World’s biggest aquarium group teams up with global campaign to help end marine litter

NEW ZEALAND, Monday 25th September 2017: The world’s biggest aquarium chain SEA LIFE, which operates SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton’s Auckland, has thrown its weight behind a fast-growing global marine conservation movement, ‘#OurOcean’.

Launched by US Senator John Kerry in 2014, #OurOcean is an annual conference which brings together global leaders from across the world to drive collective action to tackle the serious issues facing the present and future marine environment.

The fourth international #OurOcean conference will be hosted for the first time by European Union Malta on the fifth and sixth of October with representatives from SEA LIFE’s global division in attendance.

Other attendees include various conservation charities, NGOs, aquariums and other groups with a keen interest in conserving the marine world to raise awareness of the complex problems facing the environment and how the public can help.

In addition, the 50 SEA LIFE centres worldwide and their partner charity The SEA LIFE Trust have agreed to ally their own ‘Team Turtle’ campaign to the #OurOcean initiative involving World Aquariums.

“Team Turtle shares the key #OurOcean objective of engaging people to help combat marine pollution, overfishing and bycatch and their effects on the marine environment and especially the sea turtle, one of the oceans’ most iconic species,” said Andy Bool, Head of the SEA LIFE Trust.

“It has a particular focus on the problem of plastic in our seas, which the EU is also highlighting in its own campaign urging World Aquariums to help combat marine litter.”

The addition of the SEA LIFE chain to the #OurOcean support network instantly boosts the number of aquariums behind the initiative from 97 to 147 worldwide, located now in 38 countries.

EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella reacted[1]: "We are delighted that SEA LIFE has joined the World Aquariums Against Marine Litter campaign, which we launched in July of this year,”

“Having their support ensures that millions more people, especially young people, will be sensitised to the urgent need to reduce plastic waste in our oceans. Welcome SEA LIFE - another fantastic partner of #OurOcean 2017!"[2]

Figures compiled by OurOcean suggest a staggering 10 million tonnes of litter are dumped in our seas every year, and that by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in the marine world.

ENDS

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