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30 June 2006

Yikes It's Hot!

by Slade, onboard the Esperanza

Today was hot, yesterday was hot, tomorrow will be hot .. did I mention it was hot? At about 42 degrees and 80% humidity, its darn hot! I get excited when I go from outside to inside the ship, as its only 30 degrees in the mess (the place we eat) it's much cooler! I think I'm consuming between 4 - 5 litres a day of water and sweating about that much out. I think the most enjoyable part of this heat is when I wake up in the middle of the night swimming in my own sweat. Nice! Have I mentioned it's hot? As the ship is all metal, once she heats up, there's no cooling her down.

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29 June 2006

A different sort of Pirate!

by Slade, onboard the Esperanza

Over the last few days we have been preparing and training for pirates. Not like you see in 'Pirates of the Carribean', but ones on speed boats. We are in one of the most dangerous areas in the world for pirates. We will have extra crew on watch right around the clock. My watch will be on the bridge tomorrow morning from 4am till 8am with the chief mate.

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28 June 2006

My first days at sea are truly something!

by Slade, onboard the Esperanza

We departed Hurghada and headed south down the Red Sea. Sun shining and not a cloud in the sky. As dusk came upon us, the sun tipped over the horizon and left us with a beautiful glowing pink sky. As it became darker and darker, the sky’s shone brightly with every star, millions of them. I sat on the Stern (the back of the ship) and watched the ocean being left behind as we sailed into the pitch black darkness of this sea.

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27 June 2006

Bon Voyage

by Alex, onboard the Esperanza

The Esperanza is off to India. And I'm off the Esperanza.

I'm leaving you in the big, capable hands of Slade. Yet another Aussie, but I think we've managed to keep the international vibe. Strewth mate, I've had a bonza time.

Today we went on a snorkelling trip as a little farewell to Hurghada. It was incredible. We swam over coral reefs, teeming with fish of all sizes and colours. It's fascinating to see how they all interact. There are the outgoing life forms that swim around, come to check you out and then if you look closely under coral shelves and in the dark corners there are plenty of surprises.

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Chatting with Johan Vifian from HEPCA

by Slade, onboard the Esperanza

Whist in Hurghada, we have been supporting a local organization called HEPCA (Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association)

Whilst HEPCA was on board, We had the privilege of having a chat with Johan Vifian, Vice President of HEPCA.

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26 June 2006

St Kitts - "Come Back Soon"

Part 2 of Mike's memoirs from his time in StKitts' jail "Smack Down" and the country's Monty Python-style courtroom

Back to the stinky cell my heart sank, and fear and panic were setting in, was the sentence really going to be decided by the Chief of Police? If so, I and possibly my Latin compatriots were going to do some hard time. I've done this once before and to say I was scared would be an understatement.

Back to Smack Down, this time I was allowed to stay with the others in the Police recreation area, I tried to look invisible, and to look calm. Don't know if I managed either. All for one and one for all, we held each other together, shoring up our collective belief that the punishment would fit the crime. A fine and time served seemed infinitely reasonable to us for a peaceful protest. After all, as the man from Reuters reported me saying: "What could be more peaceful than 1,000 cardboard whale tails?"

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Take action: tell Denmark not to vote against whales

From Adele in the Greenpeace office in Stockholm

Denmark cast a deciding vote against the whales at this year's International Whaling Commission meeting. With a one vote majority the whalers passed a resolution promoting the absurd and scientifically discredited idea that whales are to blame for the worldwide decline in fish stocks, and a return to full scale commercial whaling.

Most people in Denmark are against commercial whaling. So why is their government voting in favour of it?

Help us bring the government of Denmark back on side, and in line with what its own citizens want. Send this message to the Prime Minister of Denmark and ask him to change Denmark's policy.

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Sleepless in Smackdown - Part 1

By Mike, Straight-talkin' Scotsman, Part 1 of his St Kitts memoirs written on his way home

Time stands still when you're in a four meter square punishment cell in Smack Down. I don't know when evening ended and night began or when night gave way to morning. But, it was morning I focussed on, with the sun would come a trip to the Magistrates Court. In my darkened cell the sun could come and go in secret. 9 am couldn't come soon enough, when the Judge would shine some light in the darkness of our uncertainty: the ten Greenpeace Ocean Defenders who'd been arrested the day before in a peaceful protest to defend the whales.

Busted for a peaceful protest on a public beach: for highlighting the failure of the week-long International Whaling Commission's annual meeting to stop the slaughter of thousands of whales a year. The action took place on the last day of the meeting, a day which would focus on administration and not whales (see below). For trying to plant cardboard whale tails, blackened fluke-shaped tombstones, marked R.I.P. (Rest in Peace) on the beach in front of the meeting. One for each whale killed in the name of science by the Fisheries Agency of Japan in the IWC designated Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary during the 2005/06 season, 853 minke whales and 10 Fin whales; one for each of the whales to be killed in the coming season.

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Open Day - Hurghada, Egypt

by Slade, onboard the Esperanza

Well, after the brilliant effort put in by the web editors formally known as Elaine and Alex, it’s time for them to head back to the office. Today, Alex left and now I’m in the hot seat for this next leg from Egypt to India. They’re big shoes to fill, so let’s see how we go. Like Alex and Elaine, I’m also an Aussie, so will try and keep the aussie lingo to a minimum so you know what i'm actually talking about.

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24 June 2006

Seeing Red

by Alex, onboard the Esperanza

We've left the Mediterranean and headed through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea. The trip has been full of surprises. For a start, the Red Sea is blue.

It may be strangely named, but this so-called Red Sea is certainly full of underwater treasures. Check out our latest offering on Ocean Defenders TV. Its clear waters and varied marine life make this area a favourite for divers.

I had my first taste of Red Sea marine life this morning with a post-breakfast dolphin run. A dolphin run invovles someone, in this case Sari (Oceans Campaigner), yelling "There's a school of dolphins at the bow" and all in earshot sprinting towards the front of the ship at superhuman speed, leaping tall bollards in a single bound. We oohed and aahed as seven Bottlenose dolphins, including a mother and baby, swam alongside the Esperanza. They stayed long enough to say good morning before disappearing into the watery blue.

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23 June 2006

Pirates of the Mediterranean – update from the RW

by Alex, onboard the Esperanza

While we were playing the waiting game with Egyptian coastal authorities, our courageous colleagues on the Rainbow Warrior have been grappling with pirates.

They confiscated a section of an 8 km illegal driftnet being used by an Italian vessel (yep, you read it right, 8km!) and released a baby sea turtle entangled in the net. Driftnet fishing kills thousands of whales, dolphins and turtles in the Mediterranean, so this little fella was lucky to get away with his life.

This fishing practice is outlawed by the United Nations and the European Union, so why is it that Greenpeace had to step in and do something about it? In the words of Alessandro Gianni aboard the Rainbow Warrior, “it is scandalous that for years Mediterranean governments have continued to condone piracy, when the law has given them a mandate to protect the Mediterranean Sea."

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From the Med to the Red Sea

by Alain, onboard the Esperanza

We arrived in Port Said late Wednesday evening. First we were supposed to go at anchor, waiting there to join the convoy that will pass the Suez Canal. But a few minutes before getting to the anchor point, change of plans, we were going in the harbour, alongside...

There was a pretty interesting and intense moment; as soon as we stopped the engines, our vessel was "visited" by a bunch of people from the agent to some guys that stepped on our ship trying to sell us some "typical" souvenirs from Egypt. The poop deck turned into some kind of open market and the place remained very animated until the end of my harbour watch (4am). I knocked off to my cabin to get some rest, the coming day is going to be very busy. We are due to start our transit through the canal at 6am....

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22 June 2006

"I and I" Smack Down

(The ten activists arrested at the International Whaling Commission in St. Kitts have now been freed by the authorities. Here's the story of the incarceration of one Mike Townsley)

By Mike, comms officer

"Also in mitigation your honour, when you are considering the sentence, look these are MOSTLY young people, young people just starting out in life," said the Greenpeace Lawyer in his Burberry Suit. "OBJECTION your honour, can the court please strike that from the record!" I shouted (under my breath) . What did he mean mostly, I guess, it was a caveat to cover the presence of the ever so slightly greying Scotsman at the front of the queue? I was the exception to the rule; the average age of my fellow defendants was about 24, reverse the numbers and you get my age.

I'd also been singled out as the 'ring leader'. In Greenpeace we don't have ring leaders, and while I know it sounds 'corny', it is 'one for all and all for one'.

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Talking to Samir from Al Jazeera

by Alex, onboard the Esperanza

Based in Egypt, Samir Omar has been a correspondent for Al Jazeera for the past 4 years and a journalist for 12 years. He joined the Esperanza as it left Cyprus, to observe the work we're doing with overfishing of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean.

Samir's been a wonderful addition to our journey. Not only has he serenaded us with beautiful Arabic songs for the past few days, but he was kind enough to grant us an interview.

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Rust Warrior

by Alex, onboard the Esperanza

Why am I dressed like a Star Wars storm trooper? I've become a foot soldier in the never-ending battle between sea farers and rust. It's an age-old story. You have a metal ship. The sea is wet and salty. Salt accelerates the process of oxidation. The rest is history.

For me, it all started because the Internet was down. It's hard to be a webbie with no web access. Work starts pretty early on board. From 0800, everyone's buzzing around cleaning the ship's inside from top to bottom. Then at 0900 the real work begins. Seeing how much everyone else has to do to keep the ship running, it was the least I could do to offer myself as a deckie. Besides, Grant said I could wear the orange Greenpeace work overalls.

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21 June 2006

IWC: A Star is Born

As the IWC proceedings wrap up, we take a look inside the meeting with a new star on Ocean Defenders TV: Mike Townsley! Like a true celebrity, he already managed to get arrested one day after the shoot:

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/ocean-defenders-tv

Many thanks to Mike and especially also to cameraman Hernan for putting this together on the ground.

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Maintain the rage

By Adele, at the Greenpeace office in Stockholm

Ok Ocean Defenders, I know you've been clamouring for stuff to do here. While we don't have a cyberaction just yet, I have tried to paste together names and addresses of (some of) the guys - and girls - in suits responsible for either supporting whaling or not doing enough to stop the slaughter.

I've gathered some useful links and information below. Make sure you're signed up as an Ocean Defender so you are the first to hear when we launch actions for you - or to get the news from the Southern Ocean as we go back to stop the manufacture of scientific sushi later this year....

Feel free to post more ideas or contact details you can google up in the comments - especially political contact details, could be handy for someone out there.

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20 June 2006

863 whales remembered in protest

by Andrew at the Greenpeace International office in Amsterdam

I've just had word from our people in St Kitts. Details are sketchy because most of our team there is now in police custody. Here is what I've heard:

Our ship the Arctic Sunrise was refused entry to St Kitts last week for, "national security reasons". This was probably at the request of the Japanese government, or maybe the St Kitts government acted on its own. Either way, they didn't want a Greenpeace ship anywhere near the IWC meeting. Especially not one whose crew has protected whales from Japanese government sponsored harpoons.

But today our ship came in anyway. Its cargo - 863 cardboard whale tails - one whale tail for every whale the Japanese "research" program killed in the Southern Ocean last season.

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Slade - onboard webbie from Egypt to Singapore

What's your story?
Originally Australian, but left and have been wondering around the world looking for something I'm sure I already had but just haven't realised it yet.

What's the moment the epitomises the reason you're here on a greenpeace ship?
They forced me too. They twisted my arm and demand that I sail on the Esperanza and visit amazing places and see amazing things. Nah, Errmmm .. right place at the right time? I have worked for Greenpeace before so sorta came about that way I guess!


What is the meaning of life?
Surf, Sun and Beer? No? Errm, then I have no idea. What an odd question to ask


If you were marine animal, which one would you be?
Oh, I would be a penguin. Have you seen those little dudes run? How cool!


Essential survival item for spending time onboard a Greenpeace ship?
Choclate. There is no corner store out here and it's amazing how it's good to bride people with :P

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Flying and swimming

by Alex, onboard the Esperanza

All was calm in the campaign room, until one of the crew ran in and yelled 'We're flying.' It seems that they'd spotted a long liner (that's a kind of fishing vessel). If this ship is fishing tuna, then they're doing it illegally because long lining is prohibited in these waters at this time of year.

I thought 'flying' was one of those sea farer's terms for sailing very fast, but they were speaking literally. Tweety was going off on an investigative mission. If you haven't been keeping up, Tweety is our helicopter. I know it's a piece of high-tech equipment and a vital tool for surveying ships out in the ocean, but I can't help but think that Tweety reminds me of a fat, red dragonfly.

The long liner turned out to be a carrier vessel. The crew told us stories of falling catches and reported that the tuna caught are smaller. Later on we spoke to some purse seiner vessels heading from Northern Cyprus to Antalya. They told us that their catches are ok, although the tuna they catch are also smaller every year.

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The Last Word

From Mike, Press Guy and Straight-talkin' Scotsman at the IWC

[Adele] Mike's just sent through his wrap-up of IWC 58. He says:

"This year the world body responsible for protecting whales, the International Whaling Commission, was dominated by speculation about whether or not the whalers would take over and begin dismantling hard won whale protection measure like the global commercial moratorium and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. It is safe to say that the take-over did not happen. The whalers lost four votes out of five. But nothing good happened either. No progress was made to stop the annual slaughter of thousands of whales."

[Adele] The thing I guess we are really disappointed...actually, make that disgusted, about is the lack of any progress coming from the "whale-friendly" governments. So despite the fact that the ban on commercial whaling is still in place, there's still going to be a couple of thousand whales killed in the name of "science". Here's Mike's take on that one:

"Not a single resolution or motion was tabled by the whale-friendly Governments condemning or calling for an end to the Fisheries Agency of Japan’s annual assault on the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. No single resolution was entered condemning the addition of threatened fin whales and endangered humpback whales to the Fisheries Agency of Japan’s scientific menu.

“The Fisheries Agency of Japan and the whalers have won their first vote against the whales in over twenty years; it is now up to all of us, environment groups and whale friendly governments alike to make sure it is their last. Greenpeace will again return to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary this year to disrupt, delay and document the hunt, the question is what are the whale friendly Governments going to do?”

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Tweety's Revenge

by Alex, onboard the Esperanza

It's been an interesting day. One minute I'm mopping the floor of the mess and the next I'm hovering in the air above a group of Turkish fishing boats, watching as they haul in their tuna catch...

We're on the helideck. Everyone is running around, getting things ready. I'm handed a pair of headphones and a lifejacket. Seat-belt on. The engines start and we're lifting. All the doors are off, so it's very windy. My hat is in danger of blowing away, but at least I've escaped the sweltering heat of the ship. We have to change directions. Tweety dips. The world tilts on its side and my stomach is left behind. Poor little stomach. It's really letting me down this trip.

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19 June 2006

Another win: We keep our IWC membership

by Andrew at the Greenpeace International office in Amsterdam

In what amounted to a international diplomatic version of a group hug, pro and anti whaling nations found common ground near the end of this IWC meeting, by adopting a resolution endorsing the right to protest on the high seas while asking everyone to, "keep it safe out there".

Full text is here. And while it may not be very huggy at first glance, keep in mind this agenda item was expected to be about revoking Greenpeace's observer status at the IWC (which we've had for 30 years). Needless to say, we are happy to be able to continue our work inside the IWC - to support our work outside of it.

Really, "Agenda Item 3" does warm my heart. Even Japan signed on to the thing. The cynic in me says maybe they didn't want to risk their fragile majority on a side issue like Greenpeace's IWC membership. At the same time, I hope this resolution means we can look forward to the same respect for our safety in the future, that we have always given the whalers in the past.

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Antarctic fin whales do not eat fish

by Andrew at the Greenpeace International office in Amsterdam

Here's a slide from a Power Point presentation the Japanese government delegation gave to the IWC plenary. (They were kind enough to provide us with a copy.) It is a picture of an endangered fin whale, the world's second largest animal, dead on the deck of the whalers' factory ship.

The whalers did apparently check what was in the whale's stomach before boxing the marketable bits up for shipping. Unsurprisingly, the result was krill, not fish - because Antarctic fin whales don't eat fish. Neither do southern hemisphere minke (the other species hunted off the coast of Antarctica).

The Fisheries Agency of Japan claims that whales eat fish and are a threat to food security of coastal communities. Yet, as can be seen from their own presentation, ANTARCTIC FIN WHALES DO NOT EAT FISH. So could you stop hunting them now? Or at least stop blaming them for something that's not their fault.

If you want answers about why the world's fisheries are a wreck, look closer to home. Right now, the Greenpeace ship Esperanza is in the Mediterranean documenting the woeful state of its bluefin tuna fishery. The main market for that tuna is Japan, while the actual fishing (much of it illegal) and tuna ranching is done by a variety of European countries.

So there is plenty of blame to go around, but none of it belongs to the whales.

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Technical difficulties: please stand by

by Andrew, from the Greenpeace International office in Amsterdam

Sorry, no update from the Esperanza today. They're having some technical problems. Hopefully these will be resolved soon.

In the meantime all the action is over on the political blog - which has updates from the International Whaling Commission meeting in St Kitts. This year's meeting is a bit of a hair raiser (as international meetings go) with many of the important votes being right on the edge. Read updates from our team on the ground.

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Wake up and smell the coffee: the "St Kitts Declaration"

From Mike, Comms officer and straight-talking Scotsman in St Kitts for the IWC

Well it finally happened, the long awaited and much anticipated Fisheries Agency of Japan majority at the IWC came yesterday to support the so-called St Kitts declaration. A fragile majority of one, 33 to 32 with China abstaining. It caused quite a ruckus in the room with a number of diplomats resorting to very undiplomatic language. But not quite as undiplomatic as the language some of us were using under our breath.

But wait a minute, what does it actually mean, what will it actually deliver for the whalers - nothing in real time in the real world. They already lost the first four votes, ones that actually would have changed things now, they wanted to end any IWC work on dolphins and porpoises, they wanted secret ballots, they wanted an exemption from the commercial whaling ban to kill minke Whales and Brydes whales inside their territorial waters, not for science but for sale, and they wanted the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary harpooned: these were real things that would have made a real difference.

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Japan wins St Kitts declaration vote at IWC

From Adele, keeping you up to date from the Greenpeace office in Stockholm

Japan and the whaling lobby have finally gained a simple majority vote at the IWC. 33 countries voted in favour of a resolution called "The St Kitts declaration" claiming that the "IWC has failed to meet its obligations under the terms of the ICRW" and declaring its commitment to "normalizing the functions of the IWC based upon the terms of the, ICRW (see below for an explanation of what they're talking about!)

"Greenpeace is disgusted that any member of the IWC would seek to promote whaling based upon the false notion that whales consume so much fish that they are a threat to food security for coastal nations, that a resolution has passed by a simple majority makes a mockery of the Commission in giving a dangerous lie a thin veneer of respectability,?"said Mike Townsley, our press guy on the ground.

In reality this declaration will change little or nothing as previous votes have already been taken. The IWC has already rejected attempts by the whalers to end any consideration of protection for small cetaceans (dolphins and porpoises), rejected a call to bring in secret ballots, rejected a call for allowing Japan an exception to the commercial moratorium to hunt Minke and Brydes whales in its territorial waters and finally rejected a resolution calling for an end to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.

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John B's IWC Update #2

by John B, at the IWC in St Kitts

Today at the IWC Japan made a proposal to abolish the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. It failed by 28 to 33 votes with 4 abstentions.

But they will never stop trying so we have to continue to protect the sanctuary and to defend the whales.

The sanctuary means a lot to me. I was involved in the campaign to have it adopted in 1994. I was expedition on board the Arctic Sunrise for the 1999/2000 campaign and I was project leader for the subsequent 2001/2002 and 2005/2006 expeditions. And now I will once again be part of the team for our next Southern Ocean voyage.

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18 June 2006

News roundup

by Andrew, from his apartment in Amsterdam

Quite a few news stories about the IWC meeting so far, especially in the Australian press. Here are excerpts from a few I've seen:

The Australian covers Japan's aggressive vote buying program in a story titled, "Bag of money lends weight to the whalers":

But it's New Zealand's Conservation Minister Chris Carter who has been firing some of the most pointed salvos at Japan. At the weekend, he warned Japan that its actions in the IWC -- like its push to have the IWC adopt voting in secret -- could work against its attempt to seek a seat on the UN Security Council.

And in an interview with The Australian, he went as far as anyone has here of accusing Japan of buying votes, noting that the West African country of Togo suddenly arrived in St Kitts and Nevis at the weekend with a brown bag full of thousands of US dollars.

The money was so Togo could pay its dues to the International Whaling Commission, the 70-country member body that governs the whale industry. At the IWC, if you're not financial you don't get to vote -- 66 countries are voting this year. And by a margin of just one or two votes, the anti-whaling forces are still in the majority.

The Togo delegation arrived a day after the meeting opened. Since it is allied with Japan and its efforts to restore its rights to resume commercial whaling, some are making it abundantly clear they reckon Japan stumped up the cash.

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Basma - Communications Officer

I'm based in Beirut. I've been working as a Communications Officer for three years, but I started as a volunteer in 1999.

My task mainly involves communicatijng with Arab public, particularly media. It's a new challenge. What we do is strange to the public in this region. It's based on concepts which are alien to the region - civil disobedience and peaceful protest. Even non-violence has a different interpretation. Holding a banner and standing on the street can be considered a violent or defiant approach. The rights of civil society are undervalued.

The interesting thing at this stage is that we have started to drive the public interest towards conservation issues, biodiversity issues. We're trying to get the public's interest and enthusiasm to work and to act towards defending their common resources, towards standing up for their own rights of decent living, access to resources, for their daily bread. Speaking out is something not very common in the region. Small minorities like fishermen are also under-represented. It's a highly politicised region and under that everything can pass unnoticed.

So far the response to the campaign has been good. It's a new campaign but we've managed to gain a good first interest, through the media and face to face meetings with the public. The public are curious. They don't know what's going on and that's what we're here to do - tell them what's happening, give them ways of changing things. We're here to tell them that despite the political turmoil in the region, nobody will gain if we lose the Mediterranean.

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Juan - Actions Coordinator

I was born in Madrid (Spain) in 1959.

I've been a Greenpeace supporter since 1990. I started working as an action coordinator in 2002, with the task of rebuilding the Spanish action team. This is still a work in progress.

Now I'm on board the Espy for a few days on my first opportunity as a kind of trainee action coordinator, on board without a trainer!!

I used to be a cabinet maker and a carpenter and still have the spirit of being a handcraft man.

Today I am fully convinced that we all need Greenpeace around the world.

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Alex - onboard webbie for Red Sea

Originally Australian, I've given up long summers and committed to eating a lot of cheese in order to live in Amsterdam for the past couple of years.

I'm a Geek by trade. I joined Greenpeace in the ICT Unit of the International office a year and a half ago, as an applications developer. It's an inspiring environment, full of people truly committed to a cause. I write for fun in my spare time, so I'm very happy to be on board, writing about my impressions of the journey.

This is my first time on board the Esperanza, and I'm very excited. Actually, it's my first time at sea. I'm having a great time exploring the ship, and once the web cam is back on again, you'll be able to see me lurking in the shade.

The work that Greenpeace is doing in defending our oceans is vitally important and extremely urgent. We need to act now to protect the diverse life forms in the sea.

I've been on working bits and pieces of the Defending Our Oceans website on the techie side, so it's great to be here with the crew, seeing how the campaign runs in the non-virtual world.

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Notes from a seasick sailor

by Alex, onboard the Esperanza

My first ever day as a sailor, and it’s a beauty. Brilliant sunshine, calm, sparkling azure waters. I board the Esperanza from Port Limassol in Cyprus as it's refuelling at sea. I’m going to be on this ship for less than two weeks, but already I have the feeling that I want to stay for a long, long time.

We’re heading for the region between Turkey and Cyprus to document bluefin tuna fishing practices there, and to estimate the size of the tuna population. There is a lack of information about the Turkish tuna fishing fleet, so it’s a bit of a black hole. We hope it's going to give us more of an idea of just how much devastation the tuna population has suffered in this region.

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16 June 2006

Unexpectedly: The whales are winning!

by Andrew, at the Greenpeace office in Amsterdam

Japan has lost the secret ballot vote !!!!

From what I have heard, here is the full listing for the vote for Secret Ballots (I'll get our team on the ground to check these when they can):

YES = 30:

Antigua & Barbuda, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, China, Cote d'Ivoire, Dominica,
Gabon, Gambia, Grenada, Guinea, Iceland, Japan, Kiribati, South Korea, Mali, Marshall
Islands, Mauritania, Mongolia, Morocco, Nauru, Nicaragua, Norway, Palau,
Russian Federation, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines,
Suriname, Tuvalu

NO = 33:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel,
Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Panama,
Portugal, San Marino, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, UK, USA.

Abstentions = 1:

Solomon Islands

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so long and urm, sorry about the fish

by Elaine, onboard the Esperanza

We've left the high tech tuna boats behind in Egyptian waters, their empty nets a sign of what they have achieved from previous years of greedy over-fishing. In Cyprus I'll be saying goodbye and the crew will be saying hello to Alex who will take the webby hotseat for a few weeks. There's more checking out the tuna fishery situation, this time in the far eastern Mediterranean and we're hoping it's not as dire as the rest of this sea.

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14 June 2006

Missing the Boat Part 2

By John B, Whales Campaign Project Leader, at the IWC in St Kitts

Well, here I am in St Kitts. I arrived late Saturday night after a 22 hour journey from Dublin. I had been planning things for the past month, but now all of my plans were up in the air. I was here, others from the Greenpeace team were here, but something was missing. Yes, there was no ship. The Arctic Sunrise had been banned from St Kitts.

Why? To be honest no reason has been given. The government simply told us in a two line letter that our request for entry had been denied.

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Missing the boat

by Buffy, Greenpeace Oceans Campaigner, at the IWC meeting in St. Kitts

I knew I’d have a lot of firsts over the last few days – my first time in St Kitts; my first time working with this fantastic team of fellow greenpeacers, all of them from different countries, with something like 60-70 years of experience in the whales campaign between them (I just started at Greenpeace in the US a bit over a year ago); and, I thought, I’d also get to be working on a greenpeace ship for the first time. I was VERY excited about this.

I've never even SEEN a greenpeace ship in 3D – just pictures and videos – and, of course, heard the stories. I was crestfallen to find out that, for unknown and unspecified reasons, the government of St. Kitts had refused our application to come into port here. Even worse, not only were we not allowed to dock, the Arctic Sunrise wasn’t even allowed to enter St. Kitts waters. So much for transparency and freedom of speech … and so much for my much anticipated first stint as an onboard campaigner.

Of course, this won’t stop our work here. We’re here on the ground (versus the water!), and we’re not so easily discouraged or dissuaded. We know the truth – that you out there are counting on us to represent you, and let the folks here know that the global community is against whaling, as well as against these transparent efforts to stymie transparency!

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13 June 2006

Updates from here, there and there

by Elaine, onboard the Esperanza

There really is no sign of Tuna out here, the fishermen desperate, their catch pathetic. We can't stop them fishing for tuna if there isn't any left to catch. It's sad but gives us an insight into the real state of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, things are certainly hotting up in St Kitts in the Caribbean, that world renowned centre of the whaling industry where this years International Whaling Commision (IWC) is meeting. The Arctic Sunrise has been denied access to St Kitts with no official reason given.

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12 June 2006

First update from this year's IWC

by John F, Greenpeace delegation head, at the IWC meeting in St. Kitts

In 1977 I went to my first IWC meeting in the cold of a Tokyo December. Now, almost 30 years later, I'm waiting in a hot, sweaty St. Kitts for what may be my last. And the last for Greenpeace as well.

In between, I've seen the moratorium voted in, and partied all night after the creation of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. I watched conservation roll like a slow ocean wave through the IWC, moving it away from whale killing and toward conservation and now, unbelievably, I'm seeing that wave roll back.

This year, over 2000 whales, including endangered species, are scheduled to die in commercial hunts - either openly, in Norway, or under the guise of science in Iceland and Japan's 'research' hunts. But this is only the beginning; the Fisheries Agency of Japan wants full-scale commercial whaling and is determined to get it.

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11 June 2006

chasing up to the last tuna

by Sebastian onboard the Esperanza

During the whole day we've followed the tuna fleet in their search for fish. The vessels we've been following are trying to fish off the coast of Egypt, some 20 miles North of the Arabian gulf. Our radar, that gives us information 12 miles around the Esperanza, shows up to 5 tuna vessels at the same time searching for tuna schools. They move in all directions, sweping the whole area.

These days, from dawn to dusk, over 200 tuna purse seiners throughout the Mediterranean do the same. Many of them are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to find fish so it's not difficult to understand what is happening in the fishery, why the bluefin tuna may be disappearing from our sea.

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10 June 2006

The chase is on

by Dave onboard the Esperanza

We're heading south and the chase is on - we're following one of the tuna boats towards the fishing grounds. There are a number of frustrated crew who just missed the England vs Paraguay world cup football game - ah the things we give up to save the world!

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Fishy harbour tale

by Francois, onboard the Esperanza

After few circles in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea we finally found them at anchor off the small port of Ieràpetra, in Crete. They are the Jean-Marie Christian III,IV,V and VI which belong to the French company Avallone Armements, and one of the six vessels of the Spanish purse-seiners fleet, the Nuevo Panchilleta.

The Esperanza dropped anchor close by. We went to pay them a visit and to hand over our report about bluefin tuna overfishing and the overall tuna ranching industry in the Mediterranean. This first contact went well, and from our inflatable boat we could exchange our points of view with some of the five captains.

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9 June 2006

Rainbow myth

by Gavin, onboard the Esperanza

The Myth of the Rainbow Warrior...

Of course the Rainbow Warrior doesn't actually exist, she's just a mythical symbol of this great organisation. Well this is what I was beginning to think anyway. Having worked with Greenpeace for some 14 years now and never having even seen the Warrior, let alone sailed on her I was starting to think that a conspiracy was afoot and the organisation hiding something. With computer programmes these days, maybe, just maybe all those pictures I'm seen were invented. On several occasions in the past I've been going to sail on the Warrior or visit her but everytime plans have changed and we never quite met and so the myth was perpetuated until today.

Up at 5:30am to witness a stunning sunrise - was today finally going to be the day... I was assured that a blip on the radar was the Warrior approaching and eventually that familiar silhouette came into view. Lifting off in the helicopter into the early morning sunlight we spent an hour photographing these two ships whose paths so rarely cross. The Rainbow Warrior looking magnificent under sail and the Esperanza beyond bristling with her high tech communications equipment. Two very different faces of an organisation but with common goals.

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Meeting the Warrior

by Elaine, onboard the Esperanza

It's 5.40 am GST and if you are fast enough you might be able to catch a pretty special moment. We're meeting up with the Rainbow Warrior on its transit accross the Mediterranean. Check out the webcam...

All done - sorry if you missed it - we were never sure this was going to happen!

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8 June 2006

Fever pitch - onboard animation

by Elaine, onboard the Esperanza

Yay - it's the 8th of June - that's World Ocean Day. Yes and only one day to go before the football world cup kicks off (oh I'm so excited - take that in whatever tone of voice you prefer). To celebrate both events we've put together a little stop frame animation that combines the joy of football and the horror of deep-sea bottom trawling. Geez, sounds great doesn't it?

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7 June 2006

Videoblog - Why tuna farming stinks

by Elaine, onboard the Esperanza

Why tuna farming stinks

After crossing the Mediterranean we are now looking at tuna ranching in its south eastern regions. And why exactly is tuna farming such a bad idea? We go up up and away with Tweety and with World Oceans Day nearly upon us, we take a look at important events on the oceans agenda this month.

Watch Ocean Defenders TV

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5 June 2006

Why is tuna ranching so bad?

by Sebastian, onboard the Esperanza

Tuna ranching is a relatively new industry in the Mediterranean. In the late 90's the bluefin tuna population was already overexploited. Less fishing was needed in order to re