born to be wild
I’m no tree-hugger, but I am a naturalist at heart: wild places, creatures and landscapes are an intrinsic part of what makes me tick. As a teenager I volunteered with my local Wildlife Trust; we coppiced, built fences, laid hedges, counted birds, set up Osprey eyries and monitoring sites among other activities - it was very hands on and fuelled my conservation ethic.
I went to Mexico in my gap year, where I spent a few months on a Pacific beach, carrying out bird surveys and helping with monitoring and managing local sea turtle nesting and hatching sites. Here I witnessed the conflict between man and a declining species - poachers would kill the nesters to take the eggs to sell on to tourists to make a living. With a slow reproductive cycle, and migratory behaviour sea turtles are extremely vulnerable to pressure from fishing industries, pollution and land based development. Six out of the seven sea turtle species worldwide are redlisted by the IUCN (The World Conservation Union).
At Oxford I gained a deeper understanding of nature conservation, partly through volunteering with the Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust in Scotland. Having been intrigued and inspired by the sight of schools of basking sharks, awesome and huge, I returned to carry out my dissertation research into their feeding ecology. During hundreds of sea miles it was evident that this beautiful marine environment was damaged by pollution. I remember watching a basking shark one day, inches from swallowing a discarded plastic bag. I felt sick and guilty for the human culprit.
the blue stuff
As a rower and sailor, marine animals can provide you with much appreciated company, wonderful sights and exciting encounters. They are so adapted to life in and around the waves, a world where we humans are merely visitors. Some of my favourites are the sprightly leaping and cavorting of dolphins on a bow wave -their energy is so uplifting; and the sight of my first whale (a humpback!) heading down for a deep dive - that was utterly breathtaking.
Therefore seeing discarded waste and reading about the threats facing the oceans is a mighty sad thing. Even the tiny plankton which I spent months studying is threatened by chemical pollution, and thereafter everything up the food chain, too. The corals, the inverts, to fish, turtles, birdlife and mammals - everything is suffering from man’s impact. Pollution, waste disposal, industry, overharvesting of resources, rising sea temperatures : the list goes on.
Some could be avoided with little effort. Less wastage, more recycling, reduced resource use and more careful waste disposal. The oceans cannot be considered as a sponge or bottomless pit- we are poisoning and plundering the very ecosystems which we rely on for food, tourism, industry and enjoyment.
For boaty folk, watersports enthusiasts and those practising industry in and and around the blue stuff, The Green Blue ( backed by the British Marine Federation and the RYA) provide lots of information, practical advice and links as to protecting the marine environment. Makes perfect sense - no one likes boating through rubbish or swimming in oily waters or getting nasty rashes from sewage contamination.
I love supporting and endorsing projects which are hopeful and useful - One Water offers exactly this optimistic and realistic sort of goal. By installing ‘Playpumps’ which work by kids playing on see-saw style toys, One is working to improve access to clean, safe and sustainable drinking water sources in areas where this is not always a given. 2 million people die each year from water-related diseases, a shocking statistic when I think that all I have to do is switch on a tap. Even on the ocean my 1 hour a day pumping to desalinate enough drinking water won’t be a patch on the hours some folk have to spend collecting water for their daily needs. So while I wouldn’t normally endorse drinking bottled water - if you have to, then go with these folk and support this fantastic project.
footprints & the future
Collectively we are living beyond our ecological means: the WWF Living Planet Report 2006 noted that our lifestyle is exceeding the planet’s capacity to regenerate by 25%. What about the future? For more than 20 years we have surpassed the planet’s ability to support us: we are in ‘overshoot’. Natural resources are being depleted and wasted, and species are being lost at an unprecedented rate, many without ever being known to science!
For many commercial fish species, it is a direct result of overfishing, pollution and poor management. Current estimates warn that half the world’s commercial fish stocks will have collapsed by 2050. For those countries relying on fish as their protein source (e.g. West Africa) this spells disaster for their already vulnerable food security.
The Tragedy of the Commons principle dictates that folk will only stop fishing once stocks have completely collapsed. So, while I have little hope for fish stocks under current conditions, I do have more hope that the collateral damage to non-target species can be reduced, such as bycatch in nets and long lines.
Save the Albatross
…a hopeful story
It is this optimism that I have found in the following campaign (STAC), spearheaded by the RSPB and Birdlife International, working to save the mighty ocean wanderers which have inspired mariners throughout history: the albatross. Every year 100,000 albatrosses die on baited hooks used by longline fisheries- that’s one bird every five minutes. Their slow reproductive rate (producing few chicks with a long brooding time) and their migratory behaviours render them unable to recover from such massive population reductions. 19 out of the 22 albatross species are now threatened.
“For an albatross, taking a fish from a baited hook is no different to a blue tit taking peanuts from a garden feeder. The contrast is that the albatross will pay the heaviest price of all for its meal – its life.” Sir David Attenborough
Specially trained Albatross Task Forces operate in the Southern hemisphere (South Africa, South America), working with fishermen to improve methods of setting and deploying long lines, and lobbying governments for legislation. Dyeing bait blue so the birds can’t see it, setting ‘Tori lines’ to act as bird scarers, deploying lines below the surface and fishing at night when fewer bird species are active are the focus - it is easy and effective, cheap and directly benefits fishermen by reducing bycatch. Save the Albatross
I am working with the RSPB to promote the STAC. The beauty for me is the combined focus - it is for birds and for people, and seems to be working well for both. There is hope.
green as can be
There is alot of chat about carbon offsetting enterprises to mitigate global warming. I believe that by supporting projects which help reduce carbon dioxide emissions in countries where these measures wouldn’t otherwise happen (lack of money, infrastructure) we can make a positive contribution to efforts at sustainability. Again, the key is mutual benefits to both people and the environment.
I am compensating carbon emissions associated with shipping my boat and flying by contributing to projects supported by Blue Ventures Carbon Offset, a not-for-profit working in Madagascar. Projects include funding both solar and energy-efficient stoves in subsistence communities. These help reduce associated deforestation, carbon emissions compared to traditional open fires, and time and money spent gathering fuel.