New Zealand fishing company Sealord has spoken out about the recent incident when Greenpeace activists daubed a slogan on the side of of trawler Ocean Dawn while it was fishing on the Chatham Rise.
‘We are very concerned at the close call that happened while the Ocean Dawn was actively fishing, and the other potential risks to Greenpeace’s demonstrators as they painted graffiti. If their small Z-boat malfunctioned or someone fell off, they would have been dragged to the back of the vessel, into the wires and down into the water, which would likely have been fatal,’ said Sealord’s GM of Operations Rui Ventura.
‘They also positioned themselves under the Ocean Dawn’s factory water sump outlet, which meant water poured onto them when the factory sump’s automatic float switch self-activated,’ he said.
‘With sump water falling from the Ocean Dawn, someone from Greenpeace could have been knocked out of the boat and potentially sucked underneath our vessel. In addition, there is steel belting just above the waterline on the Ocean Dawn, which protrudes out around 200mm. In a sea surge the nose of the Greenpeace z-boat could have been forced underwater, with the risk of flipping their craft. Our crew would have been obliged to rescue the occupants, putting them at risk too. It just shows that they have no idea how these vessels operate – there are a number of automatic operating functions, so if you don’t know how things work, getting up close to, and in contact with, a moving large fishing vessel in the deep sea is very unsafe.’
He commented that this dangerous behaviour by Greenpeace is not unprecedented. Sealord has taken a statement from the skipper of another Sealord vessel, Thomas Harrison, which was shadowed by Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior yacht in Cook Strait on 24th June 2025.
‘The skipper of Thomas Harrison, a highly experienced mariner, was alarmed by the Rainbow Warrior’s unsafe decisions. Although the Greenpeace skipper agreed to move their vessel to a safer distance, they then launched an inflatable boat. Given the rough weather and 30-knot winds, it was exceptionally dangerous for a small inflatable. The boat crew insisted on staying upwind, which meant losing control could have sent them drifting into our nets, posing serious risk,’ he said.
‘The inflatable then chased the Thomas Harrison at high speed in rough conditions causing it to bounce dangerously and risk flipping over. Our skipper says he would never have put a small boat out in the rough conditions that day, and feared he would have to rescue the Greenpeace crew if something had happened, just for a photo opportunity with a sign they were holding up.’
These two incidents are in addition to Greenpeace shadowing and then vandalising a Talley’s vessel.
‘We understand that this is how this organisation gets attention, but the danger to lives is simply not acceptable. Our crew are out there focussed on doing their jobs and they do not want people carrying out dangerous, attention seeking activities to be unintentionally injured or potentially killed,’ Rui Ventura said, adding that Sealord will be laying complaints with the appropriate authorities.
