The new faces I saw come aboard the Ranger on the night of the 29th were not so new, except for one. The arrival of the first “batch” of new crew members felt like a reunion: Maribel López, co-worker from the European office, Jorge Candan and Pilar Barros, video cameraman and his underwater assistant and… … Read more
Only a few days have passed since we left behind our fruitful stage in search of illegal driftnet vessels in Sicilian waters. Today we took another step on our new path, this time on the Island of San Antioco, in Sardinia. While the rest of the crew went about the daily chores on the Ranger, … Read more
My travelling companion, Nuño Ramos (captain on the Transoceanic Expedition in 2005), and I arrived at Cagliari and went straight to the Ranger, which was moored in the Port of San Telmo. As we had expected, immediately after boarding the yearned-for Ranger, engines were started up and our crew colleagues, with a full tummy, and … Read more
On 24th June we sailed incident free to Cagliari, on Sardinia. On our way we are visited by some striped dolphins and we sight a few loggerhead turtles that dive underwater when they note us coming up close. The sea is calm and one realises that we are in for a hot summer. The heat … Read more
We have had an extremely peaceful day’s sailing. After our most recent adventures, namely the successful “search and capture” of illegal driftnet vessels, having a morning without being pursued by boats with fishermen calling us rather indecorous names in the language of the Roman Emperors, or throwing fish at us, has turned out to be … Read more
During the 4.00 a.m. morning watch, Soledad, Albert and Juan have sighted a new driftnet vessel hauling in driftnets. They immediately informed Xavier Pastor, Carlos Pérez and Quique Talledo in order that these might proceed to identify the boat in question by means of its graphic register and then file a complaint with the Coast … Read more
Soledad Esnaola woke me this morning at 5.30 a.m. with a single word: “driftnetters”. At last, I was to have the chance to see at first hand one of the most harmful and regrettable illegal fishing nets and to confirm that their use, in spite of the prohibitions, is still possible and goes completely unpunished. … Read more
Its 5.30 am and my companions Sole and Juan have just woken me up to tell me that there is an illegal driftnet vessel nearby. Still half asleep I get the video camera ready to catch the moment on film; a “moment” that lasts some 3 hours as several kilometres of nets are pulled in. … Read more
Yesterday we set out on a southern course for Agrópoli in order to observe the fishing activity below a depth of 1,000 m and to make use of the Olex software, which had been fitted to the boat this year, with the aim in mind of mapping a submarine landscape in which the isobaths (lines … Read more
While Xavier, Juan and Quique are heading south, at midday, Eduardo de Ana and I head northwards to inspect the ports on the island of Ischia, where the 2005 Expedition managed to witness the presence of driftnet vessels. Our initial course was directed towards visiting the main fishing ports on the island, namely: Ischia, Cassamicciola … Read more
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