Boat designed to hunt seals, now seeks to protect marine fauna

The Arctic Sunrise, one of the environmental organization’s ships Greenpeacewhich first came to Ecuador for a scientific mission in the Galapagos Islands, left behind its dark past as a ship designed for hunt of seals in the 70s and now sails in a tireless campaign to protect the oceans and all their biodiversity.

With half a century of life, it is the oldest ship in the fleet of three that the environmental organization has, said Mike Finken, captain of the ship that studies the seamounts of the Galapagos archipelago, both inside the marine reserves and outside. of them.

“It was built (under the name Polarbjørn) to hunt the first seals in the Arctic, but in the end it was never used for that,” although he did support the construction of a landing strip in Antarctica for the French militia.

“That’s when Greenpeace got involved and held a protest against this activity, which was going to destroy a pristine island of the Antarctica”recalled Finken, who now commands the ship that the environmental organization once fought against.

And although the construction of the runway continued, the captain notes that they managed to make the event visible to the public. Greenpeace reports that it bought the Arctic Sunrise in 1995 using the company Arctic Sunrise Ventures Ltd. as a front, since, otherwise, the Norwegian owners would not have sold them the ship.

“Very hectic life”

In the thirty years that it has served the organization, the ship has had a life “very agitated”: she has suffered “different abuses by forces that have repressed her peaceful protests”Finken said.

The most relevant changes to the ship were in 2013, after it was captured by Russia for more than a year, for a peaceful protest against the expansion of the “off-shore” oil industry in the Arctic.

“When they returned the ship it was in very bad condition, in a very cold area of ​​the Arctic,” So they repaired it, added amenities, more capacity for transporting people and improvements in communication, installing a lot of satellite equipment, he explained.

The ship weighs nearly a thousand tons, with a length of 49.62 meters, a beam of 11.50 meters and a maximum draft of 5.30 meters.

It is reinforced in its hull to resist ice, but ““Here we are, in the middle of the equator, with an icebreaker,” Finken commented, highlighting that this shows the versatility of the ship.

a labyrinth

With a maximum speed of between 11 and 12 knots, the ship can accommodate a maximum of 36 people, and on the trip for the scientific mission on the seamounts – in which EFE participates – people of 16 nationalities were on the ship, including technicians, scientists and activists.

Inside the boat the organization is meticulous and everyone participates in the cleaning tasks. Meal times are set, but the dining room is open in case anyone wants a snack.

At first, the ship seems like a maze of stairs, doors and corridors, but then the newbie’s orientation improves and, if not, there are always friendly people ready to help.

Security measures are strict, as alcohol is not allowed and silence is generally maintained because there is always someone studying, analyzing or writing.

marine protection

On this cruise, Greenpeace seeks to demonstrate the importance of protecting the oceans. “We see a lot of life on land, on the surface, (but) our mission is to show what is under the sea,” Finken noted.

“What we are focused on at this moment,” he said, “is the exploration of seamounts, which are like islands submerged in the sea, which generate an accumulation of life that does not occur in other places in the ocean.”

Therefore, they will try to document biodiversity through submersible cameras and remotely operated mini-submarines, to reach where divers cannot.

“We want to show the relevance of these sites for biodiversity and migratory species,” he pointed out, and they chose the Galapagos because it was a high-priority marine life reserve.

With this example they seek to promote the ratification of the Global Ocean Treaty, approved a year ago within the framework of the United Nations, in order to have tools to create marine protected areas in international waters, with the aim of achieving at least the 30% of oceans safeguarded by 2030.

“There are many areas in international waters that do not have regulations and this benefits fishing powers”, he lamented. And although he preferred not to target any nationality when talking about illegal fishing and the techniques used, he urged the need to work together to save the seas.

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