In the zone

Posted by Vanessa at 09:10 PM, October 14, 2004

No land, just water as far I can see around our rolling metal home...

We left Killybegs late on Monday evening, crossing the EEZ this morning and so far the high seas have lived up their name. Great piles of swell have been rocking the Esperanza in a stormy Force 7 all day. The bridge has been well populated, with eyes fixed to the horizon line. But this has also meant extra eyes for watching for bottom trawlers.

And as luck would have it, at noon we spotted a suspicious smudge on the radar screens. Binoculars were whipped out from every orifice as excited campaign team members leant on the rail, staring intently at the sea in a nautical and knowledgeable manner.

But our enthusiasm was somewhat dampened when we found that it wasn't a bottom trawler after all.

So we continue to plough through the steel coloured 5m swells, searching the seas, as the chilling north Atlantic winds whistles around us, and the hull complains in metallic groans under the strain. It’s a strange feeling to be in this constantly moving world, so far from home but still getting fragments of news.

Was glad to hear yesterday that the issue of bottom trawling has a big story in the weekend papers back in New Zealand. It really highlights the global scale of the problem we are tackling... bottom trawling destruction in New Zealand, us on the other side of the planet looking to expose the same thing in the Atlantic and world governments gathering at the United Nations to talk about what they are going to do about it.

Now as we start to get updates from our UN team, I'm conscious that deliberations are progressing and it is important to find some bottom trawlers soon so that we can bring pressure to bear where its needed.

So it’s back to staring at the never ending mountains of water, watching, waiting...