Dr Polly Higgins - Protecting the future

“As original supporters of Dr. Polly Higgins in her mission to persuade the United Nations to pass an international criminal law of Ecocide ( ie the despoilation of the Earth ), we are delighted that after more than 20 years of spreading the word, Nations have woken up to how vital it will be. The law was very nearly passed by the United Nations over 30 years. Maybe vested interests stopped it?

However, now the mores of the time is changing and there is a better chance.

The law is not complex. It will enable cases to be brought in an international court ( like the law of Genocide ).

A classic example was the bombing of Vietnam with Napalm*.


This law will apply to the Oceans.

At last we may see a chink of light .”

Felix Appelbe

*On June 8, 1972, South Vietnamese planes dropped a napalm bomb on Trảng Bàng, which had been attacked and occupied by North Vietnamese forces. ... The Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilot mistook the group for enemy soldiers and diverted to attack. The bombing killed two of Kim Phúc's cousins and two other villagers. Source Wikipedia

A note of respect for death of Dag Pike, Maritime Adventurer Navigator for Richard Branson

At the recent news of Dag Pike passing away, Felix Appelbe expresses a note of respect for such an accomplished maritime navigator, consultant, powerboat racer, and author:

“Although speed boats are not our thing, at least he had courage and daring giving us all inspiration to venture beyond our comfort zone, like others we are fortunate to know and who are the new adventurers .”

The Maritime Journal says:

We have been informed by his family that Dag passed away in hospital on Saturday 28th May 2021, after a sudden illness.

A perfect example of the maxim: ‘if you love your job it never feels like work’, Dag was still ‘working’ at age 88 in an area he adored, with copy still due for MJ and his latest book ‘Work and Patrol Boats’, due to be published by Mercator Media, nearing completion.

Dag Pike 1933-2021

Maritime Journal

Stunning traditional cairn hand built by Ocean Ambassador Henry Fletcher

A traditional stone structure, known as a cairn, has been crafted on a Suffolk beach.  An important outdoor focal point with all the pathos of its impermanence.

Ocean Ambassador Henry Fletcher from Thorpeness has crafted one of the structures on the village's beach using local coralline crag stone. 

Henry takes inspiration from Julie Brook’s ‘Fire Stacks’, also his work in Iceland, part of which has included building cairns with groups of volunteers.

"I wasn't quite sure what I was going to build when I started building it but I had the idea of it being a space where people could have conversations about their relationships with the sea and their sense of place.”

"It has become that in a strange way.”

"When I've been building it, I've had a lot of conversations with people walking past.”

"It was a beautiful opportunity to meet local people."

I’ve had conversations with many people on the beach about geology, similar structures elsewhere in the world, walking and the coastline and its precarious future—both immediately from the threat of energy projects and in the long-term from our changing climate.

What we can find out about the corals that filled our shores thousands of years ago?

Do those corals help us in our quest to save corals today? A historical dimension that we should weave into teaching and curricula.

"The impermanence of it was something I definitely intended to incorporate into it,"

"I look forward to that moment when it is reclaimed."

The structure is in no way permanent and will eventually fall back into the sea. 

You can read more about it in the following articles:

East Anglian Daily Times

Henryjf.xyz

You can read about Henry’s project in Iceland and cairns, here.

Photos courtesy of Anna Lipska Images

Ocean Ambassadors is in touch with Jasmine Harrison after her solo row across the Atlantic.

Ocean Ambassadors has been in touch with Jasmine Harrison after her solo row across the Atlantic. We are in full support of her endeavours.

We are also interested in hull design as it has relevance to our next talk on Noise in the Oceans. - More details to follow.

Congratulations to Jasmine for her journey with the least invasive noise and pollution and just muscle-powered propulsion and determination! Well done!

“With such inspiration, we have the ability to make changes and connect directly with the sea.”

See more about Jasmine over at here Instagram @rudderlymad

Rewilding land, sea and people

Last week AgRewild in association with Ocean Ambassadors launched their first ever, live, online event and it was a great success! 

Entitled ‘Rewilding Land, Sea and People’, the webinar looked at rewilding from a number of different angles.  

AgRewild’s Sean McCormack hosted the event and introduced the conversation by discussing the rewilding movement and the importance of biodiversity.  

Sean was joined by long time Ocean Ambassador friend Cal Major, founder of Paddle Against Plastic, who talked about the issues facing biodiversity in our oceans and what we, as individuals and community groups, can do to get involved. 

We also heard from Felix Appelbe, who as you may know is the founder of Ocean Ambassadors, as well as farmer and conservationist. Felix spoke about how rewilding and farming can come together and what rewilding means to him. We premiered a short film, ‘Rewilding Woodcock’, featuring Felix at his farm, where he talks beautifully about nature and the importance of living in harmony with the natural world.  

So many of you came along to the evening and made it truly engaging and entertaining, thank you so much for your interest and your enthusiasm. We hope many more of you will be able to now watch and enjoy the recording! 

The whales still fall ~ Westfjords of Iceland

Ocean Ambassadors is very pleased to announce their support for Henry’s ecological guidebook to the Westfjords of Iceland. This one-of-its-kind guide contains three books and a fold-out weatherproof map. Together, they form a compendium of notes for those seeking deep connection with self, community and ecology—both terrestrial and marine.

The Westfjords region of Iceland is one of the world's most pristine and important marine environments, supporting millions of seabirds, a huge abundance of fish and visited by a plethora of different whale species. Opportunities for exploration abound, while marine research and sustainability are core to many businesses operating in the region.

For more information on the project: http://wayfinding.guide/

Instagram: @westfjordswayfinding

An extract:

The whales still fall

denizens of the abyss

occupiers of the liminal

emissaries of the surreal

the O in ocean

as in life, in death

—an ouroboric embodiment

in life, their bodies, built with plankton,

tend the gardens 

where plankton grow

while in death, whales smile 

in recognition of the way they travel 

—towards the core of the earth

and on the bed of Rán

a ceremony befitting their

angel-fluked frame awaits 

crabs, hag and rattail fish 

are first to arrive

then the ocean’s oldest gatekeeper

the Greenland sleeper shark

(500 years young)

hustles its way to the heart

the skeleton bared then flowers 

for half a century more, with

anemones and bone-eating zombie worms

the ocean said to me

—all is well in the depths;

the whales

still fall 

Walter bites back

Photo of Walter, taken off the coast of Colonsay (NW Scotland) back in the summer.

Ocean Ambassadors are full of praise for 6 year old Walter Silk's initiative to pick up litter in the streets of Oxford.
Walter is doing this in aid of a charity called Bite Back which is focused on ending the trade and consumption of shark products. He says that such trade is responsible for the death of c 73 million sharks per annum.

“I’m very grateful to all those who have donated to my campaign. Sharks are not only my favourite fish, but they are also a very important apex predator. We need sharks to have a healthy marine environment. They provide a balance (SIC) and without them we risk damaging our oceans forever” ~ Walter Silk

You can find out more about Walter and how to donate to his cause here at Virgin Money Giving page.

Diving with Angels

Liam McGuire from Innoceana shares his experience working off Tenerife

Diving as part my work in Tenerife during this difficult year has been a rollercoaster of emotions. One of the many highs was during what I expected to be a typical survey dive in the seagrass. Entering by the shore, we began by swimming at a depth of six meters towards the seagrass patch. There I was greeted by my first Angel Shark (Squatina squatina). The one-and-half-metre shark swam within inches of me as I captured the ticking movement of its tail, powering over the sand.

Witnessing this critically endangered shark in the wild was a very special moment. With an uncomfortable amount of remaining air from keeping up with the shark, I completed the necessary 3D model of the seagrass patch. Leaving the water with a big smile on my face, I didn’t expect it to be the start of my very own shark week.

The very next day I jumped out of my skin during a night dive when checking the dive computer on my wrist using my single light source. I looked down to see an Angel Shark of similar size swim right under my elbow, following it with my light for a few seconds before it disappeared into the night. These frequent sightings in Tenerife, it turned out, were due to mating season.

Swimming in the local port a few days later with my colleagues at the non-profit Innoceana, we saw another, slightly smaller shark gliding around the area. We followed it to another two individuals and stayed with them for a long time, taking photos for seasonal identification. Then they began mating. Their aggressive display was enough for us to keep our distance! Seeing so many of these rare sharks first-hand has increased our drive to help the populations in Tenerife thrive.

The Angel Shark (Squatina squatina) once ranged from Scandinavia to northwest Africa, including the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The species is a benthic predator, often lying on the seabed for long periods of time waiting for prey. Though not particularly sought after by fisheries, the Angel Shark is vulnerable to by-catch in benthic trawl fisheries. This has led to the species being functionally extinct in the North Sea. Due to the combination of coastal development, degradation of habitat and population fragmentation the species is now designated Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

The Canary Islands, where I am based, are one of the only places in the world where the shark is regularly sighted during their winter breeding season. My work with the Marine Conservation Non-Profit Innoceana is aiming to ensure that the habitats of many species, such as the Angel Shark, are protected for future generations in Tenerife.

Currently our main project within the Marine Protected Areas of Tenerife is to assess the health of seagrass and provide evidence of their distribution, to better understand how to conserve these vital ecosystems for this part of the world. Combining my background in marine science and photography, I am striving to educate people on the life on their doorstep and how they can be directly involved in both its destruction and recovery.

See more of Liam’s photos and follow him @liam.mcguire.photography

https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-mcguire-849668b1/?originalSubdomain=uk

https://innoceana.org

@liam.mcguire.photography

Reflections on seas and sound

Leaving the shore of word and sound, we plunge into

the sea of silence, into space uncluttered by thought, and

there we are nourished.

We know nothing of silence; it is an uncharted sea.

We don't know how deep it is, but we know that

before we can learn to swim in the sea, we must plunge

into it.

The Shell-fishy truth behind Royal Purple

Charlotte de Mille joined The Big Green Draw at The Courtauld Institute’s Research Forum for a workshop on making sustainable inks, plus the history of ancient ink making including Tyrrian Purple, made from a mucous secreted by dog whelks, purpura lapillus.

Dr Charlotte de Mille

Paul Mellon Mid-Career Fellow, Paul Mellon Research Continuity Fellowship
The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R ORN

Jamaican Representative - Friend of Ocean Ambassadors - Sophie Grizzle

I am honoured to serve as an Ocean Ambassadors Friend.  Growing up in Jamaica, surrounded by the Caribbean Sea, I have long recognized the need for everyone to play a role in taking care of the environment in order to preserve our planet.  The environment feeds us, keeps us clothed, along with providing fresh air and clean water.

Organizations, such as Ocean Ambassadors, have made it their duty to do whatever they can to protect this critical asset. We are very fortunate to have Felix Appelbe leading this organization as he has always demonstrated the critical empathy and understanding of the environment and its preservation. From all corners of the world, let's join together to support this tremendous effort.

People in the Caribbean depend on a healthy environment and even more so, a healthy ocean. As an economical vehicle that also helps to drive tourism, we are extremely happy and willing to play whatever small part we can.

Best regards,

Sophie Grizzle Roumel

Treasurer / Director & Chair Environmental Committee, Negril Chamber of Commerce