eggs on the side of the coral - they will take around 14 months to hatch.
Suddenly heavy rollers beneath a bottom trawl net rip though. The net takes everything in its path and great plumes of sediment muddy the waters.
Everything that isn't caught up in the net is smashed. As the sediment gradually settles on the devastation, it smothers and kills coral and other animals in the surrounding area.
These are ancient ecosystems that have been unchanged for millennia.
Scientists are saying that 18-52% of species living on each seamount exists there and NOWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. That's why extinction is so easy with bottom trawling.
There is no future in bottom trawling. The trawlers plunder one area, exhaust it, and relentlessly move on to seamount after seamount. Bottom trawling does not sustain life, it does not sustain fish populations and, as the people of New Foundland have unfortunately already found out, it does not sustain jobs.
You'd think that if Talley's, the Seafood Industry Council and the Orange Roughy Management Company really believed in sustainable fishing they'd be on our side. Instead, they're defending the most destructive fishing method ever devised.
Because Greenpeace has created a bit of a stir, we're starting to hear some weird and wild claims from the bottom trawling industry and their mates about how good bottom trawling is.
Well, we thought that might happen, so we've released a report called 'Red Herrings'. It totally debunks the bottom trawling industry's PR spin with good strong science and shocking examples.
For example, did you know that between 1997 and 1998 bottom trawlers trawling in new areas on the South Tasman Rise caught 4,000 tons of orange roughy ... but in doing so they brought up over 10,000 tons of coral that they then dumped over the side!
Well after what feels like a lifetime, we have finally arrived back in New Zealand. Although we are at sea now, in transit to Wellington, we have had a few days in Nelson to start getting used to shore life. It has been quite a shock to realise just how well the campaign has been going while we have been out in the middle of nowhere.
As a radio announcer said to me during an interview, everyone in New Zealand knows about bottom trawling now. Although we get sent lots of media clippings and of course all your web comments, it is hard to truly get a sense of how things run on land.
I have always thought this was going to be a great trip - but now it's really clear just how successful it's been. When we set out on the expedition, I told anyone who would listen, that we were off to make the unseen seen. And that's exactly what we have done.
We gathered images of deep sea destruction so shocking and so irrefutable that it's now impossible for anyone to seriously deny the problem. Now everyone needs to realise that the only way forward is to create a moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters.
So now, on to Wellington, where I will be speaking at the Eco Conference on Friday, about bottom trawling and our voyage to the middle of the Tasman Sea. Stay tuned, there'll be more postings from the Rainbow Warrior in the coming days!
Dave:
Sunny Nelson lived up to its reputation on Sunday. I did the early morning watch on deck, 4-8am. As dawn broke, the sun started burning off the thick fog that had enveloped the harbour, and by 9am, the sun was quite warm. Our open boat day started at 11, so I went for a nap - by the time I awoke, the Rainbow Warrior was full of families, with a long queue stretching across the Wharf. I'll leave it up to Abri and Erin to tell you their experiences...
Abri:
As you might expect, speaking to large crowds of people can be a little scary at first, but after the first few tours you realise that they are just regular people, out on an easy going weekend day to hear a little bit about the Rainbow Warrior. Sunday's weather was much better than Saturday, and occasionally you could even see distant mountains showing off their snow-caps through the mist. The one of the nice things about open days is that you also learn a lot about the ship that you didn't know before.
For example, for the whole day I've been telling people that the ship was once named Grampian Fame, but I didn't know what Grampian meant. And then out of the blue an old man told Roscoe that there is a Grampian mountain range in Scotland that overlooks the very place that the ship was originally built! [Here's a neat little fact that our electrician, Haussy pointed out - one of the hills above Nelson is called 'The Grampians'! - Dave]
It was great to meet so many great new people and I had a lot of fun!
Erin:
As a person who does not relish public speaking at the best of times, I was expecting the task of giving campaign speeches to hundreds of people to be and exhausting and overwhelming ordeal, especially after the three weeks of relative social isolation in the Tasman Sea. While I felt both emotions, I didn't expect was the feeling of inspiration given to me by the responses from the Nelson community to Greenpeace's work. The vast majority of people I spoke to were shocked and concerned by the impact bottom trawling was having on life in the deep sea, and many were eager to find out how they could take action in their own lives to help protect deep sea life. As I gave talks to groups of around twenty during tours of the Rainbow Warrior, there were some who challenged Greenpeace's words and actions over the past few weeks . However rather than becoming arguments between myself and individuals, these questions turned into mini-debates, and I gained the impression of that the people of Nelson were eager to discuss these issues amongst themselves, as well as with Greenpeace.
I felt particularly humbled by the words of one woman who stayed back to chat with me after my last talk. She felt that Greenpeace's activists and campaigners were taking the most direct action possible to help to protect the environment, and wished that she could do the same. But while Greenpeace's actions can help the world to see environmental problems and their solutions, it is the concern and personal action of everyday people at home that wins environmental campaigns in the end. The actions of Individuals are just as important as a high profile protest by Greenpeace.
The biggest kick I got was when I felt a shy tug on my shirt and looked down to see two small boys, one of whom looked up and whispered to me "thank you for looking after the ocean for us." I saw them diligently repeating their actions with every crew member they could identify, and saw my own warm gooey feelings mirrored in their faces.
It's been a busy time in Nelson. Last night, two reggae bands - One Vibe and Wicked Draw, and two DJs -RAS Selector and DJ Bird played a benefit concert for us in a local venue, The Phat Club. Lots of the Rainbow Warrior crew, as well as local activists went along. It was very strange to see Wooly's video footage of bottom trawlers - with Greenpeace inflatables zipping around them - playing in big screen at the back of the stage. But thanks to everyone who was involved or attended!
This morning brought torrential rain - not a good situation when we were throwing the boat open to the public. But the population of Nelson are a hardy lot - we were barely finished setting things up when groups of visitors started arriving in their droves.
I love doing open boats - after weeks of communicating by phone and email, it's both exciting and reassuring to be able to discuss the campaign with people. I think it's one of the most important things we do, as an organisation. I had all kinds of conversations with all kinds of people - children, tourists, environmental scientists, old age pensioners, truck drivers, ex-fishermen, school teachers, even a former Rainbow Warrior ship's doctor. They all seemed very well informed about what we have been doing out in the Tasman Sea.
Because of the inclement weather, we had rigged a canopy over the bridge deck, to keep out visitors dry, so they could look at photos of our work, as well as shots of the coral on board the bottom trawler Waipori. A quick explanation of the campaign from Carmen, then it was down onto the main deck for a look at the inflatables, and if it wasn't too wet, a visit to Dave The Dolphin on the bow. Then some of the NZ team were down below, in the hold, showing a video of our work. It was a busy, busy day - and lots of people stayed for ages, chatting. One lady asked me to explain to her sons the story of the bombing of the first Rainbow Warrior twenty years ago - because they wouldn't believe her. It was very strange to deliver a quick talk on the major event in New Zealand industry to a crowd of Kiwis... and me an Irishman!
Three weeks - it's a long time to be away from land. There were a few jittery knees today as we clambered down the gangway, in Nelson, on New Zealand's South Island, to a warm welcome from our landlubbing colleagues. Nelson is the largest fishing port in Australasia, so it's a natural place for us to visit on our campaign to protect deep sea life.
Nelson has a reputation for sunny weather - but the sky was overcast this morning as we sailed in from the Tasman Sea. This just added to the eerie drama of returning to land - the sea was strangely flat, and the overlapping profiles of mountains on either side blended into the layers of cloud. A pod of dolphins stayed a little way off, breaking the water every minute or so. Out on deck, last minute preparations were being made - decks and windows washed, Protect Deep Sea Life banners secured to the railings.
I found myself wearing four layers of clothes - even Oscar was going around in gloves. After spending most of the trip at more balmy northerly latitudes, Nelson sits down at 41 degrees south, and a chill wind was blowing off the snowy mountains.
Well outside Nelson, the pilot boat arrived - we took the pilot on board, and he arrived in the bridge, taking charge of our navigation for the final approaches. In around the breakwater, and a turn, before we come alongside. There's a good crowd waiting for us on the wharf - friends, family, colleagues - and the Reverend Harvey Ruru, a Maori elder. There's also a cluster of journalists and camera crews - waiting to interview us for TV and newspapers. Since we caught the botttom trawler Waipori dumping a huge piece of coral last Sunday, we've been all over the media here in New Zealand.
When a ships comes into port, you just can't go jumping on the quayside right away. A couple of friendly customs officials came on board, and in New Zealand, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food arrive for an inspection. It's a pretty quick procedure - but when people you want to hug are waving from the quayside, a half an hour is a long time.
Finally, we're ashore - where a team of Greenpeace activists, along with the Reverend Ruru, launch into a Maori song, to welcome us, as guardians of the sea. Pete, our captain, acknowledged the welcome - and responded with thanks - and the rest of us responded with song. We'd been rehearsing all morning!
Te Aroha
Te Whakapono
I te Rangamarie
Tatou Tatou e
(The Love
The Truth
The Peace
All of Us)
And at last - we embrace. We're back... and it's good to be back. Now for the open boat days!
Land Ahoy! On Friday 17th June, the Rainbow Warrior will be arriving in Nelson, in New Zealand's South Island. And on Saturday and Sunday, we'll be having an 'Open Boat' - that means we'll be opening the ship up for public tours between 11am and 3pm on both days.
You can find us at the Coastal Berth, with public access from Wakefield Cove.
As I write this, we're coming towards the end of our voyage in the temperamental Tasman Sea. Outside, the weather is rough, so I'm twisting my hips left and right in my chair, compensating for the rolling of the ship.
We've been out here for three weeks now - none of us have set a foot on dry land since leaving Auckland on May 27th. It feels longer though - when you're on a ship for a certain amount of time, it becomes your world. Sending email to friends and family is a bit like contacting some other universe. There's 24 of us on the Warrior right now - captain, mates, cooks, radio operator, medic, deckhands, engineers, campaigners, boat drivers, photographers... and we all have to get along, in a sailing ship that's only 55m long.
You learn a lot about people in situations like this. You can make friends for life - and understand how to deal with the habits and eccentricities of other people - that in another situation might seem irritating. And you've got to be conscious that one of your own minor quirks might start driving someone crazy. But there's also fun - we laugh till we hurt. When downtime is needed, you learn how to find your own space, and how to switch off from the hectic day-to-day of running a campaign.
It's a whole other world of experience too. There's the sudden realisation of familiar things that have been forgotten (trees, cars, bills, TV, land). There's seasickness to put up with - there's no shame; we all suffer from it at some time. And even out here, nature is all around - the bioluminescence in the water, the daily companionship of albatrosses and pintado petrels, the occasional pod of dolphins or passing school of sperm whales. We've seen sunfish surfacing beside our inflatables, catching some rays from the winter sky. And that sky - the night skies are incredible, and the sunsets, oh the sunsets. I've started labelling my photographs 'IMG_1234_another_bloody_sunset.jpg'.
Then there's the swim stops. Some of us - the New Zealanders, Australians and me, the token Irish guy - have taken to jumping into the Tasman whenever the sea is relatively 'flat'. It's strange, bobbing around in the water, knowing that there's at least 1km of water under your feet. It's even stranger when a huge albatross (these guys have wingspans of 2-3m) is sitting in the water in front of you, wondering what you might taste like.
But it's not all fun and games - it's hard work out here. On a busy day, we get to work at 8am, and often clock off in time for bed, around 11pm. For the last couple of weeks, we were out of bed long before sunrise, after tracking down another bottom trawler, or to revisit one we'd already got. One our work on the water is done, getting back to the ship often means the beginning of the next part of our day - getting the story out to the world. In my case, that means sitting down to write my weblog,
It's pretty weird, sitting out here in all this weather, trying to understand the waves we're creating back on land. As you'll have seen earlier in the weblog, last week we had New Zealand fishing industry spokespeople announcing that our claims were 'unsubstantiated claptrap' - and that NZ bottom trawlers 'simply do not drag heavy trawl gear across pristine sea floor'. A couple of days later, we witnessed an NZ trawler hauling up a massive piece of red coral - so large that it took two men to drag it to the stern ramp, and dump it over. News from the shore says that even standup comedians and politicians are talking about bottom trawling. The fishing industry seems strangely quiet, amidst the fracas.
Last Sunday, after we had caught the trawler Waipori with its haul of precious coral, I was standing on the deck of the Warrior with Chris. 'Today', I told him, 'made me remember *again* why I do this job, what makes it worthwhile'.
- Dave
Meet Abri: Assistant radio operator, Deckhand & Chief Garbologist
Job: Assistant radio operator, Deckhand & Chief Garbologist
How did you come to be on this Rainbow Warrior for this trip?
The Warrior was docked at Incheon - a small town near Seoul, South Korea, where I have been living for the past five years. It was on a campaign against whaling.
One of my friends called me up and told me that he heard that there would be an 'open day' on the ship. I wasn't feeling very academic that day, so I decided to skip Korean class, and go look at the ship instead.
The visit to the ship must have made a tremendous impression on me, because after the open day, I couldn't stop thinking about it and all the amazing things that Greenpeace does. For the next week, I did my everyday things as usual, but the Rainbow Warrior was always in the back of my mind. I was corresponding with some of the crew via email, and it was through them that I heard that there would be another open day, this time in Busan.
The day before the ship was due to arrive I zipped south to Korea's second largest city on their new bullet train system. I had the name of the place where the Warrior was to dock, a crummy tourist map, my compass and my GPS. I guesstimated the direction I should head, and stared hiking. After 5 hours of walking along some beautiful seaside trails, I found it - The Korean Maritime University! Having found my destination, I decided to head for a backpacker's hostel and get some rest.
After getting up at 3:30 on a misty morning, I headed back to the university. It was just starting to get light when I arrived. After hanging around for a while, I saw a "Korea Friends of the Environment Movement" minibus drive by me. I started walking in the general direction it was driving. A few minutes later, they came back and asked me if I was with Greenpeace.
While I was helping them set up their inflatable welcome-boat, cameramen and reporters from the local news agencies started arriving.
Where before there was only hazy mist over the sea, the faded shape of the bow of the Rainbow Warrior gradually started to appear. It was truly beautiful, and I felt so excited! As it got closer I could see people, and it wasn't long before I started recognising some faces! Gina, the volunteer from Fiji who gave me the first open day tour, was the first of the crew to recognize me!
So, then it started; I followed the ship around from port to port, as it travelled around Korea. Because I could speak some Korean and I know how things work there, I was soon helping the crew out with things like changing money, and finding obscure parts for the ship.
Next thing I knew I was standing on the deck of the Rainbow Warrior, watching the land that has been my home for half a decade slowly fade into the horizon.
Essential survival item for spending time on the Rainbow Warrior?
While I would probably survive without it, by far my favourite item on the ship would be the sextant. I feel humbled when I hold such a magnificent instrument, the product of hundreds of years of refinement by the sailors of the seven seas.
If you were marine animal, which one would you be?
I was christened "Beluga" (a kind of whale) during the crossing of the equator ceremony on the way to New Zealand from Korea.
What other jobs have you done?
Ten years ago I was a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald, where I specialised in maritime and Pacific affairs, and spent many hectic shifts as an assistant chief-reporter. Throwing away a regular journo's pay cheque I moved to the countryside to reinvent myself as a freelance photographer come small time publisher, specialising in conservation issues.
How did you come to be on this Rainbow Warrior for this trip?
This is not my first trip on the Warrior - 15 years back, when most other reporters were badgering the editor for front-line roles covering the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, I was pleading for a posting to the Tasman Sea, because I was incensed about drift net fishing. For once in an editorial conference, conservation beat sport and politics - I was sent sailing to report on the "walls-of-death" being strung across the seas of the South Pacific.
Even before then I had shown Greenpeace sympathies, helping fund raise in Whangarei when the protest sailing ship Fri was being readied to sail for the French nuke testing zone at Mururoa. Earlier this year Greenpeace needed a photographer to cover the occupation of a power plant that a big electricity company wants to convert to coal burning, not far from my home in Northland. At least some of my power station photographs must have been in focus, for within a few weeks the emails were flowing and here I am, back at sea in the Tasman and proud to be here.
Essential survival item for spending time on the Rainbow Warrior?
Humour!
If you were a fish, which one would you be?
One too small to take baits or be caught in the cod end of a fishing net
Anything else you'd like to say?
Outside of work I love surfing and snow skiing with my family. At 56 years-old, the oldest on the boat, I still rate myself as a surfer, riding a shortboard and hoping to not even consider graduating backwards to a longboard until I'm 70.
- Malcolm
June 14, 2005
The Orange Roughy Story
It recently occurred to me, what with all the writing I've been doing about bykill or bycatch - the fish discarded by bottom trawlers - I've not said much about the target species of these boats - orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus). After encountering so many doleful stares from bulging eyes - either through bottom trawl nets or, from disembodied heads, expunged via bycatch chutes, I thought it was high time to tell their story.
Looking like some weird prehistoric goldfish, orange roughy look orangey-red when its hauled out of the ocean, they're actually designed to appear black. Down where they live - between 500 and 1700m below the surface - oranges and reds are the first colours to be leached out of the colour spectrum, leaving the fish difficult for predators to see. Even the inside of their mouths appears black - probably a method of fooling their prey - crustaceans, squid and fish.
Orange roughy are part of an order of fish called Beryciformes, which have a system of sensory canals in their heads, known as Jakubowski's organs. These mucus-filled areas, which surround the eyes, are what give the roughy family its less marketing-friendly name: slimeheads. The more pleasant 'orange roughy' came about when a New Zealand scientist came across them, following a trawl by a Japanese boat that he was on board. Unable its describe it any more positively than a member of the roughy family, he wrote down 'orange roughy'. Which made sense, I suppose, as the fish were orange.
Until the late 1970s, roughy were regarded as little more than museum curiosities. However, Russian and Japanese trawlers discovered huge stocks - and dumped their catches as 'worthless'. Despite their subsequent popularity, this isn't such a surprise. Early attempts to determine the edibility of orange roughy achieved some unsavoury results - which resulted in yet another unappealing moniker: 'diarrhoea fish'. To counter this, a filleting technique was introduced that removed a fatty layer from beneath the skin. The offending substance in the fat - known as wax ender - has been delicately described by author Peter Batson as having a 'strong purgative effect'. Once rendered safe, the orange's flaky white flesh proved popular - especially as a replacement for the increasingly rare cod.
But even apart from suffering blame for dietary discomfort or occasional crisis of identity, the orange roughy is still an enigmatic fish. Growing to maximum size of only 50cm, orange roughy are thought to live an age of up to an incredible 150 years old - spanning several human generations. Many of us humans have problems tracing our family back past 100 years, never mind the lifetime of an orange roughy.
Slow growing, and long lived - not great characteristics for a commercially exploited species. Some New Zealand populations of orange roughy are now estimated to be only three percent of their original size. But there's still demand for their white flesh - so the bottom trawlers keep fishing for them, dragging up heavens knows what else along the way, like Sunday's huge piece of coral!
What other jobs have you done?
When on land I am a winemaker, and I'm involved in Treaty of Waitangi-based activism. The treaty is one of the founding documents of Aotearoa. It is a treaty between Maori - the indigenous people and the British crown. Signed in 1840, its place in our history has been controversial.
How did you come to be on this Rainbow Warrior for this trip?
Last year I was fortunate enough to be involved in this campaign, and coming out on the Rainbow Warrior again is an amazing privilege. To be here following through on work we did last year is both challenging and rewarding. With the support we have been getting back on land it feels that we are having real effect and hopefully the deep sea will soon get the protection it so urgently needs.
Essential survival item for spending time on the Rainbow Warrior?
The good people that are on board, their energy, aroha, determination, laughter and smiles.
If you were a fish, which one would you be?
I'd love to be a blue Maomao. These small fish are the brightest fluorescent blue, and if you know where to go you can stand in knee deep waves and they play around your ankles. Any fish that has the courage to stand out so much and come close to humans deserves a lot of admiration and respect.
- Logi
PRESS RELEASE: Rainbow Warrior returns from bottom trawling protests
Nelson, New Zealand: The Rainbow Warrior will sail into Nelson Friday for a weekend of public open days and discussion, after nearly three weeks at sea highlighting the destruction of the deep sea by bottom trawling in international waters.
While at sea, Greenpeace was able to document clear evidence of the impact of bottom trawling, including a tree-sized piece of ancient coral that was hauled up by the New Zealand vessel, Waipori.
"The Rainbow Warrior is coming into Nelson to talk", said Carmen Gravatt, "We want to talk with the community of Nelson about what is happening out in international waters and why Greenpeace is calling for a UN moratorium on high seas bottom trawling." said Gravatt. "Bottom trawling in international waters is the biggest threat to deep sea life."
The Rainbow Warrior will also hold a series of open days for the public in Nelson, Wellington and Auckland before it travels to Matauri Bay, for the twentieth anniversary of the bombing of the first Rainbow Warrior. Members of the public will be able to come onboard over the weekend to learn about the workings of the ship, it history and the impacts of bottom trawling on deep sea life.
Carmen Gravatt, Greenpeace New Zealand campaigner on board Rainbow Warrior on 00872 1302412 or 00872 324 453 510
Dean Baigent-Mercer communications officer in Auckland 021 790 817
What other jobs have you done?
I have also worked voluntarily in human rights.
How did you come to be on this Rainbow Warrior?
I started with Greenpeace in 1999 staying on board of the German Greenpeace vessel, the Beluga, for six months as engineer. Since then I have been sailing on the Rainbow Warrior. I have been involved in a variety of campaigns - forest, oil rigs, GE-Food, No-War, ship scrapping...
Essential survival item for spending time on the Rainbow Warrior?
First, good company. Second, good books.
If you were a fish, which one would you be?
I like swimming, but the air is a more challenging medium to me.So I'd rather be a bird anyway.
Anything else you'd like to say?
Onboard we are a very international crew and I find it a pleasure to work with people from all over the world on the same issues. It is good to get together, share what we know and do something with and about it. I think it is of utmost urgency to preserve what we have left on this planet. May it be the forests, a toxic free environment or the fish and mammals in the sea - I want to protest against exploitation of this earth. We humans are so arrogant against creation we keep destroying this world in order to make profit. Still, too few people realize that without a healthy environment we are nothing.
For me it's normal to take action about environmental issues as such. But for the overwhelming amount of people in most countries, it is still a luxury to even think about it. The day will come when those people are able to think about their environment as well. Then, I will be happy.
My name is Ed, I'm from the North west of England. I am sailing as deckhand on the Warrior at the moment. For around three years now I have been sailing with Greenpeace, and I have been fortunate enough to sail on all the ships currently in the fleet. I first had the opportunity to sail with Greenpeace when volunteers were required for the Warrior's tour of the U.K and Ireland, which was mainly a whale and Dolphin survey. Later, the ship was requested in North West Spain for the oil spill from the tanker Prestige. Arriving in La Coruna was one of the most inspirational experiences, as there were around one hundred boats to meet us, and maybe two thousand people waiting on the quayside.
All this, plus the experience of sailing with some very dedicated crew and volunteers, had a very good effect on me. So I was hooked. I suppose my previous experince in inshore rescue and some basic nautical qualifications helped my cause for more sailing.
I am sailing at the moment as part of the Seamounts campaign, against destructive bottom trawling, in the Tasman Sea. At first, it appears that it's a lot of effort and resources for a bunch of very unfortunate, and also very ugly fish, but as we know everything is linked in the greater picture, so it is just as important as other campaigns.
Earlier in the trip, the sea state was pretty rough, with a large messy swell, I think this is the main reason for the strange sounds comming from adjoining cabins, of people vomiting and uttering exhausted moans and groans in pain and relief.
Touch wood, so far I am OK, thank God - and the weather is better now. A few mornings ago we were being followed by a shark and there are also no shortages of albatross, sure enough before long we will be joined again by some playful dolphins. Survival on board is made easier if you can live alongside many different types of people in close proximity, with a lot of understanding and tolerance to noise and sleep deprivation. It can be hard when you miss family, friends and people with whom you are intimate, but when those thoughts appear, it is good to look forward even more to seeing them again at the end of the journey.
In my time ashore I need alot of rest and peaceful time in the hills, and I also try to educate myself and mushroom my awareness of the way things are, and how the miscreants that are ruining the planet can be stopped or changed.
My hope is that one day soon we can all see clearly and gain a better understanding of the natural cycles of creation and destruction, so we may have a better overview, which would help everyone to take more action in maintaining the wonder of this planet. Give me somewhere that I can grow some potatoes and watch little rabbits playing in the sunshine, and I am happy.
Rationality is a natural condition, mankind is nature and nature is mankind, why separate them?
At the end it doesn't really matter what will happen to the earth, since it is itself who self-destroys and who self creates again.
But if rationality is a part of it, the ability to use it belongs to humans.
This sea, rebel brother of other oceans, defyer of ships, has calmed his soul, allowing individual humans without names to confront each other so that society will ask itself some questions.
Maybe nature will be unable to use this unique condition, but at the end, all is uncertain and truth does not exist, we only can follow our hearts.
In a recent article in The Nelson Mail, Andrew Talley of New Zealand fishing company Amaltal was quoted saying that our "talk about bottom trawling damage and unsustainability was 'unsubstantiated claptrap'". Then Owen Symmans, of the Seafood Industry Council of New Zealand announced that "New Zealand fishers simply do not drag heavy trawl gear across pristine sea floor as suggested. Technology allows boats to 'fly' trawl gear above the sea bottom to target the fish, with little impact on the sea floor or organisms that live on the bottom."
Pretty amazing claim this, considering our release of a striking photograph showing a massive piece of gorgonian coral caught in 2003 in the Tasman Sea. This photograph had, interestingly enough, to be obtained via New Zealand's Official Information Act from the Ministry of Fisheries.
Misters Talley and Symmans may have to eat their words. This sunny Sunday in the Tasman Sea, we caught the New Zealand-registered bottom trawler Waipori dumping a massive coral tree down their stern ramp and into the sea on the West Norfolk Ridge, in the international waters of the Tasman Sea.
We tracked down the trawler in the wee hours of the morning, when most of us were asleep. I awoke with the sensation that were no longer steaming, with the Rainbow Warrior was rolling gently in the swell. I met Chris in the stairwell, who gave me a quick rundown on the trawler. On the deck above there was a hubbub of activity, with people grabbing breakfast, getting their boat suits on.
Before long we had the Avon in the water, getting up close to observe the trawler. Then the call came back 'they're hauling'. We put another boat in the water, and Wooly and Malcolm headed out with the camera gear.
According to Wooly, "when the net was hauled up - after just two hours in the water, the catch was tiny - I estimated maybe no more than 100KG of fish in there".
"There was loads of coral though - the entire cod end was full of it. When the net came up on deck, they were just using one box for the fish they were keeping, and chucking loads of stuff down the ramp - some small fish, and what looked like rocks!"
In Wooly's video footage, the crew of the bottom trawler can be seen picking up and carrying armfuls of black coral across the deck, and putting it to one side. Whatever they were doing with it, they certainly weren't dumping it. The black coral was later identified by marine biologist Steve O'Shea as Leiopathes and Bathypathes - both CITES-listed (UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) and endemic to seamounts.
One of the trawlermen then held up a large crab (identified as Paralomis of Yaldwyni - a very rate species, according to Steve) and waved it at the cameras.
Wooly's footage also shows a man, who appears to be the skipper of the Waipori, walking out towards the stern ramp and waving his fist at us, and shouting "f*** off and get a real job!". Charming.
Later, just before midday, the Waipori came towards us, passing within a stone's throw of our stern - a dangerous manoeuvre, clearly meant to scare us away.
Then, in the afternoon, the most incredible thing happened. We watched the bottom trawler bring up a second haul - with very few fish. However, this time, inside the net, was a huge piece of scarlet-coloured coral. As you can see from the photographs, the coral 'tree' still has its 'roots' - meaning it had been an entire coral colony. As the fishermen wrangled it clear of the 'net, it was easy to see that the coral was taller than the men on the deck.
Then, nonchalantly, in full view of us, two of the bottom trawler's crew dragged the coral tree to the stern ramp, and slung it down. It plunged into water, sinking immediately, 1000m down... dead.
There's a mixture of emotions running around the Rainbow Warrior at the moment. On one hand, some of us are elated that we've caught the fishing industry red-handed. On the other hand, some of us feel disgusted - and saddened - to have witnessed such blatant environmental abuse.
I've just been out on deck with Gareth, cataloguing the 'bykill' that we collected today, rattails, dories, sponges and other beasties that we have yet to identify. We also retrieved what appear to be two dead lantern sharks. These are beautiful black dogfish with bright green eyes, and grooved spines on their dorsal fins. They get their name from their ability to produce bioluminescence - a method of hiding their silhouettes from below.
So... back to the claim by Mr Symmans that 'bottom' trawlers don't touch the bottom... well, it's claptrap - simple as that. And we would like him to explain where this mother-of-all corals came from - if not from the bottom of the sea. After all, there's not much in the way of coral, crabs or rocks hovering around above the ocean floor! These bottom trawlers are basically clearfelling the ocean floor, mowing down entire habitats - and no amount of public relations spin by the fishing industry can provide a cover-up for this ongoing environmental crime.
- Dave
PRESS RELEASE: 'Claptrap' substantiated with concrete evidence
Last week Amaltal director Andrew Talley called Greenpeace assertions "unsubstantiated claptrap". Today, photos and footage taken by the Rainbow Warrior crew prove him and others supporting bottom trawling wrong.
Greenpeace crew from the Rainbow Warrior today captured images of endangered black and red corals being hauled aboard a New Zealand bottom trawler in international waters near Norfolk Island.
"Again and again, we have caught the bottom trawling industry red-handed with the evidence of deep sea destruction in their nets. How many more pictures of clearfelled coral forests do governments need to see before they recognise that a moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters is urgently needed?" said Carmen Gravatt, Greenpeace oceans campaigner.
"Fishing industry leaders scraped the bottom of the barrel last week when they claimed bottom trawl nets didn't touch the sea floor. Well, once again we've got the proof," said Gravatt. "We'd like to see the fishing industry swallow their pride, realise that bottom trawling is not sustainable and support our calls for a UN moratorium on bottom trawling in international waters".
The nets of the Waipori, owned by the Tasman Pacific company, seemed to have few fish but many pieces of the corals. Greenpeace filmed a range of bottom dwelling species that were also in the haul of the New Zealand vessel, including a rare crab (Paralomis cf. yaldwyni).
The New Zealand Government delegation at last week's UN meeting on oceans got the message and made strong moves to get governments globally to take responsibility for the destruction of bottom trawling in international waters.
The 2003 scientific NORFANZ expedition surveyed throughout this region and identified it as a 'biodiversity hotspot'. It has been described as a marine 'Jurassic Park' - with ancient species that are the tuatara of the sea, as old as dinosaurs.
The images were taken on the West Norfolk Ridge, just over 200 miles off the coast of northern New Zealand.
NB Although the smaller corals looks red, it is the skeleton of the coral that is black. The large red coral is a centuries-old gorgonian tree coral.
CONTACTS:
Carmen Gravatt, Greenpeace New Zealand campaigner on board Rainbow Warrior on 00872 1302412 or 00872 324 453 510 Erin Farley, Greenpeace New Zealand communications officer on board Rainbow Warrior - 00872 1302412 or 00872 324 453 510
Dean Baigent-Mercer communications officer in Auckland 021 790 817
The mountains of Aotearoa's (New Zealand's) Southern Alps look down over forests of incredible diversity and beauty. It was here that my desire to help protect the wild places on our planet began. I was one small part of an amazing group of people trying to save the forests of the West Coast from the destruction that was fictitiously named 'sustainable logging'.
Last year, I found myself surrounded by mountains of a more liquid nature when I travelled to the Tasman Sea on the Rainbow Warrior. The Tasman's mountainous seas look down on ancient forests equally as diverse and beautiful as those of Rimu and Beech. The amazing undersea world out there is not as accessible to the public as those forests back home, but are threatened in a similar way. Industry likes to place dollar values on stuff that they don't even own - the destruction that goes on out here for the profit of a few, is destruction of life held in common for all of us. Just like back when my activist life started, I am honoured to be a small part of this amazing group of people.
- Chris
Chris left the high powered world of waiting on restaurant tables four years ago for the crazy world of Greenpeace. He hasn't looked back but can still mix a killer martini.
The Rainbow Warrior has been steaming hard, venturing further out into in ternational waters in a search for more bottom trawling vessels. Up to no w, we have encountered only Kiwi bottom trawlers - however, New Zealand is definitely not the only nation involved. In 2001, just eleven countries were responsible for approximately 95% of the reported high seas bottom trawl catch. The most prolific amongst these nations was Spain, followed by other European countries and Russia. Australia comes in just outside the top eleven.
Along with New Zealand, Australian vessels are largely responsible for the destruction of the seamount ecosystems in the South Tasman Rise, an area in international waters south of Tasmania. Deep sea fishing in the area began in the late 1990s, after large orange roughy populations were discovered. Huge quantities of coral were hauled up and recorded during the first years of the fishery - an estimated 10,000 tonnes, compared to a catch of only 4,000 tonnes of orange roughy. Despite the existence of an agreement between Australia and New Zealand to manage this fishery, no regulation was ever implemented to prevent damage to corals or other deep sea habitats. Photographic and video survey evidence of the area now suggests that bottom trawling has wreaked terrible destruction on the coral eco-systems.
The collapse, a few years ago, of the orange roughy fishery in the Southwest Indian Ocean was another example of the failure of the world's bottom trawling fishing industry to regulate itself. Following the discovery of orange roughy in 1999, vessels from Australia, South Africa, Ukraine, Namibia, Seychelles, Japan, France and New Zealand all rushed to join the Indian Ocean fishing frenzy. Other bottom trawlers from the Cook Islands, Taiwan AD Province of China, Korea, Belize, Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Chile were also believed to have been taking part - but none of these countries provided catch data to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Consultation on how to regulate the industry finally began after only three years of indiscriminate, unregulated fishing - which had resulted in severe depletion of the fishery - it was already too late. While up to 49 vessels were reported to have been bottom trawling in the Southwest Indian Ocean region between 1999 and 2001, by 2002 only six were recorded. Negotiations on the management of the region continue - still without any agreement. In the meantime, fishing fleets have come and gone and the fishery has collapsed.
These two examples highlight the urgent need for a global moratorium on bottom trawling. New Zealand is definitely part of the problem, but it will take action from the United Nations to really address the destruction wreaked by bottom trawling on the unknown worlds of the deep sea.
From: Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Job: Assistant Cook
How did you come to be on this Rainbow Warrior for this trip?
I ended up here because around 2000 I started doing volunteer activist stuff for Greenpeace. Later on I trained with the ropes team - so every now and then I get asked if I want help out on various protests. The most recent action I've been involved in was the occupation of the Marsden B power station in February which I was really stoked to be a part of.
Essential survival item for spending time on the Rainbow Warrior?
A sense of humour :)
If you were marine animal, which one would you be?
A big ray of some kind.
To people reading the weblog:
Kiaora everyone - thanks heaps for the support we've recieved through the web log, it means a lot.
I have been working on the Rainbow Warrior for a coupla years now , I guess it was simply my appreciation of nature and enjoyment of the outdoors which gave me the opportunity and the motivation to be on the Rainbow Warrior.
There was no choice to be made - when I was asked if I would crew on a Greenpeace Vessel, I couldn't turn down the chance to at least try to alter this course of on-going destruction that we, as humans, seem so intent on imposing on our planet.
Hi, Carmen here. On behalf of the Rainbow Warrior crew, I want to thank everyone for following the story of our protest against bottom trawling in international waters, and especially for all the messages of support we have received!
We have been getting your weblog comments by email - they really help to boost our morale, and give us inspiration. There are so many that unfortunately we can't write back to all of you individually. But each and every one of them is appreciated.
While we feel privileged to be able to be out here taking direct action against bottom trawling vessels, it is both wider support from the public, and action by people in their everyday lives that ultimately win environmental campaigns. Thanks and keep the messages coming!
- Carmen
June 11, 2005
The fat lady has sung in NY and she is decidedly off key
New York, United Nations, 8:45pm
As the final day at the oceans meeting here at the UN in New York draws to a close, we’re sitting at the back of the room, unable to speak as the debate is now only among states. They have been at it since 10am this morning. The translators have long gone. It even looks as though half the delegates have gone home or nodded off.
And the meeting has just finished the discussions on whether it is possible for states to encourage one another to take ‘urgent measures’ to protect deep-sea life. New Zealand played a leading role by making a forceful statement on the need for states to take urgent measures. They even argued for “interim targeted bans on bottom trawling”, and were supported by Costa Rica, Nigeria, Mexico, Chile and even the European Community (although we are led to believe that this was due to a small lapse in focus by the Commission on behalf of the Community). The discussion went on for quite some time, with Canada and Iceland gradually whittling down the language until everything centered on the use of one word: ‘regional’. Iceland refused to lose the word “regional”, which led to the discarding of the whole paragraph on high seas bottom trawling, just like the unwanted by-catch the Warrior has seen thrown over the side of the bottom trawlers in the Tasman.
11.20pm
A remarkable development since our earlier notes. It seems that there was so much discontent over the exclusion of the language on bottom trawling, that some ‘informal’ discussions have – quite unexpectedly - rekindled the discarded paragraph. Translated from UN-speak into English, it appears that these states have agreed to work more quickly together – even urgently - to establish temporary measures (like halting bottom trawling, which it does not say) in areas where they have an interest in the conservation and management of fisheries resources. Essentially what this appears to mean is that states are beginning to accept that they need to act to stop their vessels bottom trawling on the high seas.
The theme of this meeting was the contribution of fisheries to sustainable development. The repetitive discussions were sustained late into the evening, but few concrete actions to stop the oceans crisis were developed. A potential giant step forward for the protection of deep-sea life was almost thwarted by the intransigence of one state, then partially rescued. This meeting may be in its final phases, but we go forward from here knowing that the momentum towards a moratorium on high seas bottom trawling is strong, and growing. We will be working around the world with our colleagues in the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition to ensure that more and more States support this call and that these states finally act to ensure the future of the deep sea.
On the Rainbow Warrior, I am volunteer deckhand, but I am also a former Frontliner for Greenpeace New Zealand and Greenpeace Asia Pacific, and have volunteered for 5 years.
How did you come to be on this Rainbow Warrior for this trip?
I got a call a week before we left, asking if I'd like to come aboard, and I gladly jumped at the chance.
Essential survival item for spending time on the Rainbow Warrior?
My essential survival item is a good stash of books and a small chess board with pegs so it won't move.
If you were a fish, which one would you be?
If I was a fish I'd be a coelacanth, because they are ancient and I would have loved to see the ages go by.
To people reading the weblog:
I'd like to send out my appreciation to two groups; the frontliners that do the hard yards to bring in the dollars, and the volunteers to whom Greenpeace wouldn't exist as it is an effective organisation.
- Gareth
June 10, 2005
The fat lady is warming up in the wings.
Less than 24 hours to go here at the UN, but no-one thinks it will be over according to the timetable. We meet half an hour each close of session each evening to talk about which countries are doing what to whom and what the word is in the corridors of this strange building where so many monumental decisions have been made. This evening it was especially tense because the draft outcome was presented to the awaiting delegates to take home and consider overnight and come back tomorrow to negotiate during the day and no doubt night – drafting by committee is a laborious process.
'The Text', as it's affectionately called, presented to folk this evening by the Chair, is the basis on which countries or negotiating blocks like the EU come together and argue over each spit and cough, every nuance is argued and every comma is discussed. It is truly soul destroying in process but at the same time magnificent that the planet can come together in one place at one time over one issue and find or force a stumbling compromise or "resolution". Resolute – yes we are. Resolved, perhaps not, given Spain's desire to screw the process as well as the EU's dignity along the way.
You've got to wonder about the process, given that Spain who have only 19 vessels outside the realms of already established rules are taking down not only the EU, but also the rest of the world and the chance to protect the oceans we know so very little about.
Karen and Saskia sit behind me and talk about glass half empty or half full.
At this point late on a Thursday night, with only a day to go, we wonder whether the deep sea will get the protection it so desperately needs – a moratorium on bottom trawling before it's too late.
We're hoping for a grand marriage of Neptune and The Fat Lady on the UN stage this time tomorrow.
Susan
Day 2 at the UN: "Without Conservation, Fisheries are doomed"
Happy World Oceans Day! We've been really busy at the UN. Today was the day I got to speak on one of the panels at the meeting. I was really privileged to sit on the "Civil Society and Science" panel with three incredibly distinguished people. Dr Boris Worm is a marine scientist at Dalhousie University in Canada, though originally from Germany. His presentation focussed on the disappearance of the top predators from the world's oceans - the tunas, swordfish and sharks and it was sobering stuff. For example he opened by saying that while the oceans cover 70% of the planet, if you include their depth, then our oceans make up 90% of the biosphere!
Dr Worm's research has shown that 90% of the oceans large predators have declined since the rise of industrial fishing having major impacts on marine ecosystems. He continued that "the scientific community is in very little doubt that this is a crisis." In order to stop this crisis, he said that a number of things have to be done - that the impacts of some types of 'fishing gear could be mitigated' (changed for the better) but that others, like those used for bottom trawls, simply could not.
Key to restoring the diversity and productivity of the oceans would be setting aside certain areas of the ocean as 'no take' marine reserves: areas where no human activities are allowed but where fish and other marine life can grow and live without human interference and then 'spillover' into the surrounding ocean areas. He concluded that the 'oceans have been depleted and changed on a global scale" and that to restore them, we have to minimize the destructive impacts and try to maintain diversity and adaptive capacity by creating a network of marine reserves.
Dr Callum Roberts, a marine scientist from the University of York in the UK then spoke of the benefits of marine reserves for the oceans. Commenting on the state of the oceans around Europe's shores and management failures, he said, "if this were a publicly listed company, the shareholders would have fired the directors long ago." He argued that 'no industry has a right to cause a species to go extinct and that fisheries managers can no longer ignore the habitats and ecosystems that species live in. Dr Roberts focussed on the benefits of no-take marine reserves, citing a study that showed that marine reserves in Kenya had improved the food security of the people living close to them. To prevent overfishing, he suggested that the scientific literature has shown that between 20 and 40% of the sea should be set aside as a network of marine reserves. He concluded, "without conservation, fisheries are doomed" and that "marine reserves are not a last resort, but a foundation for the sustainable management for the future."
Sebastian Matthews from the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers then presented on the importance of small-scale fishing to coastal communities. I am sure his presentation will soon be up on the UN website (look under "law of the sea") as it offered some clear insights into the issues impacting on small-scale fishers across the world, in so doing compromising their livelihoods and cultures.
It was then time for me to speak. Maarten, our unbelievably brilliant videographer in Amsterdam had put together a short DVD that showed the impacts of industrial fishing on our oceans and the people that depend on them for their livelihoods. Unfortunately, just like yesterday when the phone-link to Carmen failed, UN technology could not get the DVD to work (even though we had tested it during the lunch break). It was very frustrating but we are going to get another opportunity to show it tomorrow just before lunch. So, without the delegates seeing the plight of our oceans in full colour, it was up to me to speak to their hearts, and hopefully influence their minds.
I reminded them that we were there to protect the oceans, and spoke about the Rainbow Warrior being out on the high seas and the extent of destruction. I quoted Albert Einstein who once said, "our technology has surpassed our humanity" - Einstein was, of course speaking of nuclear weapons, so I said, "the high seas bottom trawl fleets that ply the high seas, constrained only by how much they can catch in these largely unregulated waters, come very close to being a weapon of mass destruction for deep-sea life." I asked the delegates to make good on the promises already made and honour the agreements already signed ... and do something positive and proactive before its too late.
A lot of questions were asked of the scientists on the panel. It was really amazing to see that these government policy makers, who always argue that they need science before they can take action, had two independent and highly respected scientists before them, and proceeded to question whether their findings were valid. Here were two people, with no economic or political interest in the world's oceans, using facts and figures gathered by the governments in the room to show them the dire straits that our oceans are in, and their data and conclusions were questioned. Our team was left wondering whether the arguments for "science based decision making" that we always hear are yet another excuse for inaction.
The statement that raised the most eyebrows was, however
