ocean sanctuaries

Like it or not, around the world many species of animals are seen as tradeable commodities – for things like food, fur, fashion or medicine. Of course we know that historically hunting animals for commercial gain has often been really bad news for the animals concerned. Just stop and think about some of the most recognisable big land mammals – things like tigers, elephants and rhinos – and it’s pretty evident what trade can do to even well-known beasts, pushing many of them to the very brink of extinction.

Something amazing is happening in Monterey Bay, California. The bay is a marine sanctuary, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The bay is home to an amazing array of wildlife: everything from cute, cuddly sea otters to prehistoric pelicans, from massive kelp forests to gigantic blue whales. But the big news is that BBC is kindly bringing all of this right into your living room with a massive live TV event called Big Blue Live.

Here’s a prediction: the next UK government will do great things for global marine protection.

At this stage in a general election campaign it’s sometimes hard to find something that politicians wearing differently coloured rosettes can agree on, but with an unprecedented bunch of manifesto commitments, there’s a growing certainty that the next UK government will be an ocean champion.

Scientific research and conservation need more cash. That’s sadly usually true. It’s especially the case in the Antarctic where research is expensive but absolutely essential given the massive environmental changes happening there.

But although new streams of funding should welcomed for Antarctic research, it’s also important to question where that funding comes from. After all, there’s just a sliver of a chance that some seemingly good PR is actually a mind-bogglingly cynical act of greenwashing.

If I said to you that the UK government was responsible for rare sea turtles, endangered sharks, tropical coral reefs and quite possibly more penguins than any other country, you might think I was talking about some aquariums or zoos. It’s certainly not what you think about in UK seas, especially at this grey time of year (though of course we do have visiting turtles, many shark species, cold water corals, and puffins as penguin-wannabes). But across the world the UK has ‘overseas territories’. They are relics of a turbulent past when flags were planted across the world, and mostly, these days, they are islands – like Bermuda, Pitcairn, and Ascension. So, in turn, the amazing wildlife in the seas around these islands is effectively ‘British’.

The vaquita is a beastie with some remarkable claims to fame:

‘Shark’:  it’s an evocative and symbolic single syllable. Just the sound of the word conjures up a host of associated images, usually to do with menacing fins, teeth, and a certain cinematic soundtrack.  #SharkWeek ramps up the public awareness around sharks, but it’s also a chance to reconsider and revalue these iconic, and undoubtedly awesome, ocean creatures.

Sea turtles live in the ocean. They don’t loiter around so much as cruise the whole sea, taking in shallow coastal lagoons, stopping by seamounts, and crossing the open ocean on high seas highways, only ever returning to land to lay eggs.

They are truly creatures of the ocean. And they are pretty special.

Today is World Turtle Day – so what better excuse to shell out a bit of love and respect to these most iconic ocean ambassadors?

Today is the International Day for Biological Diversity. That’s a bit of a mouthful, but put simply it’s a day officially set aside to celebrate the world’s wealth of wildlife. For 2014 the theme is Island Biodiversity.

It’s World Penguin Day today, April 25^th, and I simply can’t imagine a world that didn’t have penguins in it. So in order to celebrate our funny fine-flippered friends I thought it would be good to pull together some fun facts about penguins. Some are fun, some are facts, and some are both at once.