A Bermudian woman is taking direct action to raise awareness of the overfishing of our oceans by travelling halfway around the world as a Greenpeace activist.

Lisa Vickers has left Bermuda on a six-week campaign to stop the overfishing of tuna in the Pacific. Stocks are being plundered by both illegal and commercial fishing fleets, threatening both the survival of some species and the economies of Pacific Islanders.

Greenpeace is gathering evidence of illegal fishing practices in the western Pacific aboard the vessel Esperanza. Activists are also protesting the illegal taking of catch by drawing alongside and boarding vessels — sometimes 'confiscating' equipment.

Mrs. Vickers, 30, of Smith's, will join the ship near Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to help in the campaign. She said: "I've been working on-and-off for Greenpeace since 2004, initially as a volunteer. I'm really excited about this campaign and am looking forward to going aboard the ship again. I will be responsible for online communications and will also be a diver and activist.

"We will be doing quite a lot of direct action on fishing boats which are really pirate vessels. A lot of them don't have permits, and Japan, Taiwan and Korea in particular have boats which are stealing the fish from the Pacific Islanders. To many of these Islanders, fishing is the mainstay of their economy."

Greenpeace is calling for a 50 percent cut to fishing in the region, and wants the Australian Government to support Pacific Island nations in creating 'no-take' marine reserves.

About 60 percent of the world's tuna stocks come from the Pacific, and scientists believe that two key species — bigeye and yellowfin — are particularly threatened.

The conservation organisation is also calling for a global network of marine reserves to protect 40 percent of the world's oceans. To join the petition go to: www.greenpeace.org

Recently, Mrs. Vickers has also helped to coordinate the Greenpeace campaign to protect endangered Pacific/Southern Ocean humpback whales.

The Great Whale Trail project tracks tagged whales by satellite, gathering data on migration routes, feeding habitats and population.

The Pacific/Southern Ocean humpbacks are threatened by Japanese whalers, who are allowed to kill up to 50 each year in the name of scientific research. By tracking the whales, the project aims to prove that all the scientific research data needed can be gleaned by placing satellite tracking tags on some of the whales.