This Friday the Greenpeace ship M.Y. Esperanza arrives in Ponta Delgada, at the end of her three week expedition to investigate the little explored deep sea habitats of the Azores. Equipped with state of the art imaging equipment, including a purpose-built remote operating vehicle (ROV) and a drop camera capable of reaching depths of 700 metres, a team of underwater photographers and scientists have been able to survey parts of the deep sea. This underwater work proved to be very difficult, and several problems with the equipment occurred.

But after 14 days of researching the seamounts around the Azorean islands, we've managed to gain valuable information about the distribution and habitats of many deep sea species in this area. Our photo-videographer, Gavin Newman, has been able to capture some beautiful images of parts of the seabed that nobody else has ever set eyes on before. The coral communities we found there were other-worldly - strange white whip corals and yellow fan-shapes corals. We saw sponges of various shapes and colours, blue sea cucumbers, and several times we glimpsed deep water sharks in the distance.

As part of the 'Defending Our Oceans' expedition, we've been working in partnership with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the University of the Azores (UAC). The ship is helping the ongoing UAC research programme to improve our scientific knowledge of the deep-sea habitats and marine life found around the huge mountains under the sea known as seamounts.

Also on board for the first week was a sperm whale researcher from IFAW, who continue to help monitor and document the populations in the area. The Esperanza is now equipped with a hydrophone and computer software specially developed by IFAW to acoustically detect sperm whales. Photographs of individual whales will be added to the regional photo-id catalogue, which is managed by IFAW. Despite their size there is still much we have to learn about the behaviour and ecology of these animals.

The goal of the Defending Our Oceans campaign is to pressure governments around the world to establish a global network of marine reserves covering 40% of the world's oceans, in order to protect them for future generations. The expedition started last November with actions against Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. Before arriving in the Azores,the Esperanza has been focusing on pirate fishing west of Africa.

Please come on board and get more information about the expedition from: Frank Kamp (captain); Richard Page (Greenpeace, expedition co-ordinator); Gavin Newman (specialist underwater photographer), Ricardo Serrão Santos (UAÇ).

Contact:

Richard Page, Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner,
Laura Westendorp, Greenpeace Communications Officer,
Ricardo Serrão Santos (UAÇ) tel.+351.292200407/292200400
M.Y. Esperanza: +47 51 407986

Visit our websites

www.oceans.greenpeace.org
www.ifaw.org
www.horta.uac.pt