This week the Blue Marine Foundation started their London to Monaco ride. Starting in Windsor Park, we had the privilege of sending our marketing manager, Adam Glew, to join them on stage one of their fundraising ride from London to Portsmouth. Sara-Jane Skinner, Blue Marine’s Head of Partnerships, is one of our Orro Bikes ambassadors and we’re absolutely thrilled to be involved with such an excellent foundation.
Over the next eight days the riders will take in some of the best riding in Europe, covering over 850km and climb a grand total of 10,000m of elevation. In just three years over 250 riders from 15 different countries and sponsors have helped raise over £1 million for ocean conservation supporting projects around the world.
As we all know, over-fishing represents one of the biggest problems facing humanity today. The human race is rapidly creating a severe food security crisis that is having a devastating effect on the fragile biodiversity of our planet. Approximately 90% of global fish stocks are fully or over-exploited, more than that almost 90% of large fish are gone. The consequences are far-reaching and potentially catastrophic. Not only for our food security, but because healthy oceans absorb half the CO2 we produce.
“Oceans are more than ever at the heart of our common future. The London to Monaco Cycle Ride is a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness on the necessity to protect our fragile oceans.”
– HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco
Their Aim
Thankfully the Blue Marine Foundation have been working hard to protect the oceans that are so vital to our global eco-system. They work in five key areas to ensure that our oceans are kept safe and preserved, these are:
PERSUASION: Blue Marine work to persuade governments and local authorities to designate more marine protected areas. They aim to do this by advocate changes in legislation which encourages more sustainable fishing practices.
INNOVATION: Blue Marine work at the local level to develop best-practice sustainable fisheries that demonstrate how livelihoods and ocean conservation go hand in hand.
AWARENESS: Blue Marine raise awareness through reports, films, articles, images and presentations. They also work tirelessly to draw attention to the crisis in the oceans and demonstrate how it can be actively solved.
CONNECTIONS: Blue Marine have a wide network of companies, governments and conservation experts that aid them in the creation of vast marine protected areas.
PARTNERSHIPS: Blue Marine believe in working with others to bring about change. They work with local regulators, other NGOs, businesses and a range of stakeholders to achieve their goal.
The aim of the Blue Marine Foundation is to put 10% of the world’s oceans under protection by 2020 and 30% by 2030. We also work to establish sustainable fisheries so fish stocks can begin to recover.