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A Jerseyman’s top secret mission to help a global conservation society’s new ship on its way to fighting illegal fishing in the Mediterranean can now be revealed.
Over the six months until the end of April, Sea Shepherd had been quietly working to acquire, register and equip a new addition to its fleet of marine conservation vessels, the ‘Sea Eagle’.
The 40m former French pilot boat carries a 19-person crew and carries two smaller boats. Built for the Atlantic, it is capable of navigating some of the roughest seas.
Sea Eagle’s role was to join ‘Operation Siso’ – a campaign to clamp down on illegal fishing and recuperate abandoned fishing gear and plastic debris from the Mediterreanean, home to 17,000 species and one of the most overfished seas in the world.
On its low-profile journey from Denmark to Italy, the ship encountered technical difficulties and was forced to make an unexpected stop in Jersey waters for several days in early April.
Video: An explanation of the Sea Eagle's mission.
Communications Officer David Wilson, was fortunately able to raise the alarm with a contact in Jersey – Sea Shepherd supporter of nine years, Craig Farrell.
“The Sea Eagle needed some supplies desperately to help repair vital computer systems on board but also they needed equipment to help with vital repairs in order to get the rest of the way into Italy,” Craig told Express.
Finding and getting the equipment was a challenge in itself – and this was made all the more difficult by the fact he “couldn’t tell anybody who they were or why they were here.”
“During the transit of the Sea Eagle there was a high level of secrecy required for numerous reasons,” Craig explained.
“I decided to do as much as I could alone making excuses for random favours from people to help keep it a secret.”
Pictured: David Wilson, who called Craig for help when the Sea Eagle suffered technical difficulties and had to stop in Jersey.
Craig had to complete two trips on the Sea Eagle.
“The first one was a transfer at sea in St. Aubin’s Bay, which a friend of mine, Robyn Stuart, kindly took myself and some equipment out to the Sea Eagle using her rib for her business Jersey Rib Adventures. She was very helpful and showed true kindness to take me out without asking questions,” he recalled.
“My second trip was a day or so later. The Sea Eagle decided to dock in Jersey to refuel – this was difficult, as they were not allowed to come ashore and I was unable to go on board due to covid restrictions. The restrictions were always in the forefront of the decisions made at all times.
“I was, however, able to deliver a few boxes of supplies by passing them over the side.”
Pictured: A view from the rib - Craig had to take supplies out to the ship in St. Aubin's Bay.
Thanks to his efforts, the ship was able to complete its journey, arriving in Syracuse, Italy, by the end of the month.
Now the Sea Eagle is ready to launch into its campaign, it's only now that Craig has been able to open up about the important role he played.
“Craig was pretty much the secret agent getting us some much needed supplies before we continued out transit to tackle illegal fishing in the Med, practices which result in the death of whales, dolphins, turtles, you name it! Thanks for all that hard work,” said David.
Craig said he couldn’t have done it without the help of Robyn and his Sea Shepherd wife and children (“soon-to-be Sea Shepherds”), who “did a great job keeping it a secret but were very excited and proud.”
He said he hoped to get involved in more missions to “defend ocean wildlife worldwide”, with his next goal to travel to the Faroe Islands where hundreds of whales are killed each year in a tradition Craig describes as “barbaric”.
Pictured: The Sea Eagle coming into Jersey's harbour for refuelling.
The tradition was documented in a popular recent Netflix documentary about overfishing, Seaspiracy, which highlighted the work of Sea Shepherds across the world.
The film documents how illegal fishing practices plays a significant role in climate change by ripping up important carbon-capturing aquatic plants like sea grass.
Sea Shepherd’s founder states in the documentary: "If you want to address climate change, the first thing you do is protect the ocean, and the solution to that is very simple, leave it alone."
Pictured top: Craig Farrell and his children, Lexi (left) and Madison (right), who he says are aspiring Sea Shepherds.
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