At Akarana, our mission is to provide safe pathways to the sea, not just for our sailors and paddlers – but for our whole community. Unfortunately, everything we do to achieve this mission could be fruitless if we send our whanau out to an ocean that we continue to neglect. We understand the significance of the Oceans on our planet and see first-hand the help they are crying out for.
So this World Ocean Day – we are taking a stand, and asking our community to help us by making just a few small changes in their day-to-day lives:
- Raise Awareness: Education is key! Help us spread the word about the importance of our moana. Encourage friends, family, and colleagues to join the conversation and help raise awareness about the urgent need to protect our marine ecosystems (start by joining our LiveOceanDip on June 22nd).
- Reduce Plastic Usage: Plastics are a major threat to marine life. Join us in pledging to reduce single-use plastics in your daily life. We’ve made great progress on this over the past few years but there’s still a long way to go.
- Join a beach clean-up (or organize one yourself!) Together, we can stop tons of plastic & rubbish from polluting our precious oceans.
- Support Sustainable Seafood: As seafood lovers, let’s make informed choices (like our Chefs at Akarana Eatery do!) Support local fisheries and choose sustainably caught or farmed seafood. By selecting species that are abundant and responsibly harvested, we can ensure the long-term health of our oceans’ ecosystems
- Get Involved: It’s not just us, there are plenty of other local environmental organizations and community groups working towards ocean conservation here in Aotearoa. Volunteer your time, participate in research initiatives, or contribute your skills to support their valuable work. Together, we can achieve so much more!
It’s going to take all of us making small changes to be able to make any kind of difference – so join us in taking the first step (and an easy first step is to join our LiveOceanDip on June 22nd). We are incredibly proud of the work our RAYC members Peter Burling and Blair Tuke are doing with their foundation Live Ocean and are honoured to support their mission by doing just a little bit to help raise awareness.
NB: This photo was taken at the Hyundai 49er World Championships hosted by Akarana in 2019.
