Team Earthrace, led by Captain
Pete Bethune, broke the world
circumnavigation record for a
speedboat by almost 14 days. But
that’s not the most impressive part:
They did it running the vessel entirely
on bio-diesel. While a company offered
Earthrace funding of USD4 million,
they were not too bothered about the
use of biofuel – a move that Bethune
sees as a big mistake. “The fact that
we set a record circumnavigating the
globe running Earthrace on biofuel
made from waste cooking oils...
that’s a cool story! To set a record of
going round the globe on diesel –
who cares? And in the process, we
would have put tonnes of CO 2 into the
atmosphere,” Bethune shares.
While travelling the world’s
oceans, Bethune says he started
to see the detrimental effects of
overfishing, and it got under his skin.
Pete Bethune
A RAce foR the eARth“One day, I saw this fishing boat, and
behind it there was just carnage.
I remember thinking, I can’t just sit
by and watch this kind of thing
happen. That was the day I decided to
get involved in marine conservation.”
This motivated Bethune to found
Earthrace Conservation.
While working with Sea Shepherd
in Antarctica, Bethune was part of a
TV series called Whale Wars. “That
showed me the power that television
has in getting people to care about
important issues,” he adds.Bethune decided to put together
a TV show, and use it to fund his
conservation efforts. The result was
The Operatives, a series broadcast
in over 50 countries that documents
the Earthrace team’s conservation
missions in anti-poaching and
anti-wildlife trafficking, fisheries
enforcement, habitat destruction and
animal welfare. The teams also train
local wildlife protection units and
NGOs in effective enforcement.
One of Bethune’s major worries
is overpopulation. Related to this is
the increasing pressure on fisheries.
“By 2048, unless drastic measures
are taken, the pelagic species will be
gone. Part of the problem is linked to
the fact that in international waters,
no one can really go about enforcing
controls,” he explains.
Bethune has been heavily evolved
in anti-whaling – a mission that landed
him in a Japanese prison after he
boarded the Shonan Maru 2 in 2010.
While whaling has been reduced by
two-thirds, the Japanese continue
to whale in Antarctica. “The job of
activists is to keep this in the public
domain,” says Bethune.
Bethune remains active in anti-
whaling campaigning, but says that
Earthrace now looks to target less
visible environmental issues, such
as pangolin smuggling and shark
finning in Asia, and seal clubbing in
Namibia – a practice which is still
legal in the country, although Bethune
is adamant that this will change. “As
conservationists, there’s a temptation
to look at the short term, but we need
to be pragmatic. For governments to
change legislation, there needs to be
growing public pressure.”
http://www.earthraceconservation.org“For countries and
governments to change
legislation, there
needs to be growing
public pressure”
Pete BethuneIMAGE COURTESY OF PETE BETHUNEenvironment