Greenpeace board the cargo ship Happy Ranger.

Geophysicist Dr Richard Bates, of the Scottish Oceans Institute at the University of St. Andrews, working on board the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise.

The crew of the Greenpeace ship MY Arctic Sunrise in Greenland. The Arctic Sunrise reaches 'the ice bridge' in the Robeson channel, at 82.4 North, near the border between Greenland and Canada. This is the Southernmost extent of the summer sea ice which usually extends much further south into the Nares Strait, it has receded dramatically in recent years.

The Greenpeace ship MY Arctic sunrise pictured in cracked and drifting ice in front of the Petermann glacier.

Rarotonga, Cook Islands: Greenpeace ship, Esperanza, sits moored in the Cook Islands capital Rarotonga as it begins its Pacific Islands' climate change campaign.

Pacific Greeting -Aitutaki Island, Cook Islands: Greenpeace vessel the MY Esperanza arrives at the island of Aitutaki as part of its 'Voices of the Pacific' Campaign. This image shows crew from the ship arriving on Aitutaki Island in an inflatable boat.

Greenpeace ship Esperanza en route to the Southern Oceans.

Fishermen use pole and line fishing method to catch skipjack tuna. Pole and line fishing is a selective and therefore more sustainable way to catch tuna as only fish of a certain size are caught, leaving juveniles to grow to spawning age and replenish the stock in the future. Small bait fish are thrown over the side of the boat to lure the tuna to the water surface. The fishermen use the acceleration of the fish as they race to get their prey, hook them and fling them onto the ship's flat deck.

Workers unload boxes from the Nisshin Maru to a courier van. The ship is docked in Shimonoseki, Japan, having just returned from its last so-called "scientific" whaling expedition to the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.

The Japanese factory ship Nisshin Maru docks in Shimonoseki, Japan, having just returned from its last so-called "scientific"whaling expedition to the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary.

A target symbol projected onto a truck loaded with plutonium MOX fuel being transported from the AREVA reprocessing plant in La Hague to Cherbourg port, where it will be shipped to Japan.

Greenpeace activists hang “forbidden-cattle signs” in the Green Forever reserve that has recently been illegally deforested area for cattle farming in Porto de Moz, Para, Brazil. The protest is against the lack of reserve protection created four years ago by president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and introduction of livestock farming inside the ‘protected’ forest area. The protest forms part of the Greenpeace ‘Arctic Sunrise’ ship tour “Save the planet now” as part of the organization’s global effort to alert the Brazilian people to the environmental problems facing there country today.

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise sails between the Solimoes and Negro rivers, Manaus, Amazon to mark the beginning of the “Save the planet now" shiptour. The shiptour is part of the organization’s global effort to alert the Brazilian people to the environmental problems caused by climate change and to pressure the government into taking urgent action to curb climate change.

Japanese whale catcher ship, Yushin Maru No. 2, in Surabaya port, Indonesia for repairs to a damaged propeller. The vessel was in Indonesia as whaling vessels are not permitted into New Zealand or Australian ports. There are mixed reports on whether the ship had been allowed to complete the repairs before departing for an unknown destination earlier today.