The nation’s first university student volunteer to serve on a Greenpeace vessel — the Esperanza — shared her experiences as a defender of the marine environment in Taipei yesterday.
Amy Lan (藍之青), a 22-year old student from National Chengchi University’s department of diplomacy, became a crewmember on a mission to protect the Pacific and promote the establishment of ocean reserves in Western and Central Pacific Fisheries.
Being the youngest member of the crew and the one with the least ocean-going experience, Lan said she was quite nervous when the journey started, but after a few days of experiencing seasickness, she was able to carry out her responsibilities of communicating with Taiwanese captains of tuna fishing vessels by radio, observing changes in the ocean and assisting other crewmembers.
During the eight-week mission, Lan encountered about 10 fishing vessels, four of which were Taiwanese, which she boarded to conduct interviews and better understand fishing conditions. She also saw first-hand how longline fishing is done.
“We were fortunate to be allowed to stay on a fishing vessel for four hours to observe how they fished, but the fishermen told me that they doubted they would catch any tuna on that day because they caught only two the previous day and four the day before that,” Lan said, adding that many told her that tuna catches continued to decrease.
An unforgettable episode from her journey was when the group saved a swordfish caught in the ropes of a tuna longline and watched as it swam away. The experience led her to think about the many fish killed as byproducts of tuna fishing.
Lan said she was surprised to see the hard lives of the fishermen, working on a small fishing boats in cramped conditions for seven to eight months at a time without docking and only making meager catches.
She said the experience made her more aware of marine conservation and she is now looking forward to studying environmental policy.
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