DISPATCHES: MEXICO WITH SHEILA HANNEY

Sheila Hanney

Since 2014 I’ve been involved with SEA SHEPHERD

Founded in 1977 by Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd is a direct-action ocean conservation organization. Our crews are on the front line defending whales, seals, sharks, dolphins, turtles and all the other crucially important wildlife living in our blue ocean. Currently we have nine ships operating worldwide protecting what we love, researching the health of ocean animals and investigating effects of human behaviour.

Overfishing is a huge problem these days, up to three trillion fish are caught annually around the globe, this is not sustainable. I work as a cook on the ships, all our galleys are fully vegan. As the cook I’m very connected to the links between what we eat and how it’s produced, wild fish that arent pretty enough to land on plates are often ground up into fishmeal and fed to captive livestock on land, this in turn produces toxic runoffs. These spills eventually get back into the ocean and due to their high nutrient levels cause algae blooms, which removes oxygen from the water and kills off ocean creatures.

It delights me to introduce non vegans to great plant based foods and see the spark of change forming in their minds, that they can lose their old habits and consume more sustainable produce.

This year has already seen the launch of many plant based alternatives to “seafood” as with burgers two years ago. I really hope the impact is huge and we can collectively reduce the harm we’re inflicting on our ocean.

You can donate to Sea Shepherd via this link. Please consider eating more plants, thank you.

seashepherd.org