About Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE)
Blue Marine Foundation is a charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health by addressing overfishing, one of the world’s biggest environmental problems.
To achieve a healthy ocean forever, for everyone.
We want to see at least 30% of the world’s ocean under effective protection by 2030 and the other 70% managed in a responsible way.
Over the past 11 years, BLUE has achieved a huge amount for ocean conservation. Here are some of our achievements:
2019: With support from BLUE, 100 per cent of the waters around Ascension Island were designated a marine reserve, creating the largest fully protected marine reserve in the Atlantic, an area nearly the size of France.
2019: Following BLUE’s #StopElectricFishing campaign, undertaken in collaboration with Bloom Association, the European Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries voted to ban electric pulse fishing in EU waters.
2018: Azerbaijan declared the first MPA in the Caspian Sea, the largest inland body of water on the planet. The new MPA will seek to protect six significant marine species on the brink of extinction.
2018: The UK Government announced a target of 30 per cent of ocean protected by 2030, aligning with BLUE’s long-term strategy.
2017-2018: BLUE spearheaded a social media campaign to encourage the public to tweet and email their MPs, resulting in 285 MPs from eight political parties signing up to the Blue Belt Charter by the end of 2018.
2017: In 2017, BLUE, as part of the Great British Oceans coalition, secured an even stronger manifesto commitment from the UK Government ahead of the June 2017 election to protect over four million square kilometres of ocean around the UK overseas territories.
2016: In 2016, BLUE secured the creation of a no-take zone in 52.6 per cent of Ascension Island’s waters.
2015: In 2015, the Great British Oceans coalition, of which BLUE is an active part, secured a UK government commitment to create the world’s largest marine reserve around Pitcairn in the Pacific.
2015: In 2015, BLUE and the Great British Oceans coalition secured a government manifesto commitment to create a “Blue Belt” around all 14 UK overseas territories, hailed as “the greatest conservation commitment by any government ever”.
2012: In 2012, BLUE partnered with the government of Belize and the Bertarelli Foundation to protect the Turneffe Atoll in Belize, an area rich in biodiversity and CO2 absorbing mangroves.
2010: In 2010, BLUE, with support from the Bertarelli Foundation brokered a deal to enable the creation of what was then the largest marine protected area (MPA) in the world around Chagos in the Indian Ocean
The climate is changing and we must drastically cut our greenhouse gas emissions and stop using fossil fuels. Climate change is already impacting the ocean. Choose a journey and explore how maintaining ocean health is essential for both people and planet in a changing climate.
There are lots of ways you can get involved with BLUE and make a difference in protecting the future of our ocean and climate.
Share this experience
Share this website with your friends and family, and follow us to learn more.
Start a conversation
Inspire others around you to learn more about what’s happening to our ocean and climate. We need to work together to achieve long-lasting change.
Sign a petition, engage with decision-makers
Help to highlight our ocean’s issues to governments and invoke positive change. Use the links under sustainable fishing, marine protected areas and blue carbon habitats to help highlight problems to governments and demand lasting change and improvements. We will regularly update these sections with important campaigns you can help support.
For school students and those who need help contacting their local decision-makers, download our free guide to get started! Take Action: Dear Minister…
Monitor a reef cam
Help us with species reporting and identification – coming soon!
Ask BLUE
Submit your questions to the BLUE team and help us improve the way we communicate conservation and our work.
Join a citizen science project
Get involved either in the field or at your desk – coming soon!
What can you do to protect marine life and end overfishing?
Actions
Overfishing poses a huge threat to our oceans. We define a sustainable fishery as one that allows for the regeneration of habitats and fish stocks including non-target species, that extracts fewer fish than are replenished naturally, and that does so in a non-destructive manner.
- Demand the end of harmful fishing subsidies. Click here to Stop Funding Overfishing Now!
- Protect critical marine habitats and wildlife from bottom-trawl and dredge fishing in Scotland. Join the campaign – Our Seas
- Support the protection of 30% of the ocean by 2030 (30X30) – OceanUnite
- If you eat seafood, ensure it’s caught sustainably – avoid threatened species and those caught by dredgers and bottom-trawlers. Based in the UK? Try this guide: MCS Good Fish Guide
- Learn about sustainable fisheries. The Lyme Bay fishery model was devised collaboratively by fishermen, scientists and conservationists to reduce environmental damage and improve sustainable livelihoods in the fishing industry. Watch the film!
What can you do to help protect the ocean?
Actions
- Support the protection of 30% of the ocean by 2030 (30X30) – OceanUnite
- Put your hand up and protect our deep ocean from deep-sea mining – Defend The Deep
- Discover the world’s MPAs and try to find the one closest to you! Protected Planet
- Help monitor MPAs by getting involved with citizen science programmes – coming soon!
What can you do to help protect and restore blue carbon habitats?
Actions
- Planning a day out on the boat? Be aware of seagrass meadows and don’t drop your anchor over them. TheGreenBlue guide.
- Support restoration initiatives in your area. Check out Project Seagrass as an example!
- Keep an eye out for coastal developments within your area that may damage blue carbon habitats. Contact your local authorities who are responsible for protecting coastal wetlands and habitats. For school students and those who need help contacting their local decision-makers, download our free guide to get started! Take Action: Dear Minister…
- Learn how seafood is caught. Blue carbon habitats are threatened by unsustainable fishing all over the world.
- Demand climate action. These habitats mitigate climate change, but they are also negatively impacted by a warming climate.
- Going for a wetland walk? Stick to the paths and safeguard precious salt marsh!
BLUE defines a sustainable fishery as one that allows for the regeneration of habitats and fish stocks including non-target species, that extracts fewer fish than are replenished naturally, and that does so in a non-destructive manner.
Berwickshire
Close to the Berwickshire shore, kelp forests grow thick and wild while, in deeper waters, soft corals and anemones carpet rocky reefs. Converging cold and warm water currents provide an unusual diversity of marine life. Cup corals share space alongside Arctic wolffish and pods of bottlenose dolphins, giving scientists an opportunity to monitor the effects of climate change within a marine protected area.
Just like nature reserves and protected areas on land, marine protected areas (MPAs) protect areas of ocean and seas. Did you know that on average, species richness is 21% higher within marine reserves than unprotected areas? Unfortunately, only 2.7% of the world’s ocean is highly protected.
St Helena (UK Overseas Territory)
St Helena’s waters were designated an IUCN Category VI marine protected area in 2016, allowing only sustainable use. BLUE is working alongside the community to ensure that the area – all 444,916 square kilometres – is indeed protected and that the local islanders benefit from their exceptional natural resource.
Marine habitats can absorb vast amounts of carbon, typically more than forests found on land! Mangrove forests, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows make up these underwater forests, which are also known as blue carbon habitats. They play a vital role in mitigating climate change and provide homes for thousands for species.
The Maldives
The Maldives is at the forefront of climate change. It is particularly impacted by coral reef bleaching and sea-level rise (the country is 99% water). BLUE is working to restore coral reefs and climate resilient ecosystems for the benefit of nature and the people that depend on them.
Classroom resources, useful links and career advice
Teacher guides – coming soon
Primary and secondary booklets – coming soon
Career advice – coming soon
Further resources – coming soon
