Sea change

Since 2019, Christopher Ward has supported Blue Marine Foundation, a charity dedicated to reducing overfishing and improving the health of our oceans. By donating proceeds from the sales of watches such as the C60 BLUE, our #tide straps, and the Blue Friday campaign, CW has raised over £400,000 for Blue Marine as it works with communities worldwide to replace industrial fishing with ecotourism and sustainable fishing.

Now, the company is going one step further by giving two percent of sales from its entire Trident dive collection – including the new Lumière, and Pro 300 series – to help Blue Marine’s ‘30x30’ target, which aims to put 30 percent of the world’s oceans ‘under protection’ by 2030. The ‘30 percent’ figure is recommended by leading scientists to reverse adverse ecological damage, preserve fish populations, increase resilience to climate change and sustain long-term ocean health.

As we celebrate five years of the CW/Blue Marine partnership, Loupe talks to Dan Crockett, oceans and climate director at Blue Marine, about 30x30, increasing ecotourism and why kelp is vital in the battle against climate change.

CW has raised over £400,000 for Blue Marine

Hi Dan! Tell us more about the 30x30 target…
A couple of years ago, 196 countries agreed to the Global Biodiversity Framework – a series of ecological targets. That’s super-exciting, but there’s one word that is often forgotten – ‘effective’. As part of the GBF, countries agreed to putting 30 percent of the oceans under effective protection by 2030 – we’re at eight percent now. Considering we’re halfway through the decade, there’s still a long way to go. 

What does a ‘marine protected area’ entail?
I imagine people think an MPA is somewhere where nothing bad happens and marine life recovers. But there are various grades of what ‘effective’ protection means. In the UK’s domestic waters, you’re still allowed to do a number of damaging things: you can conduct industrial bottom-trawling, which destroys the seabed and underwater ecology; engage in oil and gas drilling or open-pen salmon farming. All are environmentally disastrous. 

Give us an example where it’s been successful
We’ve been working on the protection of 30 percent of the waters around the Dominican Republic, which were designated in April this year. The next steps are implementation to make sure that the protection is effective.

Then there’s your projects in Mexico…
We’re collaborating with partners to create something called the ‘Dos Mares’ – the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific. There’s massive support for the fishing industry and a growing artisanal fishing community, so we’re trying to create a model where shark-fishers transition to ecotourism and continue to sustainably fish for other species – and where industrial fishing is banned. This allows for the recovery of biodiversity and big fish to come back. We believe in the power of the ocean to feed people.

Anywhere else?
We see new opportunities all the time. If you take New Zealand, under one percent of its entire water is protected. That’s a massive opportunity. Likewise with Ireland – an extraordinary country with an extraordinary marine estate. At this stage they don’t have legislation to create marine protected areas.

You were set up to prevent overfishing. But you’re also looking at protecting areas of the sea that actively fight global warming…
Every time we emit carbon – say, by driving or flying – habitats in the marine environment might sequester and store carbon. In the UK, that includes salt marsh, seagrass and kelp. Though kelp does it differently. As it grows, it sheds parts of its biomass. That’s then stored somewhere – and creates a carbon ‘sink’. The oceans capture 40 percent of the carbon emitted by burning fossil fuels – more people need to know about this. 

Tell us about the partnership with Christopher Ward and how the company’s helping you achieve 30x30…
It’s incredibly rare to find a small company that puts its money where its mouth is. It’s common for businesses to partner with charities for one year to create a great story and then move on. Our partnership with CW has helped us to develop our climate unit – we now have a team of five people dedicated to using the ocean as a solution to climate change. The biggest challenge we face with the ocean is that people don’t see it, especially under the surface. And when you don’t see something, you forget about it. That’s why Christopher Ward and their partnership is so important.

Christopher Wards is championing Blue Marine Foundations 30x30 pledge by donating 2% of all Trident sales to the cause.