The Metro Loves the Ocean

The Metro is my favourite free paper here in London. It's quick and concise, it's got a little bit of everything and it's got lots of colour photos. I greatly enjoy reading it on my breaks and on the Tube when I can't be bothered to actually look at the people around me. Much to my delight, there were TWO ocean-related stories within its pages this past week. Let's have a look:

Photographer Helps Promote WWF's Blue Mile Conservation Project


photo credit The Metro via Jurgen Freund

Jurgen Freund is using his work showcasing beautiful marine species and scenery to help promote the WWF's Blue Mile project and fund conservation efforts worldwide.

"As part of Blue Mile, the WWF is urging people to take part in a sponsored event – covering a mile in or by water. Fundraisers can swim, paddle, kayak, or stroll beside a river, lake or beach."

The London event will be held at Stoke Newington West Reservoir on 4 September. Click to the article for more info!


Jaws Dropping: It's Sun, Sea and Sharks


photo credit The Metro

Shark decline has come up a number of times in this blog. It's real and it's happening now. The culprit? Overfishing, primarily for shark fin soup - a wasteful "delicacy" among Asian countries. Demian Chapman is a marine biologist working in Belize to document the positive effect protected marine areas have on shark populations, and the negative effects brought on by the removal of sharks in marine ecosystems. Boating, snorkeling and hanging out with sharks in Glover's Reef sounds too good to be a job, but important work is going on here.

"The main thing we’ve learned about taking out big predators is you can almost never predict the effect but there always is one and it’s always negative."

Want to get involved? Click through for information on how you could be volunteering to help sharks in beautiful Belize!