Blog: Oceans

Wake-up calls

Posted by portia - 5 May 2007 at 10:30am - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

Although my day begins at 3.45am, I wake the rest of the crew at 7.30, for them to begin work at 8. There are varying responses to my knock on the cabin door, followed by a, "Good morning, it's 7.30." Some grunt, others half-heartedly wave an arm and one very lively soul politely says, "Thank you Portia."

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, scotland, shetland

Tall tales from the fishing fleet

Posted by Willie - 4 May 2007 at 3:00pm - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

Since we left Fetlar we have engaged with a lot of fishing vessels north of Shetland, mostly Scottish boats but also German and Norwegian. Where possible we have tried to communicate with them, particularly those involved in catching cod, either as a target species or as bycatch. And we have had some interesting conversations with them.

Article tagged as: cod, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, overfishing, scotland, shetland

Deconstructing destruction

Posted by Willie - 4 May 2007 at 12:00pm - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

We often talk about 'destructive' fisheries on the oceans campaign - so I thought it was maybe time I explained what that means when we talk about cod. A purist could say that all fishing is destructive, in that it destroys the fishes' life at least, I guess.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, beam trawling, bycatch, cod, destructive fishing, north sea, oceans, overfishing

Sea food? Not in the North Sea

Posted by jossc - 2 May 2007 at 5:00pm - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

A fulmar

A fulmar soars above the North Sea © Greenpeace/Gavin Newman

Out on the North Sea, aside from the vessels and the oil platforms we pass, we're always surrounded by life. And no, I don't just mean the ship's crew.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, marine reserves, north sea, oceans

The North Sea cod crisis

Publication date: 
2 May, 2007
North Sea cod stocks are in crisis; it has been classified as a ‘threatened and declining species’ since 2002. Unless a fishing ban is implemented, cod will become commercially extinct in the very near future. This report explains what needs to be done to tackle the cod crisis, including "a zero catch" allowance and the creation of marine reserves.
Download the report:
Article tagged as: cod, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, overfishing, reports

It's quite simple: stop battering cod

Posted by jossc - 2 May 2007 at 11:02am - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

The Arctic Sunrise is currently in Bergen, on the west coast of Norway, to stock up on essential supplies and for some crew changeovers. I'm one of a five-strong contingent from the Greenpeace UK office who arrived here late on Sunday night after a 30-hour ferry trip from Newcastle and I'll be your webmaster for the second half of our North Sea Marine Reserves Tour.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, marine reserves, north sea, norway, oceans

Setting sail from Norway

Posted by Willie - 2 May 2007 at 10:47am - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

It's half past eight at night, and we've just left Bergen. It's still shorts and t-shirt weather on the deck of the Arctic Sunrise, and many of the crew are out enjoying the scenery as we pass snow-capped mountains en route back to the North Sea.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, marine reserves, north sea, norway, oceans

Tall tales from the sea a thing of the past

Posted by Ludvig - 30 April 2007 at 1:46pm - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

Heading in to a beautiful and sunny Bergen on the Norwegian coast, this first leg of the tour is coming to an end. This is where some of us will disembark and new people will join to take our places. Sitting on the heli-deck as we slowly make our way past the spectacular scenery Hanne and I were summarising some of the things we had learned on the trip.

One thing we both have noticed is that a lot of the fishermen as well as others in the industry we have come across during these weeks seem to have had the idea that Greenpeace are against all kinds of fishing and therefore not interested in a dialogue with us. This is of course not the case, and as we started talking about this Hanne told me an interesting story of her first hand experiences of the modern changes of the fishing industry.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, denmark, local fishing, north sea, oceans

Life as a deck hand and garbologist

Posted by Ludvig - 27 April 2007 at 12:03pm - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

From Portia: As deck hand, I am on watch with the captain from 4 to 8 morning and evening, which means I enjoy both the sunset and the sunrise. My day begins with a wake up call at 3.45am. I grab a cup of tea and banana and hope the caffeine and fruit will sustain me for an hour before I do a safety round, checking that no water is flooding onto the Arctic Sunrise, there are no signs of fire and that everything is generally in ship shape.

Article tagged as: arctic sunrise, cod, garbology, north sea, oceans

Bringing cookies to pair trawlers

Posted by Ludvig - 27 April 2007 at 11:57am - Comments

Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog

Things can really turn around fast on the ship. Last night, just as I posted yesterday's blog entry, we came across a pair of interesting looking ships trawling together for cod and immediately launched a boat to investigate.

Article tagged as: cod, marine reserves, north sea, oceans, pair trawling
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