26. July 2003 New York Times

Fisherman Seeks to Harvest Ailing Baltic, Gently

By MARLISE SIMONS

DANSK, Poland — "This is home," said Kurt Christensen, leaning over a ship's railing and watching the purple of a midsummer night brush the water with the same warm glow.

Home was the Baltic Sea, a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean. In the good times, he had harvested tons of herring here in spring and plenty of cod in winter. He had known bad days too, like January frosts, when ice covered the mast, the wheelhouse, sometimes the entire hull, making his wooden boat groan and creak.

After 20 years at sea, his back gave out. He sold his boat and went to study philosophy. He wrote his thesis on morality in Immanuel Kant, who also grew up by the Baltic.

But the water kept pulling. So Mr. Christensen is back, this time as a fiery advocate for an ailing sea and its mournful fishermen.

He heads the Danish Society for a Living Sea, a Baltic-wide network of fishermen who are speaking out, frustrated by the region's dwindling fish stocks, the continuing pollution, and worst of all, the near collapse of cod, an ancient staple.

Read the articel: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/26/international/europe/26FPRO.html?ex=1060255058&ei=1&en=366eda82effd518b