Hi! My name is Maaike. I'm second mate on the Esperanza. I got on board just before this campaign started, 16 February. After a few weeks I'm starting to get use to ship life again, having had a really nice and relaxed time off after the last trip. But it always takes a while. Especially to get into the rhythm of watch keeping. I'm on the bridge from 12 to 4 (day and night). Besides the watches, I keep the charts and navigation books up-to-date... and try to write a weblog now and then!

Last year we worked on the same campaign. It's good to go on with it this year. Now you can see the results of last year, which is very motivating. We have the reports and research results on board.

Last year we tried to get footage of dolphins caught in fishing nets. We found dead dolphins with wounded noses and fins from trying to get out of the net, which proves a lot of course. The figures from last year show that observers from the Sea Mammal Research Unit saw over 100 dolphins being caught and killed by a pair of trawlers - even though the trawlers had a special grid onboard to avoid dolphins getting caught in their net (which you wouldn't try if you never caught dolphins!).

When you see those statistics it motivates you even more to go on and try to stop pair trawling.

Maaike, Second mate