3 minute read
Look in the Mirror
Dr. Sylvia Earle is the grande dame of the oceans. Her engagement for ocean conservation and so called HOPE SPOTS, oceanic protection zones, is unrivalled. The 82-year-old TED-Prize winner is the guest of honor at our premiere in Hamburg.
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Q: In 2009 you made a wish upon winning the TED prize. What changes do you see in ocean conservation 9 years onwards?
A: In 2009 I said that the next ten years will shape the nature of the next ten thousand years: Decisions made then would have a magnified impact on everything that follows. But opportunities to protect and restore vital species and natural systems have been lost. But momentum is growing globally for policies and behaviors that recognize that everything we care about – health, security, prosperity and life itself, relies on making peace with nature. The good news is that since 2009 the amount of ocean under full protection has grown to more than three percent. Half of the coral reefs are still in good condition and there are still about ten percent of blue fin tunas, sharks, cod and other species that are being fished on an industrial scale. They are not all gone.
Q: By creating Hope Spots, your organization MISSION BLUE focuses on protecting what is left of biodiversity. What happens after an area is declared a hope spot?
A: Mission Blue has partnered with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to develop protocols with a panel of experts who review applications for recognition of a place as a Hope Spot. Once approved, places are given guidance concerning gathering and sharing photographs, films, data and stories. Mission Blue engages more than 100 partners who are kept informed about opportunities to support community-driven efforts to secure official enduring protection for places that are aimed at creating a global network of hope – backed by real actions.
Q: Coral reefs are some of the richest environments in the oceans. Healthy coral reefs can re-seed threatened reefs. What needs to happen to replenish the fish stocks around the globe?
A: When the killing stops, recovery begins. With large-scale protection, there are more sea turtles and great whales today than there were half a century ago. Now we know: coral reefs need the reef fish and the reef fish need the corals to thrive. Decades of evidence demonstrate significant increase in diversity, size and numbers of wildlife in places that are fully protected. Protecting intact systems provide critical centers of recovery.
The current industrial-scale killing of ocean species the nature of nature. Replenishment of coral reefs, fish and ocean life generally requires a fundamental change of attitude about their value. Rather than thinking of fish as “stocks,” think of them as wildlife, the “birds of the sea”. Some people will likely always dine on sea creatures for sustenance, but ocean wildlife consumed by most people today is a matter of choice, not need.
Removing half of the large animals from the sea in a few decades has broken essential links in ocean food chains, favoring adaptable, fast-growing microbes but disrupting finetuned systems that have developed over hundreds of millions of years. However, owing to recent explorations, great films and other new media, awareness is growing about the role of the living ocean in generating oxygen and maintaining Earth as a hospitable place for us in a universe of unfriendly options.
Q: The International OCEAN FILM TOUR offers a platform of education, networking and entertainment for ocean lovers around the globe. What is your message to our audience?
A: Please look in the mirror. Do what little kids do naturally. Ask questions and never lose the sense of wonder you had when you were three years old. Great entertainment can be conveyed by myths and fiction, but the most amazing, wonderful stories of all are the true stories, that are all around us: in the lives of the barnacles growing on the bottom of a boat, in the behavior of animals living among crystals of water under an iceberg, in the function of feathers of a seabird flying across thousands of miles of open sea. They cannot speak, cannot tell their stories. That is up to you!
No one knows better than you who you are, what talents and opportunities you have to make a difference. No one can do everything but everyone can to something that together will add up to moving in the right direction. Saving the ocean, improving the state of the world, is a team sport.
