A Dutch group, discerning a need to "pay the sea back for all that man has stolen from her," built a 100-foot figure of a man and filled it with 20,000 loaves of bread, planning to tow the statue out to the North Sea to "replenish" it as a "National Gift to the Sea."

Organizer Kies Baker insisted detractors didn't understand his project—"this is a positive act," an "offering to the sea" in return for all that man has "stolen" from it over the ages. "Holland feels guilty," according to Baker and other supporters, because a third of Holland's land was reclaimed from the sea.

The statue cost $545,000 and the 20,000 loaves of bread were baked by a dozen local bakers from grain grown on reclaimed land with water drained from an artificial sea. Supporters could sponsor a loaf of bread for only $7.

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