Marine Conservation Month

Meet Peter, a friend of ours who studied and continues to work within the animal welfare community. His mission is to shed light onto how we can continue to protect the earth and all of its creatures.

1) Tell us a little about yourself... 

The flora and fauna that surround us on this planet has always intrigued me, so I went to University to study these things. Studying Animal Behaviour & Welfare was so interesting because it really opens your eyes into how the animal world works and why it works like that. It’s given me opportunities to care for rescued elephants and orang-utans in Thailand and also to care for all the marine animals that Bournemouth Aquarium offers... I won’t mention the time I almost let the otters escape! Animal welfare is what we consider when we care for and keep animals, just as you and I want unlimited access to water, food, comfort and shelter, we need to make sure all animals under our care have these as well, however, there is always room for improvement.

2) How you think we can change our daily lives to help marine conservation?

Our daily lives and actions, although trivial and often made unconsciously, can have large implications on the world. There are many things we can do to help marine conservation. First, you can donate to an ocean charity such as Surfers Against Sewage or buy products from a company like Pineapple Island that supports ocean conservation. Second, reduce single-use plastics as much as possible, such as bringing your own tote bags to supermarkets, make sure you recycle everything you can, and invest in sustainable products like micro-bead free exfoliators even bamboo straws. As we know, plastics in the ocean are one the of the largest problems marine animal's face.

Reducing your carbon footprint is also a great way to help reduce the impact on our oceans. A quick 5-minute search will tell you all you need to do this. Last, I’m sure most of you reading this have heard of or have watched Seaspiracy Already, and as controversial as the show was, it highlighted an important and often left out factor that affects marine life, eating fish and seafood. As commercial fishing and trawling harvests the wild fish populations and can disrupt the food chain, it also destroys other marine life from what is called by-catch, every year millions of sharks, whales, turtles, rays and other marine life we are trying to conserve are caught in the nets so, ordering from your favourite fish & chips place may have a bigger effect than you think.

3) What are you top tips and advice for keeping marine wildlife safe?

My top tips & advice won’t be too dissimilar to what wildlife charities would suggest;

• Reduce the amount of waste you produce and dispose of it correctly.
• Compost if you can.
• Recycle everything you can.
• Don’t litter.
• Reduce your carbon footprint.
• Use less water in your homes & use micro-plastic free products.
• Stray away from single-use plastics as much as you can.
• Reduce or eliminate your consumption of fish and seafood, which is my personal top tip for marine conservation and one which also affects global animal welfare.

4) What is the biggest take away from studying Animal Welfare?

Studying Animal Welfare has given me a better perception of what life is like for non-human animals & why they are how they are. It’s all too common nowadays to be disconnected from the world. So when I ever have time to get close to nature, such as scuba diving, I can look at all the organisms we share the planet with and better appreciate what they are, how they live and why they live like they do, and why we need to conserve these wonderful and weird organisms. I would recommend to anyone and everyone to study animal welfare and marine conservation themselves. It will bring you closer to nature and open your eyes to what the animals live through. Doing this will not only truly intrigue you, but play a part in how you live your life and the daily choices you make when you become more conscious of the things we humans do that affect the world.

Marine Conservation is incredibly critical, and we want to thank Peter for taking the time to shed light on this matter. If you would like to ask Peter anymore questions, click here.