Radio four interview 'Today'

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TODAY


Male presenter (Edward Stourton ?)

Twelve minutes to nine: 'The albatross could be facing extinction'

More and more are being injured and killed by the hooks of long line fisherman.

They swoop down for the bait on the hooks, that is the end, it is a pretty sad thought isn't it? It is a magnificant bird immortalised in the poetry of Coleridge.

smiley - book

  "


At length did cross an Albatross,

Far out the fog it came

As if it has been a christian soul

We hailed it, in gods name

It ate the food it nair had eat

Round and round it flew

The ice did split with a thunder fit

The helmsman steered us through,

And a good South wine sprung op behind

The Albatross did follow.

And every day for food or play

Came to the mariners hollow.

"

Sir John Gilgurt (?) reading the Rime
of the Ancient Mariner
for the BBC
in 1956 nearly fifty years ago, well,

Our reporter Nicola Stanbridge is on the Thames this morning,

Nicola, good morning

Sound of water flowing in a creek

smiley - diva Morning, I am gently rocking to and fro on the 'English Rose' a yacht that has been round the world three times.

Some seagulls in the background

Today in port by the 'Tower Bridge' with banner on the port and starboard sides saying 'Save the Albatross'. And later the bridge will lift the yacht will sail trough after 327 days at sea, I am joined by John Ridgway, the captain of the voyage. Now Coleridges rhyme goes on after the man who killed the bird of good luck, the albatross, about his neck was hung. It is a bad times for the albatross isnt it?


 

 SAVE THE ALBATROSS 

 

Bad time for the albatross. When the albatross was killed all the people on the boat died. If we now kill the albatross, wich lives as long as we do and has been around as long as we do. If we kill it now, and all the albatrosses are dead. What kind of luck are we going to have?

distant motor hum

smiley - diva Now you have just been following the sub polar track of the albatross. What evidence of its demise?

I can only go on the statistics. But when I was first down there, I have been there in every decade in the last six decades. And I can only say that you can see nothing like what you used to see.

smiley - diva Now what is to blame exactly for this?

Well, presently since the ninety eighties, the fishing fleets have finished the 'Grand Banks', the 'Barentz Sea', the 'Noth Sea'. They all going right down into the southern ocean. And fishing for a thing called 'Pathagonian Tooth Fish'. With lines upto eighty miles long.
And they put down one billion hooks a year with frozen bait wich floats. The birds catches the bait and is dragged down to its death. It lives for eighty years, it can only breed with one mate and it has one chick every two years. smiley - sadface

smiley - diva Is the UK able to do anything about this?

splashing with hand in water

Well ofcourse the UK is responsible for 'South Georgia', the 'Falkland Islands', 'Tristan da Cuha'. Wich is the depts where these fish are caught. And it is up to the UK to enforce the regulations. Wich will stop pirate fisherman from fishing without any regard at all for the safety of the birds.

smiley - diva It is not just the albatross isn't it? It is another great named bird, a sea bird named the 'Spectacled Pertil' as well?

Well, there are twenty one species of albatross, the 'White Chinned Petril', the 'Spectacled Petril' the are all caught in great numbers. Our petition has raised a hundred thousand signatures. That is one signature for each bird killed every year.

motoring ship

smiley - diva And you have said that if you die in the next five years that this voyage is going to be, the course it has been very difficult trip I know.

It has been a very hard voyage. But it is something I passionately beleive in. As I say for the last six decades I have been going there. The bird means a great deal to me it is something nobody ever sees now. Because we go by air, we do not go by sea anymore. Twelve foot wing span, been around forever. It is a symbol of the sea! The world is covered three quarters by ocean. Wich all is going into a sink. We have caught all the fish! What is going to happen to the bird? I hope to become an Albatross when I die. Originally it would have been for eithy years now it is only for eighty weeks.

smiley - diva John Ridgway, captain of the English Rose, many thanks for joining us this morning.

Thanks a lot.

smiley - peacedove


Contents

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Photos

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Crew

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Log

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Press

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RSPB

|

Petition

smiley - peacedove


(Only UK BBC digital subscribers)


24th June 2004, 21:45


In at the Deep End


Captain Adventure: To John Ridgway, adventure is the proof of being alive. For his 65th birthday, he planned to sail solo around the world, but first, a voyage to test himself and his new equipment.

smiley - peacedove

smiley - tit
Sorry about the sounds, I expect lines against the mast, lots of engines, perhaps birds, wind and very occasional a wave.

Some horrible images!

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