The Live Ocean Charitable Trust for ocean and marine conservation was founded by Olympic medalists and World Sailing Champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke. To celebrate World Albatross Day, Live Ocean collaborated with Science Alive Mātauranga, Taylormade Media and a host of others to connect the world to the story of the incredible Antipodean Albatross and the dangers it faces at sea.
Peter and Blair are Olympic gold and silver medallists, World Sailing champions and were in the winning Emirates Team New Zealand team of the 35th America’s Cup. But it was while competing in the 2017-2018 edition of The Ocean Race, that their desire to make a positive change for our ocean was accelerated.
As sailors on the cutting edge of technology, supporting both science and innovation is central to their beliefs, interests and sport. Now they’re bringing their ambition and competitive spirit to challenge New Zealanders to protect and restore their ocean.
They’re currently working towards the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and 36th America’s Cup.
THE RACE TO SAVE THE ANTIPODEAN ALBATROSS
Since 2004, we’ve lost 60% of Albatross breeding pairs. The population is in freefall and unless we act immediately we could lose this incredible bird.
Live Ocean and Southern Seabird Solutions Trust are working with the New Zealand Department of Conservation to assist their long term monitoring and tracking programme. The group’s generous donors have raised funds for GPS satellite trackers that show where the albatrosses are feeding, this information is then overlaid with Global Fishing Watch data to identify the fishing fleets they encounter while they are at sea. Once New Zealand knows which fleets are causing the risk, conversations can begin with the governments and fishing companies.
Watch the incredible short film produced by Live Ocean and the Southern Seabird Solutions Trust below:
Funded by Science Alive Mātauranga / Made by Taylormade Media for Live Ocean / Writer/Director – Brendan Donovan / Editor – Sarah Grohnert / Animation – Animation Research Ltd – Ken Gorrie, Mark McQuillan, Sarah Dolby, Ben Sharpe, Aleeza Stettner / Cinematographer – Ian McCarroll / Producers – Ian Taylor, Tess Whelan / Presenters – Blair Tuke, Peter Burling, Noenoe Barclay-Kerr / Narrator – Manawanui Maniapoto Mills / Footage courtesy of The Ocean Race, James Reardon/Last Planet Ltd, Finlay Cox, Dr Graeme Elliott, Dr Kath Walker, NHNZ, Heritage Expeditions, James Muir, Encounter Kaikoura, The Nature Conservancy, Charlie Barnett, Otto Whitehead, Project Tamar/Pró-Tamar Foundation / Music credits – “Shallow Water” (ft Yehezkel Raz), Artist: Sivan Talmor, Album: Vol.1 – Underwater Fantasies / “Up to the sky”, Artist: Roman P, Album: Planet Legacy / “Heritage”, Artist: Ben Winwood, Album: Selah
