The following is from Flo, an activist and boat driver from Germany...
If I had come up to the bridge, probably 5 minutes earlier everything would have been different. There was a meeting in the chartroom and almost everyone was there and I stepped right into their discussion about what we could do with the Lootus 2, which was only 1 nautical mile to our starboard side and hidden by the fog. By the trawler's behaviour over the last 24 hours we could tell that they had not hauled their nets for over 14 hours, which was more than strange. The team decided to do something about it. What? Well, the banners with magnets worked the other time, but now we wanted something different. They chose an action with swimmers for a change, so the moment I stepped into the chartroom, they were looking for volunteers. The first thing I heard, was Luke saying: "There's one!" while pointing at me. That's how I became a swimmer. Actually, there was a list of people who had volunteered earlier for possible activities and there I was on the swimming list because in so me silly moment I must have lifted my arm, to volunteer as a swimmer. I can't remember why. Normally I don't like swimming, but that's a different story. This didn't seem to be very normal at all.
I went to tell Gabor, the other swimmer to get ready. It was his first sw imming action too, but he sincerely volunteered and actually looked forwa rd to it. I didn't know yet what to think about it but I was happy to get out in front of the Lootus 2 and do something about bottom trawling.
So I found me a nice big bright dry-suit. I've tried these before, you ac tually stay dry and don't really feel the cold of the water. No luck! Gab or and me were told we had to wear wetsuits which are apparently much bet ter for swimming. Everybody seemed to know a lot more about swimming than we did!
Well, there we were, in shorts on the poop-deck, finding our way into the suits, jackets, boots and gloves. In the meantime everybody else got in the inflatables and left, not without giving us some last great tips on h ow to avoid the propellers, how to hold on to the bow of the ship and how to make sure the captain of the ship actually sees our banner. This was really exciting! Gabor and I started liking the entire project.
Eventually we had everything and got into the boat to leave for the Lootu s 2, which was difficult to find in the fog. Once there we got some more advice, none of which I really took in. Then the inflatable manouvered in front of the fishing vessel. The captain of the Lotuus 2 had not replied to any of our attempts to talk to him for the last 24 hours, even though Waldemar was telling him via radio to stop, since we had two swimmers in front of his bow.
There we go. All of a sudden Gabor and me went overboard, some water crep t into the wet suit, but as promised, we didn't really feel the cold wate r (14 B0C). Someone handed us the banner, which was attached to a floati ng buoy and then our boat was gone. Instead of coming closer to us, the L ootus 2 actually steered hard to port side, so that we couldn't come clos e to it. Then something weird happened, both Gabor and I actually tried t o swim after the ship, trying to reach its bow. It was crazy! Now I was s wimming after a fishing boat, trying to stop it!
Since this attempt was not very successful, we decided to go for it again. We really wanted to show the captain (and the world!) that we were dete rmined. This time we jumped much closer to the ship into the water and af ter only a few seconds we actually touched the hull of the ship. The Lotu us 2 was still trawling at about 3 knots, so after only a few seconds we were drifting by the side of the ship, nearing the stern. From right unde rneath the ship it seemed huge...an enormous wall of steel driven by a ve ry strong propeller. Scary! For a brief moment I was scared of the idea o f being sucked under the ship and at the stern I felt the water twirling and spinning, but it was not strong enough to actually pull us.
We did the action again for a third time and I held onto the bow for seve ral seconds and actually managed to light a flare at the same time but th e Lotuus 2 never slowed down. Hanging on the bow, it actually felt like t he ship was speeding up and after a while my arms couldn't hold me any lo nger. I had to let go and I drifted alongside the ship, passing the stern and the two massive cables, which went all the way down to the fishing n et on the seabed 900 meters below.
Why didn't they haul for the last... now 16 hours? It's a sad feeling, se eing these fishing boats from behind, disappearing in the fog. Their huge doors at the stern look like big mouths, in whose nets tons and tons of fish and sea life disappear. We felt exhausted but good about trying to d o something, about expressing our opinion even if it looked kind of crazy out here in the middle of nowhere swimming in the ocean. We had a nice w elcome back on board, got dry and got us some warm food. Great!
Later that night, close to 11 o'clock I stood on the deck watching the Lo otus 2 and one of our inflatables in the distance (still waiting for the ship to haul) and then I saw a big shark passing the Esperanza. No kiddin g, this shark was 2.5 to 3.5 meters long and stayed some time in the spot lights alongside the ship and then dove away. I had never seen a shark be fore, but this was beautiful, the way it moved in the water, the color of the water. I don't have the words to describe it but just believe me, it was an incredible sight.
And only then I realised we had just been swimming in shark infested wate rs!!! Not bad for a story.
Wow, what a story. Thank you so much for your efforts towards stopping deep trawling. I wish I could do more!
Posted by: Travis at August 14, 2005 06:39 PM
well done and go hard its so good to hear about you guys out there doing your thing. i am a big fan of what you do and i wish i could be out there with you helping the sea life. to flo i know what you mean when you say seeing that shark out there was so amazing i am 17 yrs and i have been studing sharks from what books i can find for abot three years now ( though they are ussualy old and out dated written by rodney fox or from that time) i have only ever seen a carpet shark at kelly tarltens and that was about five years ago so i am very envious of you they are the most beautifull gracefull creatures i have ever known. and they need your protection. so keep going hard!! good luck!!
Posted by: kaz at August 13, 2005 05:49 AM
You are a hero Flo, trying to stop a trawler by putting your body on the line in the middle of the ocean is truly a super human feat. It takes an amount of love for nature and sacrifice that is being forgotten in todays world, but maybe there is still hope for tomorrow if people follow your example by swimming against the tide that they are being traweled up in to.
"My only chain is sacrifice"
Peace and Shanti
Posted by: Dominique Chanovre at August 12, 2005 05:09 PM
Hi Flo,
Big respect! Throwing yourself in front of a trawler in the Atlantic takes serious dedication.
Posted by: Lamna nasus at August 12, 2005 01:29 AM
