MY OPINION
Sea of opportunity Joining your local marine conservation NGO is the first step in protecting our oceans says Brad Robertson
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tarting a career in yachting is usually based on seizing opportunities to achieve your goals both professionally and personally. Climbing the career ladder, travelling to exotic places and gaining knowledge that will be with you for life. The yachting industry is full of opportunity, full of motivated people and full of water loving people. This combination, to me, says it’s the perfect platform for being able to give something back to the environment that actually provides the base of the industry, the sea. In the 7 years that I have been working with yacht owners, guests and crew I have met some really amazing people, that are at the top of their game and seriously good at their jobs. One of the biggest obstacles I have seen though is the lack of time these professionals have during and outside of their working responsibilities. So, how does the industry, which is so strapped for time, actually do something productive and meaningful to ensure the future of their jobs and the marine environment? The answer is pretty simple in my vie , find a small, local marine conservation G and ask them how to support and get involved! If you are based in the Caribbean there are various groups orking on a huge array of marine related issues, in the acific, once again, there are many small G s doing a esome ork but the area of the world that interests me the most is the Mediterranean and in particular the Balearic Sea. Everybody loves the underdog, the person or the team that is not expected to succeed. The way I see the Med is she is the underdog of marine conservation. A location that most people have given up on, that most people wouldn’t even dream of looking underwater due to the thoughts of it being a baron and polluted sea! This stigma is true in many places but not in the Balearic Islands, a true patch of marine paradise within a very sick sea! Of course we have our issues here in the Balearics, but we also have a very solid base to work from! So, the yachting industry has a hub, in the Med, that is one of the healthier places in this historic sea. The yachting industry
also has a platform to contribute to the conservation of the Balearic Sea, Asociación Ondine. With various projects underway and under construction, Asociación Ondine focuses on two subjects...Plastic Pollution & Marine Protected Areas. Basically we work towards a clean & healthy Balearic Sea. We assisted in the Balearic Islands becoming a ission lue ope Spot, the first in the editerranean and declared in y r Sylvia arle, ational Geographic Explorer in Residence and founder of Mission Blue. We work with local schools with our Dos Manos plastic pollution schools programme, we see up to 120+ yacht crew turn up to our beach clean-ups, we have a unique feature documentary in the pipeline as well as a plan for a new Network of Marine Protected Areas for the Balearics. We work with the Palma Superyacht Show as well as the Superyacht Cup alongside Sailors for the Sea with a common goal of making these events single use plastic free. The hands on support that Asociacion Ondine has and is receiving from local yacht crew and even some yachts is growing by the month, but what we really need the yachting industry to do is to dig deep and help us secure funding to continue with our programmes. We have various membership options from individuals to corporate opportunities and in the scale of things the mem ership costs pale into insignificance What we would love to see is individual yachts supporting a specific programme so if you have some creative ideas on ho we can make this happen please get in touch. It’s really time to bring yachting and marine research, conservation & education together. To give back to the environment that keeps us all employed is the right thing to do and I think there are many people in this industry that want to do the right thing but do not know where to start. Asociacion Ondine is your platform to give back to the marine environment. Embrace it! For more details visit www.asociacionondine.org ONBOARD | SUMMER 2016 | 17
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27/06/16 20:39