Blog: Oceans

Today our cooperation with Mozambique’s Ministry of Fisheries comes to an end after two weeks. As part of a ship tour of the Indian Ocean with the Rainbow Warrior that started in Mozambique, we have been patrolling a large portion of Mozambique’s waters and facilitating inspections of foreign fishing vessels that are targeting mainly tuna and endangered sharks.

I don’t know what I expected notorious Spanish fishing barons to look like. Strapping and medallioned, with deep tans and fancy wrist watches? Or sinewy, wiry and sly? In any case, the four defendants (three men and one woman) looked like fairly normal folk, if a little perplexed by the throngs of local and national media wielding cameras and questions outside the Truro Courthouse in Cornwall.

Basic first aid tells you the most important thing to do is not cause any more harm: don’t make things worse. That makes sense, of course, but if you happen upon someone lying bleeding on the pavement, simply not kicking them on the way past isn’t really a good enough reaction.

I’ve been struggling for analogies to use, ways to try and explain just what is so bad about the recent EU Council ‘agreement’ on fish stocks.