The saga of the First Ocean Pickup: An Adventure in Applied Social Ecology

The Saga of the First Ocean Pickup:An Adventure in Applied Social EcologyNoncy Jack Todd and John Todd

Toward late morning on an overcast Saturddy in November of 19g2,a crowd of people, well bundled against the light sea breeze, began toassemble on the beach at Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard. Thepeople were as colorfully clad and excited as the day was flatly gray.The focus of their attenrion was a boat, a newly completed'sailingtrimaran, that sat perched on the sand, white-painted, and angular,with, temporarily, the air of a stranded sea bird. She was ,rot -."rrtto remain beached for long, however, for the upcoming noon was tobe the hour of her launching, and hér launching was the reason for thecontinually swelling cro*d. The boat about to make its debut was theI:dith Muma, the first Ocean Pickup, designed by Richard Newicktor()cean Arks Internationel. The history that led up to this moment ofllunching had been a labyrinthine one, involving, over the years, thefirunding of two institutes, a"number of distantjourneys, a stern injunc-

i;::nT.y.rgaret Mead, some detective work, and ongoing financial

Although the Ocean Pickup is the brainchild of Ocean Arks Inter-rr:rtional, it is also, less directly, an outgrowth of the New Alchemylrstitute. with our great friend, the author and biologist Bill Mcclar-rl('y, we founded New Alchemy in 1969 to investigate ecologically'.r¡stainable strategies for supporting human populations. V/e istab-lrrlrccl an institute on cape cod and directed our research into the areas,,1 tlre basic human needs for food, energy, and shelter. The tenet thatrr r' ;rrlopted for our fledgling institute was nonetheless heartfelt, for.¡ll tlr¡t it might have sounded grandiose to unaccustomed ears. Ourl' tt('rhc'ad read: 'The New Alchemy Institute: To restore the lands,l,r I f r('( t the seas, and inform the Earth's stewards. ' By 1976, our variousr r1r1'¡i¡¡1s¡¡5 had yielded sufficient data for us to be convinced that' r.rl'lr'¡'d realistic alternatives to the industrial paradigm were indeed

r24 A NEY/ USION OF COMMUNITY

possible. By about the same time, the Institute was beginning to besufficiently well known and accepted for many of us to be invited totravel widely to discuss the results and implications of our work. Wehad realized from the beginning a necessity for what was almost aconspiratorial aspect to what we were doing, living as we do sur-rounded by a materialistic, consumer-oriented society. V/e hold theconviction that, no matter how innovative and appropriate an ideaseemed at its inception, that, before attempting to implement it, wetry to imagine how it will eventually afGct the poorest third ofhumanity. The longer we worked in the field, the more it had becomeself-evident that true ecological design cannot be divorced from socialjustice. Biological equity in the form offair access to, and distributionof, basic resources is inseparably interwoven with the conceptualizingand practice of ecological design. It was through our travels, particu-larly in the Third World, that we had a chance to observe yet anorherhorn of the dilemma that industrialization and an era of cheap fossilfuels had inflicted.on less developed areas. Visiting arrisanal fisheriesin the Indian Ocean, in the South Pacific, and in the Caribbean, wefo-und that rising fuel costs, supply disruptions, and the unavailabilityofspare eFgine parts and gear parts, not to mention the disappearance,through rapid deforestation, of traditional boat-building woods, haveidled many offshore fleets. We learned that in many places traditionalcrafts had been abandoned and modern fishing boats adopted in theperiod between the end of the Second World dar and the early I970s,a time of worldwide economic expansion, which was also characterizedby low interest, easy credit, and expandirtg world markets. With thepresent global recession and accompanying diminution of foreign creditand foreign exchange resources, the expanded fisheries became vulner-able to the vagaries of international fuel and finance sources over whichthey had virtually no control. The need to rerhink the basis oftransportfor coastal peoples was becoming increasingly obvious.

The impressions that we had been gathering from our own travelingwere reinforced by reports from other parts of the world from anumber of our colleagues. Not the least of these was the late MargaretMead, who gave us a number of instructions on the direction in whichshe thought the work begun at New Alchemy should go. She wasparticularly drawn to the idea of sail-powered shipping, which, as thetall ships have proved, have a power of imagery that is difficult toexplain. The heart is moved, and perhaps the soul as well, by theirelegance and the incipient sense of adventure that stirs at the sight ofswift-moving sails on the horizon. Morethan anything else, they seemto symbolize the possibilities of rising above, rather than being trappedby, the exigencies ofthe post-petroleum era.

We knew the naval architect Dick Newick by reputation as the

THE SAGA OF THE FIRST OCEAN PICKUP 125

designer of the fastest racing yachts in the world. His trimaran racershold many transoceanic records, and, in 1980, Moxíe, his 55 foottrimaran, sailed singlehandedly by Phil Weld, who was then 65, wonthe TransAtlantic OSTAR Race. John learned that Dick Newick hadalso pioneered a number ofnew nautical technologies and constructionmethods. That he might by sympatheric to our kind of thinking wasindicated by the fact that he had also designed S/8, a light-weight butsturdy sailing fishing cr¿ft named after E. F. Schumacher's Small isBeautiful.

Fortunately, Dick Newick is almost a neighbor. He lives on Martha'sVineyard, just a short haul across Buzzard's Bay from us. He liked theideas from the start. After several meetings, he came up with the designfor the Pickup. Dick understood that, to have an appreciable impact,the proposed vessel could not in any way seem like second-hand tech-nology. It would have to be as fast or faster than a motor-poweredboat, and just as advanced. Auspiciously, düer the last decade, therehave been a number of related technological developments which,taken together, represent a major breakthrough that could make pos-sible the rebuilding ofartisanal fishing fleets.

For a fleet of Ocean Pickups, the economic prospects for a coas¿alfishery .broaden enormously. Fishing and coastal people would findthemselves in possession of a fleet largely self-reliant in terms of fueland equipment. They would have re-established control of most of thebuilding resources, the technology; and the actual construction oftheirboats, as, ideally, the boats will be built locally of indigenous woods,relying minimally on imported items like the epoxy. The construdtionmethods should ensure that the boats will be long-lived and requirevery little in the way of maintenance. The boars would easily bereplaced when necessary. .

Hidden in our agenda of bringing back working sailing craft forfunctional transport and transportation is an attempt at land restorationas well, just as during our early work we concentrated on the land,knowing that one day we would turn to the sea. Embodied in the planfor using scrub trees as a building material is the hope that the impulseto plant fast-growing trees, which would be ready for use within aforeseeable time-frame, say 5-7 years, is more compelling than plantingtrees that take generations to grow. For most people, the pressingdemands of the moment make this an almost gratuitous act. In suchcircumstances, for stewardship to have any meaning, the results haveto be perceived as achievable within a re¿lizable period of time. Plantingeven weed or scrub trees in a world of deserts on the march is a

workable first step. A more quixotic hope is that perhaps a few of theremaining giants of the forest may be spared in preference to smallertrees with shorter generation spans.

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There was more hope than skepticism apparent in the faces of well-wishers on the Vineyard Haven beach as noon approached on that grayNovember day. The crowd grew larger, shifting feet moving andregrouping. Greetings and conversation rose and were carried on thecool, light wind. We had invited The Very Reverend James ParksMorton of the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine in New YorkCity, a dear friend'and staunch supporter of ecological restorationthrough h$ work at the Cathedral, to bless the boat before it waslaunched. Noon was the time we had chosen because we wished tobegin with the United Nation's Prayer for Peace, a prayer intended tobe said at noon every day around the world, so that it is continuouslycircling the Earth. This helped to set the context for the launching ofa bóat which, like the bioshelter, is intended to help create an infrastruc-ture of non-exploitive technologies to foster a peaceful world.

It was very quiet for a moment as we listened to Dean Morton,many of us half praying, half willing that the Ocean Pickup fulfil itsintended promise'and help to move us a little closer to peace with theliving world and among ourselves. Then the Edith Muma was carriedacross the sand and rose in the water. The crew climbed aboard andset the sails, and she flew off across the harbor.

Subsequent to the launching, the Edith Muma underwent a season oftesting for both sailing and fishing ability in the cold winter waters ofCape Cod. Having'lived up to the expectations of sailors and fishermenalike, she set sail for a 3500 miie voyage to Guyana in South America,where she was tested by Guyanese fishermen for suitability as a replace-ment for the motor-drive, drift-gill net vessels they could no longerafford to put to sea. The fishermen were delighted with her perform-ance, as were many of the staff of the Department of Fisheries. Else-where in the Government there was less enthusiasm, perhaps becausea return to sail without fuel restrictions would make it harder to controltravel, trade, and smuggling, and the Government bureaucracy showedsigns of equivocating indefinitely. Meanwhiie, we had received thefollowing letter from the manager of a fishermen's cooperative in CostaRica, La Cooperativa de Prescadores del Litoral Atlantico.

Dear Sir:We are very much interested in doing sea trial of your one-ton

pick up vessel.Our association is composed of 208 inshore artisanal fishermen

(from the coast of Atlantic Limon, Coáta Rica) with a lot of commer-cial problems.

V/e think this boat will be of great help to resolve some of ourcritical conditions, such as high costs of fuel and replacement parts

THE SAGA OF THE FIRST OCEAN PICKUP

for use of our out board. Owing to these facts, our activity became

non-profitable. .We sincerely hope that you will give us the opportunity of testing

one these boats.

Our response to the appeal was to set sail once again, this time 2000

miles across the Spanish Main to the villagg of Puerto Limon, wherethe fishing co-op is based. As of this writing, the Pickup has been

fishing out of Puerto Viejo since March 1984, adapting to local fisher-men and conditions and fishing techniques. As the skills of everyonehave improved, the Oceaq Arks' people getting to know more aboutfishing in that area and the fishermen adjusting to the boat, performancehas gotten better all round. The pickup is unusually stable and has

enough deck space for half-a-dozen fishermen to bring their gear onboard so they operate it cooperatively as a fishing station. The boatalso has the advantage of being able to get tb'areas beyond the range

of an outboard-powered dugout canoe. At dawn, it sails with gill-netfishermen to the mackerel grounds where they set their nets, to retumat dusk. During the day, other men from the village use it for handlingsnepper or diving for lobster. Not long ago, the Edith Muma broug[tback a c¡tch of fish and lobsters to Puerto Viejo that made for the best

Christmas in quite sometime.We are just beginning the next phase of the project, which will

include building, locally in the village, newer, smaller versions of the

original Pickup. These üill be the half-ton catamarans or two-hulledboats, designed by Dick Newick eround the specifications of the fish-ermen who have sailed on rhe Edith Muma. Lt the rate the Edith Mumawas bringing in fish and lobsters before Christmas, a half-ton Fickupcould pay for itself in a mqnth or less. The idea is to establish a localtraining and boat-building facility which would employ viüagers and

use regional forest products to make the boats. Once we start the

building program, we also plan to start planting fast-growing trees oneroded hillsides to produce boat woods and, at the same time, beginland restoration in the area. On the sea side of things, we want to test

and tend the kinds of equipment being used in the local fishery and toexplore currently untapPed marine resources.

It is hoped that with time the Ocean Pickup and its fleet of smallerPickups will enhance and make more independent the economy of the

area around Puerto Viejo by acting as a catalyst to a diversified fishery,aquaculture, and agriculture, as well as to local manufacturing. It is,

of course, almost impossible to be sure in advance whether any project,however well-intentioned, will achieve the original goals. Inevitably,there will be unforseen side-effects. We continue to learn more and

more, lrr sita, about the potential"pitfalls, as well as benefits, inherent

t2t

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in ecologically based projects. With the Pickup, as with our work sincethe early days, part of the ongoing process is to evolve and articulatea theory and a replicable methodology which will prove adapted todiverse natural and social ecologies. The obvious long-term hope is a

stable and diverse natural ecology which nurtures and is nurtured by themembers of an equitable society. That, quite literally, is the direction inwhich Ocean Arks has set its sails.