A Youth and Oceans Conference is held annually in St. John's (Photos courtesy Ocean Net)
Eastwaters The Marine website of Newfoundland and Labrador
We're not as pristine as we think, but Ocean Net works to change that
A Youth and Oceans Conference is held annually
in St. John's (Photos courtesy Ocean Net)
For unspoiled coastlines you might think Newfoundland and Labrador is unsurpassed. But evidence of human negligence is almost everywhere these days, even along these sparsely inhabited 28,956 kms (18,098 miles) of seashore.
Plastic bags and containers by the thousands, cigarette packages and snack wraps, fragments of rope and twine, old auto parts and discarded appliances, lost, tossed or dumped without a thought. Visitors expecting pristine wild places are disgusted when finding them despoiled by garbage. Then there are the hazards to wildlife -- seabirds smothered in oil or caught in plastic, ghost nets killing fish for years. Education slowly is raising awareness of the effects of this cumulative carelessness: the endangerment of natural resources for future generations, and more immediate economic threats to fish stocks and the growing tourism industry. As an earlier generation would have said, it's time "to clean up our act."
That's where a Newfoundland-based volunteer non-profit group called Ocean Net is leading the way. Its goal is simple: "to instill an ocean conservation ethic."
Seeking zero tolerance on pollution and garbage at sea
Ocean Net does its work through education and action. It forms chapters and groups of young people around the province's coast to carry out programs to meet that goal. It encourages and empowers youth in this quest. It partners with other groups and agencies. It maintains a high profile for its cause through various events and resulting media attention. Little by little, Ocean Net is spreading the word in Newfoundland and Labrador and elsewhere in the world.
The idea was Bob O'Brien's, a native Newfoundlander who founded a graphic design business in Toronto some years ago. Participating in the 1997 flotilla that saw yachts sail from Toronto and the U.S. east coast to Newfoundland, Bob involved that event with a Summit of the Sea conference in St. John's which was examining the sustainability of ocean resources. The province, he says, "has great cruising potential but sailors like clean waters...We showed the sailing community that Newfoundland and Labrador is an accessible and fabulous destination." When Rick Stanley, who owns a diving business in Conception Bay, told Bob of the environmental horrors he and other divers have seen beneath the surface along the coasts, the need for massive conservation education and effort became obvious. Ocean Net was born.
Bob O'Brien (right) co-founded Ocean Net in
1997 upon learning
of environmental mess undersea and along coasts.
"The catalyst to form it was really Rick and his group," O'Brien says, "because they were able to emphasize what a mess we've left underwater...They were the first to create a marine conservation area (in Conception Bay South)...Their efforts gave us a blueprint of how to go forward."
Five years later, Ocean Net had an office on St. John's historic Water Street, 10 chapters in locations as distant as St. Anthony in Newfoundland and one as far away as Nigeria, West Africa, 11 junior directors from those chapters, and some 1,200 volunteers working on ocean conservation projects. By January, 2005, they had completed 640 cleanup efforts throughout the province and add to that list each year.
Since its founding, the group has worked towards these goals:
Among its accomplishments, Ocean Net has established a series of ocean conservation areas where some of its chapters are located. "Eventually, we'd like to see these areas extend around the entire coast of the province," says Bob O'Brien. The group encourages young people to lead in some of the above goals through a junior directorship program. It holds annual Youth and the Oceans Conferences at the Marine Institute, St. John's, which in September, 2001, attracted 175 students from 43 schools in the province. Boaters and fishers are encouraged to bring trash ashore for disposal and recycling. Alliances are sought with various organizations which share concerns for conservation. Ocean Net is lobbying governments to allocate sufficient human and financial resources to enforce migratory bird regulations as they involve illegal oil dumping at sea. It participates in a pilot program for retrieving lost nets and fishing gear which can continue to kill fish and wildlife long after being abandoned. To draw attention to the ocean conservation cause, each winter Ocean Net holds a "Polar Bear Dip" in which hardy swimmers take a quick, shivery plunge into Conception Bay. It has created a website (http://www.oceannet.ca) which explains details of biodiversity through habitat and underwater attractions in each of its ocean conservation areas.
"It also shows to the whole world Newfoundland and Labrador's commitment to a clean and pristine ocean environment," says Bob, "a valuable tool for the new breed of adventure tourist...We at Ocean Net are working towards a zero-tolerance policy on the illegal discharge of oil, garbage, pollution and toxins at sea."
A significant part of Ocean Net's success so far is due the enthusiasm of co-founders O'Brien and Stanley and the host of volunteers who pitch in willingly when needed. Worthwhile causes like ocean conservation do that to people, especially when the results of not doing so can be shockingly obvious. Gaining support through funding and other sponsorship is tackled with equal energy. "Our funding can be spasmodic and it is spent back in the field to support cleanup efforts, helping with costs of little things like documents and postage stamps that make it easier on our chapters," Bob says. Lobbying governments, agencies and the private sector is an on-going task, he adds.
People around the coast of this province can help "instill an ocean conservation ethic" each spring on Oceans Day (usually in early June) by planning clean-up blitzes along the shores of their communities. In 2002, 34 beaches in 28 Newfoundland and Labrador communities were tackled by enthusiastic volunteers ranging from elementary school students to senior citizens. For more information, e-mail: oceannet@oceannet.nf.net.
Return to Top of page Return to Home page
Contents copyright (c). All rights reserved.