-
Gabriel Vianna and Felipe Vallejo: ”A more sustainable relationship between people and oceans”
Gabriel Vianna Greenpeace/Paul Hilton Gabriel, or Gabe as we normally call him, is another one of our Brazilian nationals on board. He is currently the assistant leader for the dive team, responsible for documenting the marine life as well as patiently holding campaign banners under water, among other tasks. And by the way, Gabe is…
-
Powering the plunder, fueling the fire: Tuna today, gone tomorrow
The fuel tanker Fong Seong 888 refueling the purse seiner MV American Legacy. Both are owned by the Taiwanese Chen family network of Companies. The number 8 in the Chinese culture is considered a lucky number, as the word for eight sounds similar to the word meaning ‘prosper’ or ‘wealth’ . I am pretty…
-
Voices of Pacific Activists: Ana Jitoko
Feeding a crew of 34 can be quite a daunting task for one person. So, here on the Esperanza we have two crew members working hard in the galley to make sure the crew does not go hungry. Assisting Pato, our Argentinian cook, in preparing our delicious meals is one of our Pacific Activists, Ana…
-
Fish Now, Pay Later
Greenpeace/Paul Hilton Just two days ago, the Japanese purse seiner, Fukuichi Maru was pulling in its purse seine net, heavy with freshly caught tuna, when we found them fishing in area 2 of the Pacific high seas. Floating and attached on their left side (or port side as we refer to it in nautical terms),…
-
Bearing witness in the High Seas: Voices of Pacific Activists
It was an eventful and activity-filled week (daily FAD and illegal fishing boat watches!) of sailing in the Pacific. I had imagined that patrolling these waters and finding something would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. After all, the Pacific is the biggest Ocean in the world! But I was proved wrong.…
-
Does The New Japanese Government Offer Fresh Hope To Whales?
The change of government in Japan in a landslide victory to the Democratic Party of Japan provides new hope of a shift on Japan’s whaling policies – especially if the Australian government plays the right cards. Although whaling is not an issue where the Democratic Party differentiates itself from the outgoing Liberal Party, a range…
-
A Growing Fad
A few days back, we hauled on-board a Fish Aggregating Device (FAD), a device used by purse seiners to attract tuna. A lot of marine life was spared from certain fishy death that day. We were pleased to see that our FAD expose generated positive comments (after all, we are in the middle of…
-
The Tale Of The Broken Freezer At Sea
A black dot. Peering through the binoculars, thats how the Taiwanese fishing vessel appeared, silhouetted against the horizon. The past few days activities have been like tricks from a magician’s hat – you never know what your hand will pull out. Just yesterday, we fished out a banned fish aggregating device (FAD). Today, during a routine…
-
How To Talk To Kids About Climate Change
I’ve been thinking a lot about kids and climate change lately. I’m not just wondering, as I often do, what they’ll think of our response to the crisis and what they’ll do when they are adults. I’ve actually been trying to work out how to explain climate change to them without scaring their little socks…
