What YOU can do

AT HOME

Seafood Ask questions about where it comes from. Avoid fish from depleted stocks caught illegally, with bottom trawling or in a process that results in a lot of by-catch. Avoid farmed products such as prawns and salmon. Waste Keep the oceans free of it. Minimize your use of plastic and packaging. Don’t use plastic bags. Never throw anything into a river or on to a beach. Recycle as much as you can, especially computers and electrical goods. Chemicals Avoid chemical pesticides, fertilizers, household cleaners, paints. Look for eco-friendly alternatives. Energy Save as much as you can. Seek out renewable options. Avoid private cars and flying whenever possible. Buy local produce.

LOCALLY

Talk with family, friends, neighbours, colleagues about what you, or they, are doing at home and why. Exchange information, networks, useful contacts, positive examples, by email, at gatherings. Join groups working on your local environment and make the connection with the Ocean. Persuade your local governments to follow suit. Tell candidates for election that these issues will influence your vote – or stand for election yourself...

NATIONALLY ‘Territorial waters’ Find out what your national government is doing to care for the ocean for which it is responsible – usually up to 200 miles from the coast. Does it have a comprehensive management plan and, if so, does it respond to environmental rather than commercial interests? Ocean Reserves Do what you can to encourage your national government to support the establishment of Ocean Reserves. Find out what it is saying and doing – or not – in your name, at the UN and elsewhere, to prevent whaling, bottom trawling, over-fishing and pollution.

INTERNATIONALLY Become an Ocean Defender All you have to do is sign up on the Greenpeace website. Every name counts and is being counted. The site is also filled with tips, games, links, materials for campaigning, fun of all kinds, as well as handy information – like which fish are bottom-trawled. DON’T DELAY – SIGN UP TODAY! http://oceans.greenpeace.org

Worth reading... There’s a mass of material, but perhaps the most accessible and informative as well as being very beautiful to look at is Dorrick Stow’s Encyclopedia of the Oceans (Oxford University Press, 2004). Among many other enjoyable books, the most engrossing is probably Robert Kunzig, Mapping the Deep (Sort of Books, 2000), which tells the gripping tale of the deep ocean and how human understanding of it has been revolutionized by some very strange characters indeed.

NATIONALLY

‘Territorial waters’ Find out what your national government is doing to care for the ocean for which it is responsible – usually up to 200 miles from the coast. Does it have a comprehensive management plan and, if so, does it respond to environmental rather than commercial interests? Ocean Reserves Do what you can to encourage your national government to support the establishment of Ocean Reserves. Find out what it is saying and doing – or not – in your name, at the UN and elsewhere, to prevent whaling, bottom trawling, over-fishing and pollution.

INTERNATIONALLY

Become an Ocean Defender All you have to do is sign up on the Greenpeace website. Every name counts and is being counted. The site is also filled with tips, games, links, materials for campaigning, fun of all kinds, as well as handy information – like which fish are bottom-trawled. DON’T DELAY – SIGN UP TODAY! http://oceans.greenpeace.org

WORTH READING

There’s a mass of material, but perhaps the most accessible and informative as well as being very beautiful to look at is Dorrick Stow’s Encyclopedia of the Oceans (Oxford University Press, 2004). Among many other enjoyable books, the most engrossing is probably Robert Kunzig, Mapping the Deep (Sort of Books, 2000), which tells the gripping tale of the deep ocean and how human understanding of it has been revolutionized by some very strange characters indeed.