CONSULTING IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM & HOSPITALITY DEVELOPMENT, LECTURING ON CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT MITIGATION, TRAINING, PUBLIC SPEAKING & MARINE CONSERVATION
- HELPING OTHERS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE -
WE CALL OURSELVES 'THE BLUE PLANET' FOR A REASON - OVER 70% OF THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH IS COVERED BY WATER. THE OCEANS, ALONG WITH RIVERS AND LAKES, SUSTAIN US AND GIVE US LIFE.
IN EXCHANGE, WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO USE ALL OF OUR
COMBINED EXPERIENCE TO PROTECT AND LOOK AFTER THE OCEANS.
The seas are rich and abound with life. From the mighty apex predator, the Great White shark, to the tiniest Phytoplankton, they each play an important and vital role. The vibrancy and variety of creatures that dwell in the oceans is almost beyond comprehension and there are many species as yet unknown in the darkest depths.
Sharks maintain balance and order in the oceans.
Phytoplankton generate 70% of the oxygen we breath
But our oceans are dying and our
planet is only as healthy as its oceans. And the UN has warned that marine life faces irreparable damage from the millions of tonnes of pollutants and plastic waste that ends up in the oceans every year.
Dead Sperm Whale washed up on a Spanish beach with 65kgs of plastics in its stomach. It had effectively died of starvation.
Half of the world’s coral reefs have died in the last 30 years, and two thirds of the Great Barrier Reef have been damaged by coral bleaching – this happens when the sea temperature is too high.
And as sea temperatures rise, Phytoplankton diminish; there has been a 40% decline in the last few decades! If they disappear, SO DO WE!
Whales,
dolphins and porpoises
all suffer from bycatch from global fishing. In fact, many hundreds of thousands of marine mammals are accidentally caught
or critically injured
by fishing gear
every year.
But these cetaceans are also brutally hunted by a few nations for 'tradition', for meat (although it is known to be polluted with mercury and other heavy metals) and for shows for aquaria.
Thousands of Atlantic White-Sided Dolphins and Pilot Whales are killed each year in the Faroe Islands, a Danish Protectorate and EU Community member
Norway, Iceland and Japan are the remaining whaling nations, despite there no longer being an appetite for the practice by the general public of those nations...
…and meanwhile, the annual dolphin cull in the coves of Taiji, Japan, continue in the ongoing face of public outrage, supported by the government
And then there are sharks…over 100 million of them are 'finned' every year for shark fin soup. Still more are slaughtered for accessories, beauty products, food for people and animals. Sharks cannot keep pace with this and are heading rapidly for extinction.
Another EU country is top of the shark consumer league tables, Italy, along with Brazil and China in 3rd place.
Finally we turn to overfishing and the criminally destructive practice of BOTTOM TRAWLING. Fields of sea grass of on the ocean floor, corals, shells, other marine organisms and sedimentary rock deposits, as well as fish of all ages, shapes and sizes, are scooped up by giant nets and simply destroyed. Most of the 'catch' is discarded with only the larger fish kept for sale.
Worst
What is scooped up represents the largest repository of carbon dioxide in the world. This fishing practice is estimated to release around 1,500 million tons of carbon dioxide a year (similar output to Germany or the aviation industry pre-covid), as well as destroying untold numbers of animals and corals in by-catch. These facts have been well known for years, but only this year (2023), has any legislation been passed to prevent or regulate the global fishing industry, and laws are one thing; enforcement is another.
Fleets of over a thousand deep sea fishing vessels set out fro China to plunder the oceans and everything in them
SUCH A DETERMINED ASSAULT ON THE OCEANS IS UNSUSTAINABLE AND BEFORE VERY LONG, UNLESS MUCH CHANGES, LIFE IN THE SEAS AS WE KNOW IT WILL CEASE TO EXIST.
