Follow the crew of the Arctic Sunrise on their campaign for Marine Reserves in our North Sea Tour blog
Since Tuesday morning, we've been docked in Aberdeen. The Arctic Sunrise is dwarfed amidst some of the other huge ships here. As we waited on the pilot to take us in, we had small groups of noisy arctic terns bouncing around the ship. Then, on our way into the harbour, just at the breakwater, we were treated to a pod of about seven bottlenose dolphins, lazily feeding (with an occasional show-off jump).
Being in port gives us the chance to do essential things, like loading several cranes' worth of food onto the ship and stowing it. Being in port is also when the bosun cracks the proverbial whip and gets the deckhands busy on deck - washing and scrubbing off the salt, chipping away patches of rust, and painting it all when they have the chance.
For the campaign, it's given us a chance to take our message to shore. As well as speaking to the local and national media, we've had some dialogue with representatives from the fishing industry onboard today. Obviously we're unlikely to agree on everything - but we had some good conversations on many topics, like discards, the quota system, industrial fishing, and the effect of climate change on the North Sea, where we are in broad agreement.
We've also had the chance to have a few of our supporters onboard to look around the ship and learn a bit more about the campaign - which is always a great thing to be able to do. It's reinvigorating to meet the people who support us, as we wouldn't be able to do any of this without them.
Tomorrow we'll be welcoming more supporters onboard before we leave harbour. I’m hoping the weather stays fair - as does the bosun, so he can get more work out of the deck crew, I bet.
