SEA SHEPHERD IS A NON-GOVERNMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANISATION. IT EMPLOYS DIRECT ACTION TACTICS TO PROTECT
MARINE LIFE. SOME COUNTRIES CALL THEM ECO-TERRORISTS AND PIRATES BUT OTHERS HAVE STARTED TO COLLABORATE WITH THEM.
[ Michelle Clarke ] I saw the Jolly Roger flying. «Oh!» It piqued my interest, so I went over.
[ Sonja Hyppanen ] I asked somebody, ‘What is this?’ it’s a very scary-looking sticker. And they tell me: “Ah, this is
Sea Shepherd! They fight illegal whaling, illegal fishing”. And I’m like: “Oh! Well, that’s kind of interesting!”
[ Adam Meyerson ] Pirates? Yeah… Pirates… Well, you know the pirate thing we kind of
adopted, because we were called pirates for so long. But we're really not pirates.
[ Sonja ]The world is changing, our tactics are changing. Now we are working a lot
together with governments. It’s about time for them to wake up, like I’m sure they’ve all
seen what’s happened in Europe. Our fish is gone. The Atlantic is empty, the cod collapsed,
there’s just nothing to catch. And now the European fleet is here. East Africa is
already in a very bad state. Like the mega-trawlers have been there, they still are,
just emptying the oceans. If you look at the situation in Somalia the pirates can be
argued that they used to be fishermen but then foreign trawlers came, took the fish –
they have no income. So, I think it’s just common sense that the countries are waking up.
SEA LIFE SAVERS
[ GEO ]LIBREVILLE GABON
[ CHANTAL MÉBALÉ, GABON’S FISHERIES MINISTER ] It’s a great honour and an immense
pleasure for me to speak at this important event: the launch of Operation Albacore 2.
[ Chantal ]Gabon's territorial waters, in the heart of
the Gulf of Guinea, are threatened today by illegal,
unreported and unregulated fishing, and also by
maritime piracy due to its oil and other natural resources.
[ Chantal ]When the Navy comes along, are they armed?
[ Baptiste ]Of course.
[ Chantal ]So can there be armed clashes?
[ Baptiste ]Of course, shots fired, yes.
[ Chantal ]Shots fired?
[ Baptiste ]Yes. Let's continue the visit, come this way…
[ Chantal ]Ah, finally something natural, a flower.
[ Baptiste ]You noticed. We have a lot of natural light.
[ Baptiste ]We have various equipment. This allows us
to see them at a distance. And we have an AIS system,
which automatically identifies vessels at sea. Also
traditional means: we use binoculars to identify vessels.
[ Baptiste ]It's here that we make decisions.
[ Chantal ]Do you detain people using a megaphone or do you shout 'Stop'?
[ Baptiste ]Usually we try to contact them by radio first.
[ Baptiste ]That way, we know if they are willing to cooperate.
[ Baptiste ]When they come on board we check the chamber to make sure there’s no bullet in the
chamber and... So, when they’re stored they are safe, they are no bullet, and then when we
give them we check the chamber again and when they come back we check the chamber, so we make
sure, that when they’re stored, there’s no bullet in it anymore and guns are stored separately.
[ Adam ]Welcome on board.
[ Sonja ]History of the vessel... in 1950 she was built as a whaling ship. And the harpooning deck used to be over here.
[ Sonja ]This would be where the harpoon slits on.
[ Sonja ]And I think that’s the sweetest thing: it used to kill whales, now it’s protecting them.
[ DAVID WEISE, 4TH ENGINEER (GERMANY) ] Sea Shepherd defending the whales in the Southern Ocean, so
Japanese whalers go down there to hunt the whales and Sea Shepherd was the only one who went down there.
[ PENELOPE KEELING 2ND MATE (USA) ] The most impressive story was how
the Sea Shepherd stood up to that and got in-between, you know,
the harpoon ships and the processing ships and prevented them
from being able to transfer any whales onto the processing ship.
[ SONJA HYPPANEN, BOATSWAIN (FINLAND) ] I’ve been there, in the small boats, next
to the harpoon ships and it’s... yeah it’s scary and it’s different. But then
again, throwing paint bombs versus physically stopping illegal fishing vessels,
taking them out of the action, you save millions, hundreds of thousands of lives.
[ Sonja ]We would get very very close to their whaling fleet and would be able to basically block them
from transferring that whales. We would physically stop them with putting defensive lines into the
water, throwing stink bombs into their decks, throwing paint into them to symbolise the bloody
business that they are doing. And I think the most impressing the campaign called ‘Zero Tolerance’.
[ Sonja ]This is the “Nisshin Maru”, the whaling factory vessel, factory ship, fuel tanker.
[ Sonja ]And to come together, they need to get fuel. And this is what we did for five days:
one of our ships was here, in-between.
[ Sonja ]Our interest was to stop this refueling operation because
if they cannot have fuel, they won’t be able to continue whaling.
[ Sonja ]To refuel at sea, two ships need to come together like this.
[ Sonja ]So the “Nisshin Maru” tried to come alongside the fuel tanker, and we had our ships go there in between them to
stop them from physically touching for 5 days we were stopping it. That’s it. The situation got really tense.
[ Sonja ] “Nisshin Maru” was shooting water down into the Bob Barker engine room, so
the Bob Barker lost all steering, lost all engines, it started to keel like
this. Bob Barker’s captain, the extremely brave Peter Hammarstedt was shouting:
‘Mayday Mayday Mayday Bob Barker stop, Bob Barker stop, I have no engines’.
[ Sonja ]And only then the “Nisshin Maru” pulled away. And before that, they have
already crushed the main mast of the Bob Barker, crushed the helideck.
[ Sonja ]So the Bob Barker, thank God, it didn’t
sink, but it was very very close.
[ Sonja ]Now, after this we had the injunction come against our ships that we cannot go 500 metres close to
theirs. This is an injunction from a US court and that’s the weird thing, how can a US court have
jurisdiction in the international waters to a crew that is international, to a ship that’s flagged the
Netherlands. But still, we are respecting this injunction, ‘cause we do not engage in illegal activities.
[ Sonja ]This flag? At the moment, we don’t use it in Africa because there is a piracy situation
and it’s us, it’s not very tactful and politically correct to fly a pirate flag.
[ Sonja ]Of course part of me always looks back to these days and the successes
that we had like Zero Tolerance saved the life of 700 whales.
[ Sonja ]Of course you always look back to it, to the people who you worked
with, to these accomplishments and think, ‘Ah, that was nice!’
[ Sonja ]But then I’m also extremely happy with the directions Sea Shepherd has taken. Because for me personally, IUU fishing and
overfishing has been my thing, I’ve always hoped like, ah I hope
I would do more for the fish cause the fish they don’t scream
when they die and nobody knows what’s going on with them like they are the underlings of the planet in a way. So, for me
to see this collaboration with governments putting more work
into protecting the fish, it’s just a dream come true really.
[ Adam ]Good morning everybody. [ Crew ]Good morning.
[ Adam ]So we’ve still got the refrigerated cargo ship under surveillance this morning. We’re gonna watch it for today...
[ ADAM MEYERSON, CAPTAIN (USA) ] It didn’t move last night. If it starts to move again, we’ll go
ahead and board it, but otherwise we’re planning on boarding it around 2 o’clock this afternoon.
[ Adam ]We have an interesting ship here that looks like it’s a freezer ship. And it’s been
drifting out here for days. Normally, you would expect a freezer ship to go from the port to the
port, it’s going as quickly as possible, unload the frozen food, then return. But just to sit
offshore with a bunch of frozen food is a bit strange. It’s suspicious. Suspicious activity.
[ Sonja ]It’s huge. we don’t know what’s the cargo… It’s a funny
vessel because it’s a traditional looking reefer where they have
the cargo hatches that you can drop things out but then it can also carry containers on it, so it can have frozen cargo.
[ Voice ]How strange. [ Sonja ]Yeah.
[ Adam ]Wild Lotus. Wild Lotus. Wild Lotus. This is Gabonese Navy
patrol vessel off your starboard beam. Wild Lotus? Three, one, six?
[ Captain ]Wild Lotus reply.
[ Adam ]Good afternoon Wild Lotus. This is Gabonese Fisheries and Navy off your starboard beam. We noticed you’ve
been drifting inside the Gabonese EEZ for several days. I was wondering what your intentions were here, over.
[ Captain ]This is captain speaking. What is your purpose for boarding, I don’t
understand. We’re just drifting here and for order waiting. This is a good place for
drifting. We came to Durban as soon as… We can’t … until the 3rd of July… We’re
staying here about 1-2 days more. That’s all, preparing the vessel for loading.
[ Adam ]Yes, roger that Sir. We’re just inspecting you because you are a refrigerated cargo ship inside the Gabonese EEZ and
transmissing… transshipment of fish is illegal within the EEZ, so
we just want to inspect to make sure your fridge’s empty, that’s all.
[ Captain ]What is your flag? What is the nationality of your vessel?
[ Adam ]The ship is Dutch-flagged, it’s under loan to the Gabonese government. Over.
[ Baptiste ]It's a refrigerated cargo ship, a reefer, 250 metres long.
[ BAPTISTE BREBEL, 1ST MATE (FRANCE) ] It’s used for transhipment of fish.
[ Baptiste ]They've cooperated so far.
[ Voice ]Do you know how many crew there are? [ Baptiste ] No.
[ Voice ]And you don't know if they're gathered on the bow or stern?
[ Baptiste ]Can you ask the Bob if they have any idea of how many crew there are on the ship?
[ Michelle ]Bob, Bob. … [ Bob ]20 persons on-board.
[ Baptiste ]Gabonese navy sailors just went on-board the vessel, secured the vessel and now
they give us permission to send fishery inspectors to proceed with the fish inspection.
[ Marine police ] ...in transit returning from Duala and going to... What did you say? [ Captain ]Durban.
[ Marine police ] Durban, South Africa. He's transporting fruit.
[ Captain ]This is good place for drifting. Outside is too much wave. Vessel
is rolling too much, impossible to load. We just stay here. We have time.
[ Voice ]And what do you normally load… [ Captain ]What? [ Voice ]What do you normally load?
[ Captain ]Normally fruits.
[ Captain ]They have to take the first mate and the boatswain and show them.
[ Boatswain ]They aren't letting us out, tell them!
[ Marine police ] Did you tell him for...? [ Captain ]Yes I tell him but…? Under gun... that’s not possible.
[ Marine police ] Not gun, not gun!
[ Baptiste ]It's the boatswain for the escort!
[ Boatswain ]Our next cargo will be grapefruit, lemons from South Africa.
[ Boatswain ]Its last cargo was frozen fish from Ireland to Cameroon, to Duala.
[ Marine police ] Yes, but why are they drifting around here? Why haven't they gone ahead? Why here?
[ Boatswain ]Because it’s early for us now. And we have
to... drifting. And clean holds for preparation for next cargo.
[ Captain ]This vessel cannot make a transshipment operation.
[ Captain ]For me, explanation from your Navy ship said it’s any prohibited transshipment operation.
[ Captain ]But believe me vessel with crane in open sea, with this
wave, this is not possible. Need different cargo gear, derrick,
do you understand me? Derrick! There’s two derrick is
two wires. Crane have one wires, just only one point of...
pivot point. This is problem. This is not possible to
load. Just drifting in safe position... take your time… Ok …
in time coming… because in Durban not possible for this
vessel stay on anchorage because too much wave and swell.
[ Marine police ] The guy says this is a refrigerated
cargo ship transporting fruit. Its destination is Durban.
[ Marine police ] The guards are in the hold checking everything. We're
checking the crew's identities, so now we're standing by.
[ Marine police ] Thank you, captain. [ Captain ]Have a nice day.
[ Marine police ] Thank you, Captain, for cooperation.
[ Baptiste ] It’s all empty. Yes, all empty. No smell of fish.
[ Adam ]So it's quite different. It's nice to have the government on board and to be able to actually
stop the fish and inspect what's going on. It's a different experience but it's a good one.
[ Natasha Kadyrova, film author ] Usually the government don’t' like you.
[ Adam ]Yeah, usually that's the case, yeah. Usually, we get the Faroes and they say, get
out of here, you know. Yeah, that place, they don't like us very much at all, so…
[ Adam ]In the Faroes because we don't want them to kill the pilot whales, and so… They have this long tradition of driving
the pilot whales with their small boats and driving them up onto a beach and killing them on the beach. So, we've gone
there and interfered with the hunts there which is, you know, there's a whole layers of legal issues there because
it is illegal for the EU to hunt whales, and the Faroes are ostensibly part of the EU but they claim they are not.
[ Adam ]They tried in years passed to pass laws against us and they kept getting… the way they were worded
they wouldn't enforce them, so I think, believe, this year they have succeeded in keeping us from
going there. I know the ships can't go in. I don't know if individuals went now, how that worked out.
[ Adam ]We're not going there on a campaign this year, because of that, because of the prohibition there.
[ Adam ]And we have other issues now that we're tackling this
illegal fishing which is a huge problem all over the world.
[ MICHAEL RAUCH PHOTOGRAPHER (GERMANY) ] If you want to eat tuna for example you
just go to the supermarket, buy a can of tuna, open it and you enjoy it because
you like the taste. But when you see how it’s caught, you start to think about
it. These big fishing boats are called purse seiners. Fish are already in a
big trap. It cannot go on but there’s still plenty of space. Several hundred
meters. And then the purse seiner boat starts to pull in the ends of the net, the
circle gets tighter and tighter. The fish are squeezed out like lemon and in
this moment the sea really turns red, full of blood. It’s just a sea of blood.
[ Michael ]Another net - it’s called a scoop – with a metal ring – just go... they go on to the big net and scoop out the fish.
[ Michael ]One time, we have been around this purse seiner boat, we
counted 15 scoops. When you say 5 ton each, for example, that’s one catch
of 75 tons of tuna, and they do it several times a day almost every day
with a big fleet so now you get an idea why the ocean is overfished.
[ Baptiste ]It’s Baptiste. Seems that our friends are stopped now so I guess they shoot their net and go to catch.
[ Baptiste ]And he turned around… and here you can see the two circles… Usually when they’ve
found fish they shoot their net into a circle, but anyway then he started to get some,
so that’s the trap. It could be an interesting target for us…
[ Adam ]Chasing rabbits… [ Baptiste ]Yeah.
[ Adam ]Anything you asked? [ Baptiste ]No. [ Adam ]Interesting...
[ Adam ]We have dinner before we the work.
[ Adam ]Wanna I go get you food? [ Baptiste ]Yeah.
[ Adam ]Good evening, Montealegro! This is the Gabonese navy patrol.
[ Adam ]We are going to board you for a routine fisheries inspection. Over.
[ Captain ]Ok. Tomorrow or today?
[ Adam ]We’re gonna... today, in about half an hour. Over. Do you have any weapons or guns on board? Over.
[ Captain ]No, no, no firearms, no weapons.
[ Klara ]For example, the Mediterranean is very overfished. In this region there
has been a lot of tuna fishing by the European industrial purse seiner fleet.
[ KLARA SAHLIN, BOATSWAIN’S MATE (SWEDEN) ] They have been fishing here quite extensively since
the 1950s as well. So that has also led to the fact that there is not so much tuna left.
[ Klara ]So that is why Gabon and other nations in this region are doing these inspections,
to make sure that they have the amount of catch on board that they are reporting.
[ Crew man ] So like you say today, free school, 15… [ Klara ]Yeah.
[ Crew man ] Fatsaid is a raft. 10 tons. Two yellow fin, 8 tons skipjack.
[ Klara ]You got your fish from the FADs? [ Crew man ] Yeah.
[ Klara ]Any by-catch? Turtles, shark...? [ Crew man ] No, it’s … shark but we released… to board alive. So, five alive.
[ Klara ] 5 sharks on the whole trip? [ Crew man ] In this water? Yeah. [ Klara ] Have you reported this by-catch? [ Crew man ] Yeah.
[ Voice ]Good night. - Thank you. You too.
[ Klara ]Thank you. [ Crew man ] Okay, no problem.
[ Klara ]My main goal will be about by-catch. And the IUU – the illegal, unregulated
and unreported fishing that is happening in the West African region.
[ Klara ]Because it is estimated that between 11 and 26
million tons of fish is being caught illegally.
[ Klara ]7.3 million tons of fish are being discarded as bycatch
annually. It’s just being killed without being targeted.
[ Klara ]Here you can see the net. In the net you can see a lot of dead sharks. Because the
problem with the sharks is since they’re lacking a swim bladder when they lift up the net,
already before the net is on the deck the sharks die because of lack of oxygen and because
they do not have a swimming bladder. So if they don’t move, they will die immediately.
[ Klara ]Last year when we were here in Gabon, we also had several cases of whale sharks getting
caught in the net with the purse seiners. So on several occasions we had to cut up the net
to be able to save the whale shark and release it from the entanglement in the net and
that is also a beautiful feeling when you see the whale shark swimming away from the net.
[ Sonja ]We continue with the scrubbing. Scrub scrub scrub. Scrub scrub scrub.
[ Selim ]I fell in love with the shark when I was 3 years old, so it’s a long story with the sharks.
[ SELIM CHERIFI, DECKHAND (BELGIUM) ] For me, the most difficult and impressive was when I saw my
first dead shark for the first patrol, it was... yeah, horrible. Because I didn’t see a shark
dead before, so it was the first. So, it was yeah, horrible but my motivation was stronger after
that because I knew that I wanted to be there again and continue because it was horrible.
[ Alvarez Ledezma ] So are you guys expecting me to change it to starboard on my watch, or do I just leave it there?
[ Voice ]I’ll have a look at it and see.
[ PASTOR ALVAREZ LEDEZMA, 3RD ENGINEER (AUSTRALIA) ] What I wanted to do is
help. You know that you’re helping the world be a bit better so I would say
that that would be to me one of the things that has impressed me the most
is how you get the energy from wherever you need to get it, but you do it.
[ Karine Demure ] I wanted to do something for Earth. When I came on board
it was my first time at sea, it was my first time in the galley as well.
[ Karine ] So I had a lot to learn.
[ Michelle ]This is the seventh campaign. I just love it!
[ MICHELLE CLARKE, DECKHAND (GREAT BRITAIN) ] I
just love it. I love being on the ship, I love the crew, I just
love the whole thing and being at sea I feel more at home – on a ship at sea – then I do on land for sure.
[ Giuseppe De Giorgi ] So after I spent 45 years in the Navy I retired in
summer 2016 so one year ago, and after a while I started missing going at sea
[ GIUSEPPE DE GIORGI NAVIGATOR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, ITALIAN NAVY (ITALY) ] but I didn’t
want to just go at sea for fun because I do have a sailing boat, but I needed a mission.
[ Giuseppe ]Oh boy! I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. Two whales jumping in the air completely and at the same time.
… together… - and again!
[ Penelope ]You see it? [ Sonja ]Right… Just got...
[ Lucas ]Got it.
[ Klara ]So. [ Sonja ]So?
[ Klara ]So you guys slack it off a little bit from this line, I can follow it down. I’ll try to
release it from the hull. Yeah, but that way, it’s not stuck, it’s stuck here, that’s the FAD.
[ Sonja ]Piece of wood, it’s called a FAD, a fish aggregation device and normally
these are attached to platforms that float in the water and then
the FAD trails underneath the water attracting fish but this one
does not have a float in it so it’s just floating freely, which is an
entanglement risk for whales and obviously for ships because now it’s
stuck to our ship. And of course it’s rubbish, at this stage we cannot
leave it in the ocean ‘cause maybe a shark or fish or dolphin get
entangled there or another vessel, it will go into the propeller. So...
[ Sonja ]Can you pull it up a little bit or is it superheavy?
[ Klara ]No. Let it continue for bit. [ Lucas ]Then it goes further under...
what about getting one set of scuba?
[ Voice ]The float is here. -The float is here. - Yeah.
[ Sonja ]I think these two are two different devices. That this black float is from a local fisherman’s net because I’ve
seen this before a lot in the coast of Africa. Usually, they would have a little net attached to that but now we
are 30 miles away from the coast and local wooden boats don’t really come here this far. So, it’s probably been
torn out by a storm or strong winds or tide and just drifted far out and this FAD is definitely for a purse seiner…
[ Sonja ]We got very lucky that it didn’t get stuck in our propeller or any other vital
parts of the ship, or it wasn’t a shark
or a dolphin or a whale getting stuck.
[ Sonja ]A little adventure for the evening. Exactly!
[ Sonja ]Most of our people are volunteers. At dinner, at lunch, you’ll see everybody
here: captain, next to the deckhand, next to the second cook, playing cards…
[ SONJA HYPPANEN, BOATSWAIN (FINLAND) ] And of course if we are willing to protect
the whales, the sharks, the dolphins, the fish, we don’t want them to be killed,
why would we eat animal products here? All of our ships,
the whole fleet – we now have 10 ships – all of them are vegan.
[ Sonja ]And also anything that goes into the water with our shower water has to be marine-safe, so all the soaps, shampoos,
laundry detergent, everything we choose them very wisely, so
they are marine-safe and also vegan and not tested on animals.
[ Baptiste ]Tell your boss to stop his engines! Tell your captain to stop the engine!
[ Baptiste ]Yes, stop the engine!
[ Baptiste ]Stop your engine, sir!
[ Baptiste ]Right now we’ve got 3 different vessels. We dropped the Navy on one vessel,
the vessel that Bob Barker is going to try to ask (the other fishing vessel)
to stop. And we will go right after when we’re done to this one and try to
stop as well. So, try to stop the three of them … they crossed the border.
[ Marine police ] It’s up there! Up there!
[ Man ]License? License.
[ Man ]A Chinese guy’s coming who speaks English.
[ Marine police ] It’s for Congo. It’s for Congo. But we are in Gabon.
[ Man ]We don’t catch a fish, we just run away from Gabon. We
go to, from Gabon, far away from Congo. We go to Congo.
[ Marine police ] You run? [ Man ]Just run.
[ Marine police ] Just run? You’re from Congo and just run Congo?
[ Marine police ] Even the Congolese one isn’t valid.
[ Klara ]It’s old, it’s last year. Fishing permits to fish in
Congolese waters but right now we’re in Gabonese waters
and the permits for Congo expired last year. So, they
cannot even fish legally in Congo. Absolutely not in Gabon.
[ Klara ]You need to follow the other vessel. Yeah.
[ Captain ]Base! Lyanba and I have been detained by the marine police. [ Voice ] What happened?
[ Captain ]Base! Lyanba and I have been detained by the marine police. [ Voice ]The marine police detained Lyanba and Siao?
[ Captain ] Me! Me! [ Voice ]Ah, the marine police detained
you. And Lyanba? What happened? Why were you detained?
[ Captain ] I didn't even spread the nets... Yesterday's catch was 370,
today I didn't get chance to count. [ Voice ] So you were detained?
[ Captain ]Yes, by the marine police. [ Voice ]That
means you'll catch less fish. [ Captain ] That's not the point!
[ Captain ]Tell my family I was detained. [ Voice ] Ok, roger that!
[ Man ]They need our catch, the number of fish caught each day. Besides the volume they want to know where we
fished each day to prove we weren't in their waters. This is what she wants. The problem is you can't prove it.
[ Captain ]We have no data, we didn't keep logs. Tell them we didn't catch
anything in their waters. Say our engine broke and we drifted into this position.
[ Michelle ]Bob-Fitter.
[ Voice ]Fitter-Bob, go ahead.
[ Michelle ]No fisherman will be coming back to the boat. They are going to
stay on their vessels, and all marines will stay on the vessels with them.
[ Adam ]So our next step now is that we’re going to bring two of the officers over from
the ships here for interrogation and then we’re going to escort the ships to port.
[ Adam ]We’re figuring out which port that is. Now it will be Port Gentil.
[ Giuseppe ]Another glorious navy day!
[ Baptiste ]It’s a very good story, a very good day.
[ BAPTISTE BREBEL, 1ST MATE (FRANCE) ] Several targets crossed the border. We didn’t have any information on what
type of vessel it was before we had a visual on them. Although their behaviour on radar looked very similar
to what we’ve seen in the past for trawlers. We had Navy on 2 boats, a third one tried to...
managed to run away because we were busy with the two other boats.
[ Baptiste ]This year those two vessels are the first arrest we are doing.
[ Adam ]This one is like the first one working with the government, having the soldiers on
board and all, that's the first time like that, so that's completely different.
[ ADAM MEYERSON, CAPTAIN (USA) ] Usually we have no real way of enforcing our authority,
you know, we have authority from the United Nations charter for nature, that's about it.
[ Adam ]If you look at any fishery in the world right now, none of them are
going up. They're all either stable which is a few which are stable,
most of them are in decline. The methods of fishing are so efficient
now that there's no way that the fish can sustain and replenish.
[ SONJA HYPPANEN, BOATSWAIN (FINLAND) ] Governments have to wake up.
[ Sonja ]Countries have to wake up and that’s happening, especially in Africa,
where we have now a multitude of nations that are willing to work
with us and inviting us to come into their waters to protect them.
[ Sonja ]When you’re fishing in an unsustainable way, you are taking more fish out of the ocean than what there’s left
to reproduce. You are taking the young fish who still haven’t made babies, you’re taking whole schools of fish.
[ Sonja ]Let’s say they have a license to catch tuna. You will never catch only tuna and anything in the net
that is not tuna, they are supposed to throw it back to the sea alive, but it happens very rarely.
[ Sonja ]They are crushed together, they are already bleeding and they’re already dead, so it’s just very very
hard for them to return the fish to the sea alive. Already estimates are saying that by 19… 2050,
the level of how much fish there is below the overall threshold that the fish cannot repopulate anymore.
[ Sonja ]The stocks cannot raise to a level where there will be fish left for the future generations. And
already, the levels of the big top fish in the food chain: the shark, the tuna, all these big fish,
it... like some scientists said, it Bluefin tuna, which is the top predatory in the Mediterranean,
already 90% of are gone and it won’t recover. Already some estimates said that 90% of the sharks are
gone. And can they raise up to the levels where they used to be, it’s very very much up to debate.
[ Giuseppe ]All the treasures that we have around us are on the verge
of disappearing and we already could see that happening
here in the... in Atlantic, in front of the Western
coast of Africa, where used to be tons and tons of fish
big-size, and now we have – you’ve seen these
fishermen there are in their nets you can see very small, tiny
fish that could never be of any interest for a normal
fisherman. I didn’t expect the situation to be so bad.
[ Klara ]Some of these species that they have caught cannot be consumed for human consumption so we
were tossing back the species that they will definitely not use. So, the jellyfish and the blowfish.
[ Michael ]We saw this really big eel in the corner. He starts to move. Everybody was surprised in
this moment because no one expected it. It was like he was to say, “Hey! Here, here I am!”. Then a
Chinese fisherman came and took the eel and he threw it overboard, back into the water. So. And
because we could see that eel survived and just started to move again and he disappeared in the water.
[ MICHAEL RAUCH PHOTOGRAPHER (GERMANY) ] So... These are the small stories that you
might keep on trying, try harder and I mean... if the eel wouldn’t have moved, and
moved right, all the way in front of our feet, he would just be another dead fish
on board. So. it was... a little reminder that you have to continue fighting.
[ Giuseppe ]I think it’s not just what the single ships are doing
that is, they are well …make the difference, even one ship makes
a difference because it’s a message. We have to understand
we cannot stay still and just be witness of the ongoing disaster.
[ Sonja ]There are people who view this as an adventure, going to see... it’s not a normal thing
unless you’re a working sailor. It can be this romantical adventure, going off and saving
the whales and all things, but for me it’s not that. For me, it’s something that I feel it’s
the only way of living on this planet, doing something where I actually make the place better.
[ PASTOR ALVAREZ LEDEZMA, 3RD ENGINEER (AUSTRALIA) ] I’m doing this because I want the future world to... the
future generations to have... enjoy the ocean, how we
have. In 20 years, when you’re with your kid or with your
grandson and you see a whale, you know, jumping around on the coast, you’re gonna say: “Oh you know, I knew a
guy you know who dropped everything and went and helped you know put his little grain of sand to help that”.
[ PENELOPE KEELING, 2ND MATE (USA) ] Do I think that people can
change the world? As in general? Oh absolutely! It shows you here,
coming to a ship on Sea Shepherd, you don’t have just one country;
you have numerous different countries coming together for one goal.
[ ADAM MEYERSON CAPTAIN (USA) ] It’s all changed, but I think we're all still fighting for the same thing in the end, you know.
[ Adam ]Fighting for the oceans and the live in the oceans. So...
[ Adam ]Whether you do it romantically or officially it's semantics, right?