Tag Archives: Rainbow Warrior

Sailing through the world’s richest waters – Rainbow Warrior arrives in Indonesia

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Papuan traditional dancers pose infront of the Rainbow Warrior in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia,

Papuan traditional dancers pose infront of the Rainbow Warrior in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia,

I grew up in West Papua, which sits in the far west of the world’s biggest archipelago. I studied forestry in the province’s capital, but grew up in another city called Jayapura. If West Papua is considered frontier land, then Jayapura is certainly the wild west.
It’s an obscure and isolated part of the world. Wild, green and untamed, this part of the world is home to one of the earth’s last glaciers in the tropics and some of the richest biodiversity on this planet. Continue reading →

Paying homage to the legendary Rainbow Warrior

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The Rainbow Warrior, on her first visit to New Zealand, sails in to Matauri Bay in Northland, where the original Rainbow Warrior, bombed by French secret agents in Auckland, rests on the seabed.

New Zealand’s Matauri Bay played host today to two Rainbow Warriors, the original and the current Warrior – one lying peacefully on the sea bed providing an artificial reef for sea life and the other a gleaming, eco-friendly environmental activist ship.

Captain Joel Stewart speaks onboard the Rainbow Warrior, during the protest vessel's first visit to New Zealand, as she visits Matauri Bay, Northland, January 9 2013, at the resting place of the original Rainbow Warrior, which was bombed by French secret service agents in Auckland in 1985. Ngati Kura, the guardians of the waters where the first Warrior lies, and Greenpeace crew, take part in a whakatau ceremony to welcome the ship.

The ship travelled to Matauri Bay to pay homage to the legend of the original Warrior which was bombed and sunk in Auckland Harbour in 1985. Continue reading →

Going Gangnam, Greenpeace Style

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As Gangnam fever swept the globe, not even the Rainbow Warrior was able to escape the madness. So while sailing out in the Indian Ocean, working to document and expose unsustainable and illegal fishing practices, the crew decided to create a spoof version of the video.

We’d been sailing off the coast of Mozambique, helping fisheries inspectors monitor the country’s waters for illegal fishing. Having been out at sea for three weeks, it was a while before we found out about “gangnam style”. Eventually though, we heard how wildly popular it was on YouTube, and a Korean volunteer onboard to explained the lyrics to us.

We decided that making our own version would be a great way to reach new people and spread our oceans campaign message. Continue reading →

Time to strengthen fisheries enforcement to stop pirate fishing and end overfishing crisis

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Originally posted to Greenpeace Africa.

The monitoring of tuna fisheries must be strengthened and transfers of fish at sea banned to end the overfishing crisis in the Indian Ocean, Greenpeace International said on Monday after it again found illegal fishing operations in the region.

The Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior recorded illegal fishing activities by two Sri Lankan tuna and shark boats in the Maldives Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the adjacent high seas on Friday before arriving in Colombo, Sri Lanka over the weekend to end a two-month expedition in the Indian Ocean. Continue reading →

The fairest catch

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Today, I caught a tuna.

It was the first fish I had ever caught in my life. And the first tuna that had to die because of me for a long time.

I haven’t eaten tuna for about three years. Not because I don’t like the taste of it – I actually love it – but because tuna stocks throughout the world’s oceans are either overfished or being overfished.

Why? Because the majority of the world’s skipjack tuna is caught by purse seine fishing boats that use fish aggregating devices (FADs). Continue reading →

Who will join the fight against pirate fishing?

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25 October 2012 Illegal Sri Lankan Fishing Boat. A Greenpeace inflatable pulls up along side an illegal Sri Lankan fishing boat, IMUL-A-0352KLT, 24th October 2012, Chagos, Indian Ocean. Greenpeace found two illegal Sri Lankan fishing boats inside the Chagos marine reserve on Wednesday and has called on the UK government to enforce protection of this Indian Ocean reserve from pirate fishing.

The clouds were heavy in the sky and the water rippled under the wind as the Rainbow Warrior entered on Wednesday the Chagos marine reserve, established by the UK government in 2010.

This area is a no-take marine reserve, one of the biggest in the world, so it was with great suspicion that we saw what appeared to be a boat looming on the horizon. We quickly grabbed the binoculars and watched that dark spot slowly come into view. Continue reading →

There’s no excuse; our oceans need action now

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For the past six weeks the crew on the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior have been observing and monitoring the Indian Ocean’s fisheries and its diverse sea life, encountering some of the best and worst of fisheries management.

Since setting sail from Durban in early September, they have performed two weeks of joint surveillance operations with the Mozambican Ministry of Fisheries to inspect foreign fishing vessels that mainly target high-value tuna and endangered sharks. Continue reading →

Shark finning isn’t new: update from the Rainbow Warrior

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I saw six sharks being cut up for their fins a few days ago. And as monstrous as it was, I know it won’t make headlines, it isn’t news. Currently, the fins from an estimated 26 million to 73 million sharks are sold each year, that’s up to 8,000 sharks killed an hour.

And the market is booming.

A shark is pulled up as by-catch in the Indian Ocean

Continue reading →

Rainbow Warrior Arrives at Rio+20

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by Daniel Mittler

Like so many in Greenpeace, I love boats. Put me on water and I am happy. So when I heard back in March at one of the preparatory meetings for the Rio Earth Summit taking place in New York that our new Rainbow Warrior was there, I just had to visit. And today I made the trek again to see the Rainbow Warrior, as she had just arrived in Rio de Janeiro for the final preparatory meetings for the Earth Summit. It was an honor to brief some of our activists and volunteers about the Earth Summit tonight.  The crew onboard is the one that managed to hold a “Rio+20: bla bla bla or action?” banner on an anchor chain in the Amazon just weeks ago.

It was great, though, to be able to share at least a little bit of good news with the crew. The European Union, Brazil and other countries who want to make sure that Rio+20 is the beginning of the end of the Wild West exploitation of our oceans are standing firm here in Rio. We hope that is not just talk, as future generations need healthy oceans if they are to survive. You can support marine reserves now by adding your voice to the hundreds of thousands of people who want a future of living oceans. We will be presenting these signatures to those who need to hear your voice in the coming days. Continue reading →

Occupying an anchor chain, thinking of freshly baked muffins

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What do you need most on an anchor chain in the middle of the Atlantic, when you’ve been there for over 24 hours, and it’s pouring with rain? Muffins.

Freshly baked by our chef, Walter, and put into waterproof tins ready for loading into speedboats. Speedmuffins. Pronto pastries. Two young Brazilians – Leonor and Elissama – are waiting across the water having been up most of the night and little things like this make all the difference. Fruit is great, but nothing beats that fresh-from-the-oven comfort of spongey goodness. Continue reading →