Report from the MV Greenpeace in the North Sea.
4-8 March 1997
We started peaceful protests against beamtrawlers in the North Sea who
use tickler-chains and chain-mats in front of their nets to plough the
sea bed. There are 10-15 just in the small area around us (the MV
Greenpeace) who are tearing apart the bottom of the sea for
hours and hours 4-5 days a week.
4 inflatables from the MV Greenpeace went along to the UK 53
(Maarten Post) to stop the fishermen re-deploying their beams and nets
into the water. Climbers tried to climb onto the beam before it
disappeared under the surface to start its destructive job. At
least once one of the climbers succeeded despite the manouevers of the
fishermen. The climber held on for a few minutes being at one moment
high in the air and another dipped under the water, but still holding
on forcing the fishermen to take the beam back up.
We called the fishermen to inform them that we were not going to
damage anything, that our protests would be peaceful and that we
were not against fishing in general, but against their destructive
method of beamtrawling using tickler chains. We asked them to take
the chains off... I cannot repeat his reply here, but he was not in
support of us.
Seven more days till the environment ministers from around the
North Sea come together at the CONFERENCE on FISH and the
ENVIRONMENT (IMM) in Bergen. At the same time tens of thousands of
tickler chains are scratching across and digging into the sea bed
daily in the North Sea. They are ploughing the sea bottom down to 10
cm deep, smashing almost everything in their way.
These nets leave nothing but a trail of dead sea-bed in their wake.
Another beam trawler pulled up his net to empty his cod and
and was immediately confronted with our peaceful protest.
Climbers are successfully on the beam (at least three!!). The Dutch
fishermen called the coastguard to inform them that they could
not fish with protesters on their beam. The response was: "Well,
I am sorry. I know you have Greenpeace people on your beam for the
moment. I informed the coastguard station in Cuxhaven, but I really
cannot do anything more for you. I am sorry for this and have
nothing else to add for the moment."
At this moment the beam was lowered into the water, with
the people on top.
The fishermen learnt that lifting their beams when we are there might
bring trouble. So they tried to play around with us. Like starting to
haul their nets and when we arrived dropping it again because they
just wanted to get our attention and fool us.
The actions continue with swimmers in front of the fishing
vessels. People are also jumping on the beams and holding on to the
chains as long as possible to prevent the fishermen sinking their
gear to the bottom. There is much swearing and throwing of fish,
as well as wood and iron items. In addition, signal-rockets have been
fired at the inflatables and the MV Greenpeace several times already.
The increasing aggression by the fishermen is evidence that our
actions are having an effect. The years of ineffective discussions
about destructive fishing methods and the resulting loss of marine
diversity calls for action.
