The Hard Truth
The sea is in a dire situation, and its life needs our help to survive.
We understand the implications of the research. We’ve looked at what others are doing. We need to do more....
So, we formed BlueOceanz.
David Jaffe
I grew up sailing and boating on the Long Island Sound, even waterskiing. It was my water playground. As I got older and had the opportunity to travel, I have a strong memory of snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. It was an amazing experience with so many fish and such beautiful colors. We returned with our kids about 20 years later to bleached reefs and few fish. It was a depressing sight, and the opposite of what a healthy blue ocean should be. It’s my goal to help restore the oceans and all forms of sea life to their former thriving condition.
Terri McKinstry
I’ve always loved the water – I love to look at it, I love to be on top of it in some kind of sea going vessel, I even think it would be cool to be under it – again, in some kind of sea going vessel. Thanks to an all too early viewing of Jaws at eight years old, I’m TERRIFIED to go in it. Imagine my horror when I had to accompany my fearless seven-year-old son INTO THE WATER for a manta ray encounter during a Disney cruise in the Caribbean. We waded into the crystal-clear water where the manta rays swim right up to you. People were petting the manta rays. Clearly, none of these people spent their childhood afraid to put their feet on the floor at night knowing there were sharks under their bed. I waded in behind my fearless son prepared to jump in front of him before the manta ray ate him. Probably. When one of the manta rays started to swim up to me, I was absolutely shaking. That manta ray never touched me. I swear it knew how scared I was. It just floated there, close enough to let me know I didn’t need to be afraid. It hung out for a few minutes, then left to swim around some kid.
Water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface. National Geographic says more than 80% of the ocean has never been seen and explored. Why don’t we spend as much money exploring the ocean as we do exploring space? The ocean is the true last great frontier. To me, BlueOceanz means preserving that frontier.
Dan Radman
I have been an avid fisherman my whole life. I’m keenly aware of the pressures that are placed on the world's fisheries, in particular over-fishing of certain species that are very popular for consumption worldwide. I firmly standby sportfisherman who abide by a catch size limit or who practice catch-and-release like me - I have not taken home a fish in 16 years. I’m very much against the “factory ships” and the commercial fisherman that circumnavigate the globe to scour our oceans clean of various fish species.
To me, BlueOceanz represents a critical goal for our earth - healthy and sustainable oceans. To stop the over-fishing of our oceans and establish protected marine areas where marine life can survive and thrive. To reach a point where our oceans have been cleaned of the millions of pounds of trash to re-establish a healthy marine ecosystem.
Amy Van der Velde
My father taught me how to sail on an O’Day Daysailer at age six, and I have been sailing ever since, Racing Wee Nips, Blue Jays and then bigger boats. In college, I spent a semester at SEA (Sea Education Association – a renowned organization focused on the ocean), worked in Maine on Hurricane Island for Outward Bound, and was a mate on the schooner, Argia, for two summers out of Mystic, CT. Today, I sail competitively off the shores of Connecticut and Florida. I’ve seen first hand how the waters around me have been impacted by run off, industrial chemicals and trash.
To me, BlueOceanz represents an opportunity to open the aperture on what’s happening under the water. If we can’t see it, we can’t fix it. I believe securing more Marine Protected Areas and then showing the difference these sanctuaries can make will be critical to protecting our ocean’s ecosystem, while raising awareness that it isn’t too late to reverse the damage that’s already been done.
Michael Zea
The ocean has always been inviting, mysterious, and fascinating to me. My childhood hero was Jacques Cousteau, an early ocean explorer and inventor of the “aqualung”. I started scuba diving in my 20’s and have since been on dives all over the world. There are colors undersea that simply do not exist on land. I’ve seen and swam with incredible life and have also seen the degradation of the ocean environment in a few short decades. It is dying, and if you know where to look, it’s happening right before our eyes. BlueOceanz is about the amazing life in our oceans. Together, we can help save it!
