That'll show em!

Posted by Adele at 10:01 AM, October 27, 2004

Lovin' that bycatch!

(c) Greenpeace/Davison

Following Francois' daring adventures of yesterday, our actions against bottom trawling have been all over the Spanish media - one headline has the fishing industry bosses saying that 'Greenpeace's claims are unscientific'. Hey guys, try explaining that to the 1100 scientists from all over the world that have been calling for a stop to bottom trawling.

So today, it's around 2:30pm, and I'm in an inflatable again. We're still on the Hatton Bank in the North East Atlantic, and we're alongside the EU bottom trawler Playa de Menduiña, which is paying out its net for a another mammoth sweep of the ocean floor. The weather is again surprisingly calm.

Two weird impish figures are running around the area of the trawler above the stern ramp. Dressed in black wetsuits, day-glo vests over life jackets, and hard hats, they look spectacularly odd. It's Erkut and Francois - they've topped yesterday's performance with something even more daring.

We had been waiting, watching the trawler for a couple of hours, expecting a haul. We had big plans...

As the trawler hauls in its big net of fish, the two activists leap from an inflatable, onto the net. Holding up 'EU DEEP SEA DESTROYER' mini-banners, they manage to stay on the net as it's dragged up the ramp of the trawler. As soon as the net hits metal, they're away, and onto the deck of the trawler, up onto the aft superstructure, where again they flash the banners. Below them, the trawler crew are busy with the net, and can't follow our boys. On the boat - the one with the cameras - we're giving them ecstatic thumbs ups for their brazen audacity.

But they're not satisfied - we can see them fidgeting around with banners and string. What are they doing? Suddenly, a flag shoots up the aft mast of the trawler, and flutters proudly in the wind. It's got a red circle with a line through it (like a 'no parking' or 'banned' sign), and reads 'EU Deep Sea Bottom Trawling'. Brilliant! Here we are in the middle of nowhere in the Atlantic, beside a bottom trawler flying an anti-bottom trawling flag.

Erkut and Francois dash up the mast, and stand beside the flag, displaying their handheld banners. The trawler is moving fast now, preparing to set the net, which is in the water. Two steel cables are being paid out from the stern, so it's pretty dangerous back there. The trawler's crew is not threatening them, so Dave R waves them to hold on until its safe. Then, in a sort of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' moment, they hold hands and drop 3 or 4 metres off the port side into the sea, bobbing around in the trawler's wake.

Teppo and Mir haul the boys on board the Grey Whale, but not before Erkut has posed in the water, kissing the thick lips of a large discarded fish head. Lovely.

With Erkut and Francois back on board, filled with coffee and wrapped in thermals, the next plan rolls into action. This time Ollie drives the Grey Whale right up to the taut cables that pull the net. Erkut and Francois snap on hooks to each cable, while Teppo tosses a sea anchor over the side - the hooks are joined by one of our cables, which is attached to the sea anchor - which pulls the whole rig below the surface, down into the deep sea. We've got a banner alongside: 'Net Blocked By Greenpeace'.

That'll show em!

- Dave