Action against industrial fisheries on the Wee Bankie - diary of events from the Greenpeace ship M.V. Sirius 23rd-26th June

Sunday 23rd June 1996

Yesterday we found that fishing vessels are now coming to the Wee Bankie area. Today is the first day of direct actions. In the early morning swimmers holding buoys with 'stop overfishing' flags make the English industrial fishing vessel Omega B (Fleetwood) stop and turn away. The next attempt to stop the Omega is done with the oil-boom. Very effective because they haul their nets and steam away. In the afternoon several Danish vessels were found fishing on the Wee Bankie. We tried out the swimmers and oil-boom again. This time the clash started. The Danes took in the oil-boom. Several vessels came to help each other, there was a lot of chasing around. A Greenpeace float (tiller inflatable) was caught by a net and turned over. The Fishermen tried to pull the inflatable aboard, but didn't succeed. The Hooley towed the inflatable back to the Sirius while the fishing vessels tried to run them over. No one was hurt.

Monday 24th June 1996

When the Sirius arrives on the Wee Bankie 12 vessels stop fishing immediately. They got violent right away, shooting flares at the inflatables and throwing grappling hooks at them and at the swimmers. Also shooting flares at the Sirius. Then the 'Mette Eliase' comes in full speed from starboard hitting the bow of the Sirius. The flagpole with the puffin snaps off, but is repaired straightaway. No further damage. Later in the afternoon we attach barrels to the nets of a fishing boat. It doesn't work: empty barrels get crushed and full ones have the same weight as the water so don't really interfere with the working of the net.

Tuesday 25th June 1996

In the early morning about 5 Danish industrial vessels are fishing on the Wee Bankie. Also HMS Shetland, Fisheries Protection vessel, is around. BBC Scotland television and some print press are aboard the Sirius and a helicopter with a camera man is arriving at the scene. We start off with the swimmers and buoys and also line in front of a fishing boat. HMS Shetland calls ("this is Protection Vessel Shetland....") the Sirius (reply - "this is protection vessel Sirius...") on the radio and ask us to refrain from interfering legal fisheries. They sent out an inflatable to check the situation with the swimmers and board the fishing vessel. HMS Shetland calls again that we are endangering peoples lives and strongly advises us to stop harassing the fishing boat. Then the Sirius gets chased away by the 'Lone Dorthe', skippered by a very angry Danish fisherman. More vessels are arriving during the day. We try out concrete blocks with grappling hooks to get hold of the ground-line of the net or the head-line. Later when they haul the net we can see the attached buoys reappearing, but the blocks seem to have no effect on the performance of the net. Fourteen vessels are now fishing within sighting distance. The Hooley tries to get the painter line of the L 441 (Lone Dorthe) when they are setting their nets. This drives them mad, they haul the net and chase the Sirius for half an hour, encircling the HMS Shetland and then further off. The same thing happened when we try to play with the painter line of another vessel, the Britte Rock (E 443). We've found their Achilles heel.

Wednesday 26th June 1996

The number of fishing vessels is increasing every day. Today we counted 17 vessels within a 3 mile radius and some 10 more a bit further off. This is about overfishing! We went for the painter lines of several vessels again. They shot flares at the Hooley, one landed in the boat but was put over the side. Then they threw two 'seal bombs' (small explosives, large fire crackers). One of them landed in the Hooley but was thrown in the the water and exploded there, the other one missed the boats. The Sirius was chased for an hour by the 'Papillon' (E 442) because he didn't succeed in putting out his nets.