Event brief
A not so secret ambition… Coming to a (big) race near you – Mirpuri Foundation Save the Ocean
Those of us lucky enough to cross an ocean or race offshore for any length of time will have an innate sense of appreciation and wonder at the beauty and power of the sea – it’s this very primal urge within us that binds us all together as sailors. And yet, as we know, some of the most important features of the sea and its ecosystems are under threat from human interference – most likely for the first time in the planet’s history. Consequences now include measurable effects and influence on not just our aesthetic values as sailors but also the lives and well-being of those who depend on being on and around the sea. The Mirpuri Foundation is a non-profit organisation set up by businessman and philanthropist Paulo Mirpuri as a vehicle to support specific projects in many diverse but interrelated fields, including marine conservation, wildlife conservation and general social responsibility.
In marine conservation the foundation is promoting a number of projects and initiatives relating to ocean conservation and events to consolidate and reinforce these objectives moving forward into the
60 SEAHORSE
future. Besides specific projects such as the Save the Ocean campaign, the Mirpuri Foundation also works to spread a message of increasing awareness among global authorities of the importance of protecting oceans and of the wider dangers faced by the whole planet due to pollution and the effects of the human contribution to climate change – over which we do have power to control.
Ocean-related scientific research is a powerful tool to help us to better understand what is going on and how to protect the oceans, which ultimately means protecting the life of our future generations. There are many issues that informed governments should be dealing with as a priority, including illegal fishing (accounting for 20 per cent of the fish caught in the ocean), deep-sea mining projects, sea temperature rise, ocean acidification and the spread of invasive species.
The Mirpuri Foundation is heavily invested in spreading the message to the public and governments across the globe, informing them of the levels of pollution we now experience, with the emission of
Above: the Reichel-Pugh design Green Dragon was the VO70 on which 2014/15 race winner Ian Walker cut his ‘Volvo race teeth’. Green Dragon was built in a rush and came out overweight which greatly hampered the team’s com- petitiveness, Walker’s team finishing 5th out of eight entries – but the two-time Olympic medallist skipper was not put off…
billions of tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into earth’s atmosphere; the oceans are currently absorbing about a third of this pollution, about 22 million tons a day. But this buffer cannot last for ever and will reach a saturation point, one that some scientists regard as a potential point of no return for preventing increased atmospheric C02. In this scenario the Mirpuri Foundation aims to lead by activities planned for 2017-2019 includes the promotion of initiatives to transmit a clear message accessible to as many people as possible. The first item in the Save the Ocean campaign was to assemble a boat and crew to make a transatlantic crossing from the Cape Verde Islands to Barbados, with meetings and media events at each end of the passage designed to highlight ocean conservation. These issues are very real for the fishermen and divers in Cape Verde, who gave testimony to the degradation of their fish stocks due to overfishing from foreign fleets and a depletion of coral reefs from acidification and pollution. With help from the
RICK TOMLINSON
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