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Marine Life & Conservation

Coral reef protection to grow with the Green Fins Hub

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Sustainable marine tourism is receiving a major boost with the launch of the Green Fins Hub, a global digital platform for diving and snorkelling operators worldwide. The industry-backed digital platform is expected to scale up reach from about 700 operators across 14 countries today to a potential 30,000 worldwide, thus increasing coral protection and conservation worldwide. 

The Green Fins Hub is the first-ever global marine tourism industry platform, helping operators to make simple, cost-efficient changes to their daily practices by utilising tried and tested solutions, keep track of their annual improvements and communicate with their communities and customers. The tool has been developed by The Reef-World Foundation in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) to overcome the biggest sustainability challenges in the marine conservation tourism industry. 

Coral reefs, home to at least 25 per cent of marine life, are the mecca for marine-related tourism, contributing up to 40 per cent or more of the gross domestic product in some island nations. However, they are a most vulnerable ecosystem, especially to climate change with the difference between a global temperature rise of 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius being existential for reefs,” said Leticia Carvalho, Principal Coordinator, Marine and Freshwater at UNEP. “Increasing accessibility of best practice, knowledge and citizen science through this global digital hub can be a game changer in ensuring a future for coral reefs and other fragile marine ecosystems.”

The Green Fins Hub is the latest development by The Reef-World Foundation to meet a growing industry demand for environmentally-friendly underwater sports. The foundation recently surveyed over 2,400 dive tourists and professionals, of whom 83 per cent said they are looking for further sustainability education on their holiday, 75 per cent said they would pay more for it, but 85 per cent said that they find it difficult to see if an operator is sustainable.

The Green Fins Hub is intended to catalyse a seismic shift towards sustainability in the marine tourism sector, by hosting two types of Green Fins membership:

  • Digital membership that will be available to dive, snorkel and liveaboard operations globally. Throughout every year of membership, operators will receive environmental scores based on a detailed online self-evaluation and progress made on their action plans.

  • Green Fins Certified Members will continue to be assessed annually and trained in person at their operation. The assessment process will continue to be based on set criteria using a scoring system (0-330 point system, with a low score implying low impact of a business on coral reefs). As part of the Green Fins Hub, there will now be a minimum threshold (>200 of a maximum environmental impact score) for becoming a Green Fins Certified Member and a ranking of bronze, silver or gold certified members according to performance.

Additional features on the Hub include: 

  • The Green Fins Community Forum for operators around the world to raise industry needs, discuss environmental issues and share lessons and ideas with like-minded industry leaders, NGOs and governments. For example, dive centres experiencing outbreaks of invasive species like the Crown-of-Thorns Seastar (COTS) at their dive sites can use the forum to gain the resources and expertise to take immediate conservation action.

  • The Green Fins Solutions Library gives access to over 100 proven environmental solutions to common daily operational challenges, tried and tested by the Green Fins network for over two decades. 

  • The Action Plan: Members will receive an annual sustainability action plan with set goals. An advanced user interface now allows them to track their progress over time.

The Green Fins Hub has been co-created with key industry partners from around the world, to ensure it meets the needs of our stakeholders. Diver training agency, PADI, and its network have pioneered and financially backed this project from its inception. In addition, industry leaders including training agencies PSS, RAID, diver insurance company DAN, dive holiday booking platforms such as ZuBlu and PADI Travel, and a series of Green Fins Members from around the world have helped shape the platform throughout development.

Katie Thompson Global Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at PADI said, “As the world’s leading initiative dedicated to environmental guidelines that promote a sustainable diving and snorkelling industry, we knew that to reduce the global environmental footprint of scuba diving, we had to work closely with Reef-World’s Green Fins initiative. Since the beginning of our partnership in 2018, it’s been a major priority for us to make sure that all 6,600+ PADI Members across the globe have access to the low-cost and practical support that Green Fins membership provides. That’s why we have worked together to conceptualise and refine Green Fins Hub; now every one of our amazing PADI Members can join a community committed to positive change, and work towards a more sustainable future one step at a time.”

The development of the Green Fins Hub has been supported by numerous partners, another indication of the need for such a sustainability tool. Significant support was received from the Inter-American Development Bank through the Beyond Tourism Challenge, UNEP, the Matthew Good Foundation and Conservation X Labs. 

The Green Fins Hub is the solution the scuba diving industry needs to push sustainability efforts forward,” said Adam Broadbent, founder of ZuBlu, a leading dive travel booking platform “By digitalising environmental goal tracking, centralising countless sustainability resources, and encouraging collaboration between operators, the Hub is empowering us all to create a greener future for the big blue we all love.”

We are very excited about this new development from Green Fins,” says Anais Lefrere, Business Development Manager at DUNE United, an international network of Liveaboards and Dive Centres. “The self-evaluation model on the Green Fins Hub will help us to identify environmental challenges within each of our partner operations and provide step by step support in addressing these. This will ultimately help us  to mainstream environmental considerations across our whole brand and help us to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability.

Marine Life & Conservation

Double Bubble for Basking Sharks

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The Shark Trust is excited to announce that, for two more days only, all donations, large or small, will be doubled in the Big Give Green Match Fund!

Donate to Basking in Nature: Sighting Giants

The Shark Trust is hoping to raise £10k which will be doubled to £20k. This will go towards Basking in Nature: Sighting Giants. And they need YOUR help to reach they’re goal.

The Shark Trust’s citizen science project is to monitor and assess basking sharks through sightings; encouraging data collection, community engagement, and promoting nature accessibility. This initiative aims to enhance health and wellbeing by fostering a deeper connection with British Sharks.

Campaign Aims

  • Increase citizen science reporting of Basking Sharks and other shark sightings to help inform shark and ray conservation.
  • Provide educational talks about the diverse range of sharks and rays in British waters and accessible identification guides!
  • Create engaging and fun information panels on how to ID the amazing sharks and rays we have on our doorstep! These can be used on coastal paths around the Southwest. With activities and information on how you can make a difference for sharks and rays!
  • Promote mental wellbeing through increasing time in nature and discovering the wonders beneath the waves!

Donate, and double your impact. Click Here

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Marine Life & Conservation

Leading UK-based shark conservation charity, the Shark Trust, is delighted to announce tour operator Diverse Travel as a Corporate Patron

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Corporate Patrons provide a valuable boost to the work of The Shark Trust. The Trust team works globally to safeguard the future of sharks, and their close cousins, the skates and rays, engaging with a global network of scientists, policymakers, conservation professionals, businesses and supporters to further shark conservation.

Specialist tour operator Diverse Travel has operated since 2014 and is committed to offering its guests high quality, sustainable scuba diving holidays worldwide. Working together with the Shark Trust will enable both organisations to widen engagement and encourage divers and snorkellers to actively get involved in shark conservation.

Sharks are truly at the heart of every diver and at Diverse Travel, we absolutely share that passion. There is nothing like seeing a shark in the wild – it’s a moment that stays with you forever!” says Holly Bredin, Sales & Marketing Manager, Diverse Travel.

We’re delighted to celebrate our 10th year of business by becoming a Corporate Patron of the Shark Trust. This is an exciting partnership for Diverse and our guests. We will be donating on behalf of every person who books a holiday with us to contribute towards their vital shark conservation initiatives around the world. We will also be working together with the Trust to inspire divers, snorkellers and other travellers to take an active role – at home and abroad – in citizen science projects and other activities.”

Paul Cox, CEO of The Shark Trust, said:

It’s an exciting partnership and we’re thrilled to be working with Diverse Travel to enable more divers and travellers to get involved with sharks and shark conservation. Sharks face considerable conservation challenges but, through collaboration and collective action, we can secure a brighter future for sharks and their ocean home. This new partnership takes us one more valuable step towards that goal.”

For more information about the Shark Trust visit their website here.

For more about Diverse Travel click here.

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