Results are also beginning to emerge from experiments showing that a high level of protection is possible, even in the busy waters around the British Isles.

In the UK there are nearly 300 marine protected areas in place and consideration of a further 41 new marine conservation zones is under way. No-take zones are the gold standard of marine conservation and studies from around the world have demonstrated how they allow natural ecosystems to recover and bring benefits to the oceans beyond. Last week it was announced that Ascension Island (part of the UK overseas territory of St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha) will be protecting more than 171,000 square miles (443,000km 2) of its waters as a no-take marine protected area. The point of these is to prevent damaging activities, allowing habitats to restore themselves naturally, and to intervene using active restoration when habitats have been damaged beyond the point of natural recovery. There has been encouraging progress in establishing marine protected areas. Marine habitat protection is becoming better understood and momentum is building. Photograph: VW Pics/UIG via Getty ImagesĪnd there is good news as well as bad. But if nobody knows about the importance and wonder of these habitats, no one will join the fight to save them.Ī whale shark swims past a plastic bag in Oslob, the Philippines. It frightens me more than anything else apart from climate change. Their loss is one of the main reasons behind our current extinction epidemic. Having grown up by the sea on the Isle of Man, I have been excited by beautiful, diverse, life-giving marine habitats all my life. Horse mussel reefs keep our seas clean and provide nursery areas for the young of whelks and other shellfish. Seagrass meadows store carbon and are a secret weapon in the fight against climate change. Around the British Isles we have some fabulous marine habitats.

There is cause for concern closer to home, too. The makers of the BBC’s Blue Planet Live, which started on Sunday night, understood this when they chose to present Chris Packham’s joyous encounter with whales off the coast of Mexico along with segments about attempts to regrow the Great Barrier Reef, and endangered sharks. This isn’t about downplaying the threat of marine plastics, but about how we can learn from the plastics story and apply these lessons elsewhere.Ĭrucially, all those involved in communicating what is happening to our seas must seek to inspire people as well as alarm them. But, like other environmentalists, I am concerned that other challenges are not getting the attention or resources they need. Having worked in conservation for more than 20 years, I was delighted by the sea-change in attitudes. But it was not until last year’s Blue Planet II series, and the plastics campaign by this and other newspapers, that concerns around marine litter began to be more widely shared. Film producer Jo Ruxton spent years raising funds and doing research for her film A Plastic Ocean, described by David Attenborough as “one of the most important films of all time”. How do environmental issues move from niche interests to global concerns? The explosion of action on marine plastics has been a success story on an unprecedented scale. The life of a conservationist often feels like one long struggle, taking little-known challenges and trying to make them mainstream.

Blue planet sea of life