How Sea Cucumbers Can Help the Ocean May 27, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment Sea cucumbers are a prized aphrodisiac in China. But like many coastal species they have been chronically overfished. One remote community in Madagascar has started a pioneering coastal-farming project with astonishing results.The Ocean is facing environmental catastrophe. Overfishing is a ticking time bomb for both planet and people. In one remote coastal village the locals appear to have found an unlikely solution. A strange little sea creature that’s a popular aphrodisiac and just possibly a fisherman’s salvation. In the first business of its kind in Madagascar, Dadiny has recently started farming these animals. Sea cucumbers. Sea cucumbers are under threat. Growing them in designated and contained areas is helping to protect both this important species and other kinds of marine life here in the south-west of Madagascar. Because of the part sea cucumbers play in cleaning up the seabed it’s believed that they help maintain stocks of other marine life. In this region, not just sea cucumbers, but all kinds of marine life have suffered from chronic overfishing. When marine conservationist Alasdair Harris first visited Madagascar in 2001 he was shocked to discover the extent of this devastation. To reduce this overfishing the NGO that Alasdair runs helped train 700 local fishermen and women in small-scale sustainable sea-cucumber farming. It’s meant many locals are no longer using the techniques that contributed to overfishing in this region. Alasdair’s research suggests fish stocks have doubled here since 2006. But it is not marine conservation that has fundamentally persuaded the local population to buy into aquaculture – It’s hard economics. There’s a strong demand for sea cucumbers in Asia where they’re prized as an aphrodisiac. Farmers here can now make up to $50 a month, about twice that of a regular fisherman. While this is still substantially below the average global wage, it’s brought dramatic improvements in the local quality of life. NGOs, including Alasdair’s, are now working on similar farming ventures in other coastal villages around Madagascar. Localised efforts can only go so far in countering the vast damage to ecosystems across the ocean. But in the face of an increasingly urgent crisis that could still be a very long way.
A Plastic Wave – A Documentary Film on Plastic Pollution May 21, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment A surf photographer, business owner and father of two is seeing more and more plastic wash ashore his beloved home beach. In a bid to discover the route of this problem he embarks on a journey of discovery to educate himself and understand more about the problem. Along the way, he discovers some alarming issues. Plastic Pollution is a very real threat to the future of our planet, the animals that inhabit our oceans and ultimately the human race. The problem is far worse than it seems on the surface and we need to act now to ensure we protect the future for ourselves and our planet.
“Young people are the decision makers of tomorrow…” –Jean-Michel Cousteau May 14, 2019 / activist360 / Leave a comment From his office in Santa Barbara, Jean-Michel shares his message about how we are connected to the ocean and how much we depend upon the quality of the ocean for the quality of our lives. He says that young people are the decision makers of tomorrow and they are going to make much much better decisions than we have made. He says, “I am very confident that yes, although there is a lot of work to do, we are going to make it. And we are the only species that has the capabilities and the privilege to decide not to disappear.”