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Catch a passing FAD

The crew of the Esperanza, still out patrolling the Pacific against the overfishing of tuna, just sent us this video update. They have been monitoring and confiscating fish aggregating devices (FADs) where ever they come across them. FADs are still being widely used by tuna fishing fleets throughout the Pacific Ocean - despite their use being illegal for most nations over the summer months.

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Defending Pacific tuna: on the trail of FADs and pirates

Stolen fish

It's only a couple of days since the Esperanza set out on the Defending Our Pacific Tour, but already the crew are deeply engaged in the fight to save Pacific tuna from decimation.

Tuna are the main target of industrial fishing fleets from Asia, USA and the EU. Between them they took over 2.5 million tonnes last year alone - a totally unsustainable amount. And the indiscriminate nature of their fishing methods means that thousands of sharks and turtles also die needlessly in their nets.

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James Bond has Q - we have Luke (Now pay attention 007...)

Luke on a direct action at Kingsnorth coal plant in Kent

Luke on injustice: "there's nothing more liberating than simply intervening to stop it."

I'm the Workshop Manager here at Greenpeace UK, which is a hectic and diverse role. The Workshop is an innovative creative hub, embedded into the Actions Unit, but working closely alongside other departments, deploying our technical and logistical skills wherever needed.

We research, procure, maintain and repair all the actions kit, climbing gear, boats, vehicles, solar and wind generators, battery banks etc, whilst pretty much taking care of all things practical for our academically orientated office colleagues. Need a picture hanging, bike repairing, or a bit of random advice on DIY? Well, we're here to help, although you might need to buy us a pint after work.

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Greenpeace podcast: A tale of two ships

Our podcast has skipped a month, but then with the Rainbow Warrior gracing our shores things have been a tad busy around here of late. As you may know, she was here in October as part of the international Quit Coal tour, and we went to meet some of the Greenpeace supporters who came to have a look round during the open boat days.

Also on our radar was the recent Indonesia tour undertaken by that other Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza. I was lucky enough to be there and while the crew were busy painting and blockading palm oil tankers in Sumatra, I was able to talk to them about what it's like being in the middle of a major piece of direct action.

And you'll have to excuse my froggy throat in the introduction, there's a cold going around the office.

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Update from Indonesia: Greenpeace climber brought down

A policeman pushes a Greenpeace climber down from the anchor chain of the Gran Couva

A policeman pushes a Greenpeace climber down from the anchor chain of the Gran Couva © Greenpeace/Novis

An update from Indonesia: yesterday, the climber occupying the anchor chain of a ship carrying a cargo of palm oil was brought down, arrested and later released without charge.

Yesterday, we also received the intriguing photo above (later chosen by the BBC for its day in pictures). As it took us in the office a while to get our heads around what was happening, I thought I'd pass on Jamie's explanation:

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Forest crimes and climate crimes: Greenpeace ships take action

The hoses are turned on a climber, attached to the anchor chain of the Gran Couva. © Greenpeace/Novis

The Esperanza in Indonesia

The small (wet) figure above is a crew member of the Greenpeace ship Esperanza. Darkness has fallen on the port of Dumai (Indonesia) since this photograph was taken several hours ago, but our climber is still there, in the dark, occupying the anchor chain and preventing the tanker from setting off to the Netherlands with its 27,000 tonne cargo of palm oil. As Jamie wrote on the Forests for Climate blog, it takes only one person to stop a giant palm oil tanker.

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Slash and burn in the forests of Sumatra

kampar-peatland-intact-int.jpg

It's been a little while since I've updated here about the Esperanza's Forests for Climate tour of Indonesia, but continue it most certainly does. For our exploits crossing from one end of the country to the other and our stop in Jakarta, catch up on the Forests for Climate blog.

But we've arrived in Sungai Pakning, a small port on the coast of Riau in Sumatra, and the Esperanza is anchored in a wide, silty channel running between the mainland and two islands, Pulau Bengkalis and Pulau Padang. The soupy water flowing gently past the ship will be down to the Siak river, the mouth of which is just a few miles south.

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Follow the Esperanza in Google Earth

Follow the Esperanza around Indonesia in Google Earth

As the Rainbow Warrior sweeps into town, here on the other side of the planet the Esperanza is sailing through the warm waters of the old Spice Islands. We left Manokwari on Monday and are currently en route to Jakarta, slipping past bewitchingly exotic names such as the Ceram Sea, Buru Island, the Halmahera Sea, Selat Sagewin, the Banda Sea... I could go on.

If you're trying to place these exotic names, you could do worse than download the Google Earth layer which is tracking the progress of the Esperanza through Indonesia (you'll need to install Google Earth first, of course, but there's a plain map version below). I'll be posting highlights from the tour there, and it will update automatically so check it often for the latest stories, videos and other titbits from our expedition.

Oh, and we saw whales yesterday.

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Greenpeace podcast: another nuclear consultation was fixed

In this edition of our podcast we bring you far-flung forest news from Indonesia, where Jamie reports from the Esperanza on the 'Forests for Climate' tour, plus another Amazon update from James. But first, closer to home, nuclear campaigner Nathan Argent gives Greenpeace's reaction to the news that the government tried to fix another public consultation on new nuclear power, and ponders the implications for UK energy policy.

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Want to know more about the issues in this podcast?

Another nuclear consultation was fixed »
Nuclear Rhetoric vs reality »
Greenpeace ship in Indonesia to investigate forest destruction »
Greenpeace Forests for Climate blog »
Amazon deforestation »

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Manokwari, here we come

Manokwari dancers on the bridge of the Esperanza

A dance troupe from Manokwari take a tour of the Esperanza's bridge © Greenpeace/Rante

After nine days at sea, the Esperanza pulled into Manokwari harbour this morning - that's Manokwari in the Indonesian province of West Papua, not any other Manokwari you might be thinking of. Crowds of people were already on the dock and despite the overcast skies, we received one of the colourful and exotic welcomes I'm becoming accustomed to on this trip, with traditional dancing and singing to greet us when we disembarked.

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