Marine Resource Expedition route. The plan is to drive 42 countries in 24 months.

Expedition completed-Home in SA!

The aim of the expedition is to highlight the positive side of marine resource conservation, tell the story using still and film imagery of what we are doing right, something which is often overlooked. The Marine Resource Expedition is Linda’s and my own initiative, we represent no NGO, government, institution or industry, our expedition is based solely on our passion of the ocean and trying to create awareness to its importance. We offer all our media to the projects that we film, or interview for their own use in marine resource awareness campaigns. This represents our ability to give something back, which we are committed to doing. The imagery will be broadcast in Africa for free, which we are excited about.

The world’s oceans are in deep trouble. From the northernmost reaches of the Arctic Circle to the Southern Oceans surrounding Antarctica the seas are been stripped at an unprecedented rate. Since the 1900’s, many species may have declined by nearly 90%, and unfortunately it does not stop there. Every aspect of the ocean is being mined for its resources; coral reefs are being destroyed by dynamite and cyanide for both food and the aquarium fish trade, which is suggested to top a billion dollars a year. Seamounts have been targeted due to the aggregation of high market value pelagic species associated with them, like the tuna. Kelp forests, sandy shores, estuaries and the deep ocean are all relentlessly exploited by a range of fishing strategies and advanced technologies with subsequent devastating effects.

There is no part of the ocean today that is safe from potential overexploitation of its resources. Current data suggests that approximately 100 million tons of fish are removed from the ocean annually. At this level of exploitation, sustainability of marine resources and in particular fish stocks is questionable. Although much work has been done examining the state of fisheries through various disciplines, the public perception of the state of the world’s marine resources is ignorant, and only recently starting to awake to the catastrophic nature of marine resource exploitation. It is to this extent that the Marine Resource Expedition has been launched.

The Marine Resource Expedition is a South African initiative, run by two Rhodes University graduates, Michael Markovina (MSc Ichthyology and Fisheries Science) and Linda Schonknecht (Bachelor of Journalism and media studies). The cross-continent expedition starts and ends in Cape Town, South Africa. The route will cover 42 countries over approximately 22 months, focusing on Africa, Europe and Asia.

Project goals and methodology:

The Marine Resource Expedition aims to make a contribution to marine conservation by focusing firstly and most importantly on gathering information addressing the following:

. The positive side of marine resource use through conservation, with major focus on marine protected areas, their successes or failures and their impacts on society.

· Gather information from all stakeholders in the resource, i.e. fishermen, government, conservation NGO’S, industry and other to understand holistically the state of the resource, and to document positive conservation initiatives associated with the resource.

. Gauging potential biodiversity by underwater observation of different habitats in and outside marine protected areas in the immediate and or surrounding areas of filming.

. The development of potential aquaculture, and its associated impacts on economies and society.

Methodology

· Documentary done using high definition video, both above and underwater.

· Still images above and underwater captured using canon 20D camera.

· Access to MPA’s via international conservation NGO’S and government. (To date the expedition has worked with international conservation NGO’s such as WWF (MPA development and monitoring in Namibia and sustainable fisheries in Dakar, Senegal), WCS (MPA monitoring, surveillance, biodiversity projects and education in Mayumba, Gabon) and NOAA (Senegal fishery observer program).

· Positive conservation initiatives are often discovered on location, however hours of searching and contacting participants is undertaken prior to arriving in a filming location.

· Underwater images collected by scuba diving and free diving where no compressor is available.

· Local pirogues are hired for diving purposes.

· In creating awareness to the positive aspects of marine conservation, the expedition writes for numerous magazines (conservation based and diving) for free, detailing the phenomenal work we have observed.

The broadcasting of the documentary has been sponsored for distribution in Africa for free, and this is our contribution back to Africa.

Children’s book and school/college seminars

A selection of experiences will be recorded in hardcopy and converted to a series of short stories for children. By focusing on outputs aimed at children, the Marine Resource Expedition believes that the environmental and cultural experiences witnessed during the tour will provide valuable educational material for children, by capturing their imagination on the magic of extant wildlife and the need to conserve it.

Methodology

The Marine Resource Expedition has created questionnaires for the children, which are designed to examine the extent of wildlife conservation education the kids have received.

The questionnaire is designed so that kids are as imaginative in their answers as possible.

· Questionnaires are distributed to local and international schools.

· PowerPoint presentations are conducted selectively and are centered on the expedition and the conservation initiatives witnessed thus far (next presentation on the 26^th at the international school based in Dakar). Seminars will be conducted at Oxford University.

· The questionnaire and its responses will form the backbone of the book, which will be distributed internationally at the end of 2010.

Statement of specific environmental benefit:

According to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, South Africa (whom has fully endorsed the expedition), managing global marine resources is impossible without appropriate knowledge and research. The Marine Resource Expedition has linked numerous conservation initiatives in West Africa through our webpage and have provided in information base from where communication can occur. In trying to understand positive conservation initiatives the expedition has contributed to the environment by been involved and filming local activities, these include:

· Filming and part taking in the removal of ghost gear on shipwrecks in Dakar, Senegal.

· Based on our knowledge of Southern Gabon (where I was previously employed by WCS and was in charge of all marine going expeditions) we helped satellite tagged olive ridley turtles and were involved in leatherback turtle nest monitoring.

· Filmed abandoned oil Rigs on the border of Nigeria and used the footage as evidence for the proposed implementation of a Marine Protected Area, incorporating FAD’s.

· Wrote funding proposals on behalf on local NGO’s with language barriers.

Due to the scale of the expedition we cannot mention in such a short document all our involvement in various projects. Further details can be found on the projects page

Significance of the project:

The Marine Resource Expedition hopes to create awareness to marine resource conservation on a global scale by inspiring people through the ambitious nature of the project. Through our monthly magazine publications we have generated a global following of the expedition. We are currently in discussion with a PR company to increase our international media coverage through adverts, seminars and media launches. By focusing on the positive side of marine resource conservation one intuitively understand the negative connotations, only this time we get to see what people are doing right often with no support, it is their story which is inspirational, and the expedition documentary aims to show just that, a positive story on a global scale.