FEATURE
THE MONACO
BLUE INITIATIVE
“STOP TAKING THE OCEANS FOR GRANTED” The University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences hosted the ninth Monaco Blue Initiative. Here, International Aquafeed reports a slightly abridged opening presentation by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II, Prince of Monaco. The one-day conference drew 100-plus invited delegates from 15 countries and was held in the University’s Old College ‘Playfair Library’ in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. “The Monaco Blue Initiative aims to help change our approach to the oceans by prioritizing specific, collective operational solutions. In this respect the Initiative was created as a result of an observation, a requirement and an aim. “There is great complexity of the subjects related to the conservation of our oceans, which require different levels of action, technical expertise and complementary aims. “We need to act in line with multiple rational taking into account sometimes contradictory requirements, reconciling the needs of man with those of nature as well as current crises and our duties to the future.
“But we need to act swiftly, because the requirement is to progress rapidly in the face of the dangers we face each year becoming increasingly specific and increasingly alarming. “Whilst there is still time we must do everything we can to avoid irreversible tragedy; tragedies that we can already see looming on the horizon with the deterioration of our precious, fragile eco systems, the spread of plastic pollution, the daily disappearance of different plants and animal species. “In order to reverse the cycle of this decline, we must adopt a new approach that is respectful. “We must stop taking the ocean for granted and believing that it
28 | May 2018 - International Aquafeed