The

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

trawler MS ''Golfo Azzurro'' was launched in 1987 as the ''Maarten Cornelis'', and was the first trawler in the Netherlands equipped with the EUR SumWing. From 2016-2017 it was chartered by the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms and was used for search and rescue operations near Libyan waters.

Career

As the TX 33 ''Maarten Cornelis'', in 2009 she was used to test the "SumWing" which caused less seabed disturbance than traditional

beam trawl Bottom trawling is trawling (towing a trawl, which is a fishing net) along the seafloor. It is also referred to as "dragging". The scientific community divides bottom trawling into benthic trawling and demersal trawling. Benthic trawling is towing ...

because the wing hovers above the ground when fishing. It also used less fuel than traditional

trawling Trawling is a method of fishing that involves pulling a fishing net through the water behind one or more boats. The net used for trawling is called a trawl. This principle requires netting bags which are towed through water to catch different speci ...

. In 2010 the ship was leased by the Golfo Azzurro Foundation who partnered with the

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor, Washington, Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action t ...

and, using funds from the

Brigitte Bardot Foundation The Brigitte Bardot Foundation (in French: Fondation Brigitte Bardot - FBB) is a French foundation dedicated to animal protection created by French actress Brigitte Bardot in 1986. Since 1992, the foundation has been recognized as a "public utili ...

, used the ship for covert surveillance operations in the Danish Protectorate of the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. On August 17 the ship was boarded and searched by the Danish Police and then let go under escort of the

Royal Danish Navy The Royal Danish Navy ( da, Søværnet) is the Naval warfare, sea-based branch of the Danish Defence force. The RDN is mainly responsible for maritime defence and maintaining the sovereignty of Denmark, Danish territorial waters (incl. Faroe Isla ...

. Denmark's Thetis class frigate ''Triton'' was assigned to monitor their actions. In June 2016 the ''Golfo Azzurro'' invited the 'Boat Refuge Foundation', a Dutch foundation, to go for a search and rescue to save refugees in the Mediterranean Sea. The vessel was managed by Adrian J. Sonneveld, Captain and shipmanager. The Search and Rescue operation was managed by the Italian Coastguard. ''Golfo Azzuro'' operated under the Panama Flag. The Boat Refuge Foundation chartered the vessel for a symbolic price. The board of the Golfo Azzurro Foundation is based in Rotterdam. In December 2016 the Spanish

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

Proactiva Open Arms Proactiva Open Arms (POA) is a Spanish NGO devoted to search and rescue (SAR) at sea. Set up in October 2015, it carried out its first rescue action that same month from its base on the Greek island of Lesbos. As well as maintaining a permanent b ...

chartered the Golfo Azzurro, (the NGO Boat Refuge Foundation stopped search and rescue operations in November 2016) and started search and rescue near Libyan waters. At that time Pro Activa Open Arms was already doing successful search and rescue with the sailing vessel ASTRAL. During the search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, between August 2016 and August 2017, the Golfo Azzurro rescued over 8500 women, men and children, and supported other NGOs with about 1500 people in distress. Like other rescue ships it faced intimidation from Libyan coastguards. During the first months of search and rescue operations René Hazenkamp from the Netherlands (one of the crew members; the cook) made a docu-movie about the Golfo Azzurro and her crew. This movie, GANGWAY TO A FUTURE, had its premiere in January 2018 at the

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental fi ...

References

External links

* * * Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ships Ships built in the Netherlands European migrant crisis {{Ship-stub