Sociable hermits

Gavin, one of our divers, is mad about hermit crabs. He observed them gathering in groups in the sand while photographing marine life in the Dogger Bank area for Greenpeace's Marine Reserves NOW! tour. Along with the starfish, crabs and whelks, the little hermit crabs are an important part of the food chain. As scavengers, gobbling up leftovers, they are one group that is thriving in the North Sea.

Having dived for the last 25 years, Gavin has certainly seen some startling changes in the marine environment around the UK and the world. It's most obvious in the Mediterranean, where sea life has been so obviously depleted. Places like the North Sea that aren't so attractive to divers and holidaymakers are often ignored. It's only when we go to get our cod and chips that we are affected - why is fish so expensive? We don't realise that the price of cod is the least of our worries...

On this trip Gavin has been documenting life in our proposed Marine Reserves that is out of view, under the water and in places that most of us would never dream of going. This is a "nice" trip for him - when Greenpeace calls it's usually for a pretty nasty task like measuring discharge from nuclear reactors!

The images that have been brought up so far have surprised most people. We certainly didn't expect colour and beauty in the North Sea - the delicate soft corals and gorgeous sea urchins. It's those oohs and aahs that have been a highlight for Gavin. He loves to share what he sees down there and to change people's perceptions of places they don't understand.

One nautical mile from here, Gavin, Wolf and Sari are diving 24 metres below the surface. They are recording the trail of destruction left by a Dutch beam trawler that we encountered earlier today. It will be quite a contrast to the beautiful images Gavin has been collecting of life down there. Beam trawling trashes everything in the way, including hermit crabs on the seabed.

Posted by Elaine