World Oceans Day
Celebrate World Oceans Day – Our Oceans, Our Responsibility
To celebrate World Oceans Day SOSF will be running events at the London
Aquarium starting on Monday 8 June and continuing through the week. The
Save Our Seas Shark Centre in Kalk Bay, South Africa is also putting on
a number of events during the week. The Documentary Film "The End of the Line" starts showing in cinemas in the US and the UK from the 8th June.
Celebrate World Oceans Day, today, tomorrow and forever, and decide for yourself if you think our blue planet is worth saving:
The oceans:
- Cover 71% of our planet
- Produce 70% of our oxygen
- Power our climate and are a critical part of the biosphere
- Absorb an enormous amount of carbon dioxide
- Are home to over 100 million species
- Are essential to food security and the health and survival of all life
No matter if you have never cast your eyes upon the blue heart of our planet, there is no escaping the oceans – they influence everyone and everyone influences the oceans. We are collectively responsible for their health and in turn – our health.
The oceans celebrate diversity. Start today – think not about what the ocean can do for you but what you can do for the ocean.
The ocean needs sharks and it needs your support. Over 100 million sharks are killed each year – help us save sharks. The Save Our Seas Foundation has projects all over the world specifically aimed at better understanding sharks in order to better protect them.
The History of World Oceans Day
World Oceans Day was created in 1992 at the United Nations’s Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit. For the past 17 years, thousands of people and organisations have celebrated the importance of our oceans and their connection to the blue planet.
This is the first year that we celebrate June 8th, World Oceans Day, as officially designated by the United Nations. The theme of World Oceans Day, “Our oceans, our responsibility”, emphasizes our individual and collective duty to protect the marine environment and carefully manage its resources. Safe, healthy and productive seas and oceans are integral to human well-being, economic security and sustainable development.
World Oceans Day is an opportunity every year to honor the world’s ocean, celebrate the products the ocean provides, such as seafood, as well as marine life itself for its own intrinsic value. The ocean also provides sea-lanes for international trade. Global pollution and over-consumption of fish have resulted in drastically dwindling populations of the majority of species.
Ten ways to help Save Our Seas:
1. Stay informed – think blue
Learn what the issues are, keep up to date with them, take time to think about them, and how they might affect you.
2. Feel blue
Enjoy the ocean. Walk barefoot on the beach. Take your children to the beach. Go for a swim. Learn to surf.
3. Eat blue
Only buy or order sustainable seafood, and urge your fishmonger or seafood restaurant to do the same. Always say no to shark fin soup and boycott any restaurant serving it.
4. Be a blue wise consumer
Think about how your purchases affect the oceans. Buy environmentally friendly products so you don’t pollute and poison the oceans with chemicals.
5. Respect our seas and their inhabitants
Practice responsible diving. Observe boating rules and watch out for marine life.
6. Take only photos, leave only footprints
Enjoy the beach, but don’t take or buy any marine life, including shells or starfish.
7. Don’t litter
Take home your garbage, pick up litter, don’t drop cigarette butts (they are toxic to fish and are not biodegradeable) and don’t leave fishing lines behind, they strangle marine life.
8. Get involved and make a difference
Remember the story of the starfish – taking the time to put one starfish back in the sea makes a difference to that starfish. Plan your own save our seas campaigns.
9. Rethink the shark
Change your perceptions about sharks. There are over 400 species of sharks and they all need your help.
10. Support SOSF
By supporting SOSF you are focusing your resources on a dedicated marine conservation team. Find out more by visiting staging.saveourseas.com/help