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When: August 17, 2004, 11:30am

Where: Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany

Who: Photographer Oliver Mann, of www.oliver-mann.de

What: Environmental watchdog Greenpeace spread 11,000 dead sea animals before Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to urge the creation of wildlife protection areas at the North and Baltic Seas. Some 25 activists presented the dead sea urchins, mussels, crabs, baby plaice and rays on a 100-meter-long (328-foot-long) table at the German landmark under a banner reading "Life is not Garbage". The animals had been caught by a single fishing boat on a two-hour cruise of the North Sea and sorted out as "waste material", the group said in a statement.

Greenpeace members on a separate ship, the "Esperanza", collected and documented the dead animals, which they said can make up 90 percent of a normal commercial catch.

Iron chains hang in front of the openings of the nets, which are dragged along the ocean floor, Greenpeace said. Only large protection areas where fishing is suspended for long periods can allow marine wildlife to survive in their habitats, it added. Two types of fishing practice - beam trawling and otter trawling - where nets drag the ocean floor - are particularly prone to picking up non-target marine species because of their inherently indiscriminate nature.

Why: “This was non-commercial work. I came from another VR-job, so I was fully equipped as I saw the Greenpeace group setting up. Curious about all the dead sea animals, I talked to one of them, and he informed me that they were demonstrating against over fishing in the North Sea. It sounded good to me, and so I asked them if they’d like to have a 360° shot for their website or whatever. I had to do it with my last nine shots, and then the card was full”, Oliver writes.

How:
The shots were taken with a Kaidan QPS-1, Fuji S2 with Nikkor 10.5. Six shots in a row were taken. Oliver used PTMac with "photoshop with enblend" output option.

For more information about the Esperanza tour of the North Sea call Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255 or visit For more information: www.weblog.greenpeace.org/northsea/
Email: om[at]oliver-mann[dot]de

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