29 July 2006
Rent-a-crowd with underwater banners
by Roger onboard the Rainbow Warrior in the Mediterranean sea.
it is hard enough organising two divers
to hold one banner properly underwater.
©Greenpeace/Roger Grace
With the Rainbow Warrior Mediterranean Tour in full swing calling for a network of Marine Reserves, we took the opportunity to get our message across using underwater banners in four different languages. Four banners required at least eight divers to hold them, and it is hard enough organising two divers to hold one banner properly underwater. The prospect of getting eight divers holding banners, together with a few extra divers just for luck, was quite daunting and I was anticipating a shambles underwater.
Surprisingly the activity went quite well, with expert choreography by our underwater videographer Marco Care who had a knack of getting people to do just what he wanted underwater, using a series of cryptic signals which I personally did not understand. We got shots of the banners in a row on the bottom, in two vertical layers, and floating on the surface against the sun. Hopefully the pictures get the message across to lots of people - Marine Reserves Now!
The Mediterranean has been fished so hard for so long few people understand what it would have been like naturally. There are now hardly any big fish left. A good sized network of Marine Reserves in the Mediterranean will over several years allow fish and other marine life to recover to as close to natural as we can encourage. We will finally see healthy fish populations, with many large fish in the Marine Reserves doing what they do best - that is having babies which will help improve depleted areas outside the Marine Reserves as well as within their boundaries.
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Comments
Next time you want to put banners under the surface of the sea . Put them on a net and just tension with the divers using a few small floats at the top and a little lead at the bottom. Learn from the fishermen !
Posted by: ken at August 13, 2006 10:58 PM
Avast ye land lubbers! The ocean critters need your help!
Take action today!
