12 winners of The Ocean Awards

_The Science award is given to the scientific work or paper that made the most original, important or insightful contribution to ocean conservation in the past year. Dr Andrea Marshall and Guy Stevens are winners at The Ocean Awards because their research led to the listing of reef mantas on the Convention of Migratory _Species and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Of the 5,600 or so species of animal protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known more commonly as CITES, only just over 100 are fish. Two are species of manta ray: Manta birostris, which can grow to be eight metres wide; and the smaller reef manta ray, Manta alfredi. Their protection is, in most part, thanks to petitioning by the US-based Marine Megafauna Foundation, founded by the marine biologist Dr Andrea Marshall, and the Manta Trust, founded by the British-born marine biologist Guy Stevens.

Marshall’s research team has worked for years to highlight the vulnerability of these animals: their low reproductive rates, small population sizes and quick population collapses. Establishing the first global online database, called Manta Matcher, enabled scuba divers around the world to report encounters with mantas and post identification photographs, which allowed researchers to track their movements and lifespans.

Combining this “citizen science” collected data with information from advanced satellite tags, researchers were able to show how far and often these rays migrate into unprotected waters – further evidence of their grave situation. This information was used in recent years to list both species of manta on the appendices of the Convention of Migratory Species, but it was a listing on CITES that was the critical step needed to end the unregulated trade in these species to China.

“As conservation biologists, all we can hope for is that our research has a tangible impact on conservation,” Marshall says. “The CITES listing was the culmination of a decade of hard work to gain more protection for these incredible species. It was the single most important conservation win for manta rays in history and we are overjoyed by the achievement.”

“It was a wonderful win to put manta rays on the CITES list,” says Professor Callum Roberts, one of the judges of this year’s Ocean Awards. “They made the case cogently and very convincingly that exploitation of manta rays was not sustainable and would endanger them with extinction.”

“There were two areas that needed to be tackled,” Marshall explains. “My team did the research and field work behind the ecology, the migrations, the biological detail and the threat that mantas face as a species, while Guy’s team really focused on the Asian trade, what it was worth, the fisheries side of things.”

Stevens adds: “Manta gill plates are used in Chinese medicine and the trade in that is causing these animals to decline in certain areas. By having them listed on CITES, we can regulate that trade and hopefully stop it.

“In the grand scheme of things manta rays aren’t worth a huge amount to the nations that are fishing for them,” he continues. “If you’re going to throw a bone to the conservation world, giving them manta rays is not a particularly painful thing to do in terms of economic loss.” It terms of its value to the marine environment, and the world as a whole, though, this move to conserve manta populations is immeasurable.

Highly commended — M Aaron MacNeil, Nicholas AJ Graham, Joshua E Cinner, Shaun K Wilson, Ivor D Williams, Joseph Maina, Steven Newman, Alan M Friedlander, Stacy Jupiter, Nicholas VC Polunin and Tim R McClanahan

For — their paper “Recovery potential of the world’s coral reef fishes”, February 2015. Published in the journal Nature, researchers from Australia, the UK and the US examined more than 800 reefs in 64 locations around the world and found that

83 per cent of fished reefs now have less than half the number of fish they were expected to have. Their findings have been used to develop the first benchmarks for the recovery potential of fished reefs.

Highly commended — Douglas J McCauley, Malin L Pinsky, Stephen R Palumbi, James A Estes, Francis H Joyce, Robert R Warner

For — their paper “Marine defaunation: Animal loss in the global ocean”, January 2015. Marine scientists from the University of California, Stanford University and the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University, New Jersey, compared loss of marine animal populations with endangered terrestrial species and found that marine fauna are generally in better condition than terrestrial fauna. They conclude that, with careful stewardship, the rehabilitation of affected marine animal populations remains possible.

The Ocean Awards' UK retailer award is given to the retailer that has done the most through corporate policy and/or public engagement to address ocean issues in the past year. Marks & Spencer won for its Forever Fish campaign, part of Plan A 2020.

“We’ve had a responsible fishing policy for the past 15 years and we’ve taken that even further with our Forever Fish campaign,” says Paul Willgoss, director of food technology at the British multinational retailer. In 2007 it launched a project called Plan A (“because there is no plan B”), subsequently relaunched as Plan A 2020, setting out a 100-point plan of environmental and ethical goals. For example, it started charging for plastic carrier bags in 2008, a full seven years before the Government introduced a compulsory charge

last October. What profits are generated from the sale of its carrier bags – the aim of the initiative is to discourage their use – are donated to the World Wildlife Fund, the Marine Conservation Society and an education programme to protect the marine environment.

Among its ethical policies is the Forever Fish campaign, which has three principal objectives: “to help to protect and save our precious sea life, oceans and beaches for future generations to enjoy; to encourage eating of lesser-known and British fish species, without compromising on quality; and to involve volunteers in cleaning our beaches and teaching their children about fish.”

To this end it organises a twice-yearly beach clean-up, encouraging volunteers to record data on the types and amounts of litter. In June 2014 the clean-up involved 8,000 volunteers clearing more than 25 tonnes of rubbish from 135 beaches and canals across the UK. The next year an even more impressive 40 tonnes of detritus was removed from 90 beaches and 42 waterways by 6,000 volunteers. Subsequent analysis revealed a 50 per cent increase year-on-year in the number of discarded wet wipes found on beaches.

In addition, M&S funds four initiatives through this campaign: the WWF Rumaki programme, which challenges unsustainable fishing practices in East Africa; a WWF project in Fiji to conserve turtles on the Great Sea Reef; the WWF’s PISCES project (PISCES stands for Partnerships Involving Stakeholders in the Celtic Sea Ecosystem); and a low-impact brown crab fishery in Orkney.

Highly commended — Sainsbury’s

For – celebrating its fourth Switch the Fish Day by giving away five tonnes of less popular types of fish in the hope that, on trying them, customers might be inspired to buy species other than the perennial bestsellers: cod, salmon, haddock, tuna and prawns. This is all part of its 20x20 Sustainability Plan, which aims to have all the fish it sells independently certified as sustainable by 2020.

Highly commended — Waitrose

For – its continued efforts, over more than 15 years, to source its seafood responsibly, using only suppliers with fisheries or farmed aquaculture operations that are responsibly managed. By 2017, it pledges, all the fish it sells will be independently certified as responsibly sourced, to assure customers that what they are buying is not at risk as a species.