Posted by jessmil on 05/15/2008 4:18 pm

Posted by jessmil on 05/09/2008 3:04 pm

I was on standby from 5.30am but it wasn't until 11.00am that we we finally got close to the reefer. Being on standby for that long really starts to get to you, The tension and the adrenaline really puts you on the line.

Boats were launched and we took off towards the reefer, radio contact was done already and Lagi our campaign leader came with us. When we arrived at the reefer some of our crew were welcomed on board. The captain and crew were very helpful and even our photographers were allowed on the reefer, which was really nice of the captain. I stayed in the inflatable for a while and bobbed alongside the ship for about 2 hours and then finally the radio contact was made asking me, my wantok Danny (from Papua New Guinea) and Sakyo (a Japanese activist) to also board the ship.

We managed to get on the boat without any mishap and I am still surprised that I actually climbed up that ladder because I am afraid of heights. But with the encouragement from my fellow crew on board the African Queen I managed to climbed up that ladder with shaky knees! Thank you Helena for your patience and encouragement from the rest of the team. We were invited to go down to the cooler which was half full with tuna of various sizes. We climbed down the ladder to document the cargo of tuna in there.

Being in the cooler, I got a close look at all the fish and it made me really sad because the smallest tuna that I could see was the size of my palm. No wonder there is a decline in the tuna stock because these foreigners took whatever size of tuna that they could get their hands on. I was filled with rage when I came out of the cooler I had to sit down for a while to get my emotions back together. In order for the Pacific to have tuna stocks for our children tomorrow we need to act now.

Images © Greenpeace/Paul Hilton

Posted by jessmil on 05/08/2008 4:52 pm

So i have to apologize for not posting recently.  Sadly, my time on the Esperanza has come to a close, for now.  I am back in Washington DC and watching the rest of the tour from here.  As the Esperanza continues to defend the Pacific, I will do my best to keep you all informed.  Let me know if there are questions you have about what I post and I'll do my best to get answers from the crew.  Stand by everyone, this fight is far from over! 

Posted by jessmil on 04/20/2008 04:00 am

At 8:30 this morning, I stood on the deck of the Esperanza staring out at a ship in the distance. We had spotted a fishing vessel in international waters and had sent a team to see if they were actually fishing. As the information came in, we learned that it was a purse seiner from the U.S. and it just started to pull in the net. Purse seine vessels surround schools of fish with curtain-like nets to catch tuna. A rope along the bottom of the net is pulled like a drawstring and the whole catch is hauled onboard. A purse seine net can be over one hundred meters long and catch up to 3000 tons of fish in one trip.

We launched the boats immediately and set off towards the U.S. vessel, Cape Finisterre, to give them the same message we had given the Korean fishing vessel, Olympus just a few days earlier. It’s time for international commercial fishing vessels to stop overfishing the Pacific Commons. As we approached, I could see the net being pulled in and loaded on the deck of the ship, it looked massive.

Henry and I, both from activists from the U.S., deployed a banner demanding “Pacific Marine Reserves Now!” as Lagi, our oceans campaigner from Fiji delivered the message via radio to the U.S. purse seiner Captain. The Cape Finisterre continued to pull in their net and reload their skiff (a small boat used to set and retrieve the net when fishing with a purse seine) and seemed to go about their business. We learned over the radio that the vessel would not be leaving the Pacific Commons. Alain, our boat driver moved the boat closer to the Cape Finisterre and Henry and I painted the side of the vessel with the words “Tuna overkill.”

I looked at the hull of the Cape Finisterre with mixed emotions. I was embarrassed because every country that fishes in this region has the scientific data that shows that bigeye and yellowfin tuna are in trouble and they chose to ignore the warnings - including the U.S.. And I felt proud to be here with Greenpeace taking action against overfishing in the Pacific Commons. It’s time for the Cape Finisterre and other ships like it know that the world is watching. We will not let their destruction the tuna population of the Pacific Commons go unreported.

Posted by jessmil on 04/18/2008 11:55 pm

This morning I woke up still pretty sore from spending a whole day in the RHIBS on the open ocean Wednesday. I glanced over at the alarm clock and realized I had more than an hour before I had to get up for breakfast. I looked out the porthole of my cabin and I could see the sky starting to turn bright pink. I could tell it was going to be a beautiful sunrise. I decided to stay in bed a little longer and my mind drifted back to our day of action on the South Pacific.

I thought about how fast the Koren purse seiner was moving next to our boats (doing almost 13 knots), about the fishermen watching us from the deck, the salt water spray that was pelting me in the face but my mind kept flashing back to the flying fish that were escorting us to the Korean purse seiner.

We launched the boats from the Esperanza with almost a 30 minute ride ahead of us. About half way through, a flying fish shot out of the water, flew for what seemed like forever and then shot back into the water. A few seconds later, a few more flying fish came up for a flight and dove back into the ocean. This continued for a while with varying size to the groups that joined us on our trip to the fishing vessel.

It felt good to have a few of the locals accompany us that morning. Being in the middle of the ocean, you can go for hours and sometimes days without any visible sealife. That morning, the flying fish were a nice reminder that we aren't just fighting for the tuna. That we are fighting for the health of this ocean and all of the things that live in the delicate balance of these eco-systems.

Flying fish are found in all the major oceans, mainly in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. Their pectoral fins are unusually large and what allows them to take flight above the water. The fish usually fly out of the water to escape from predators such as tunas, swordfish, mahi mahi and other larger fish.