The Ocean A-List: Meet the heroes and heroines of ocean conservation

"Sadly, I became connected to the ocean late in life,” says Grenier, who set up the Lonely Whale Foundation in 2015 to develop a community of ocean advocates through education and interactive social media campaigns. “I grew up in New York City but never thought of myself as living near the ocean, even though I was. When I finally learnt to scuba dive, I quickly realised how much I had been missing.” Grenier’s new passion led him to co-produce 52: the Search for the Loneliest Whale, a documentary that chronicles the quest to find the mysterious and solitary 52 hertz whale, a mammal scientists believe calls out at a frequency that no other whale can hear.

Grenier also navigated choppy waters when he was challenged last summer by Richard Branson (pictured above) to swim the Strait of Messina to raise awareness for World Oceans Day. “My training for that race took me to waterways all over the world, from the dead zone off Mississippi, to the second largest shipping port in Singapore. I’ve seen and swum through different levels of environmental degradation of our waterways.” Grenier is mindful of his own personal choices at home, too. “My house has an open door policy to my friends and family, with one exception: no plastic bags allowed! I have also committed to saying no to plastic straws and sharing their detrimental effects on our ocean with the restaurant industry.”

Education is also at the core of the Lonely Whale’s work. “We are particularly proud of our kindergarten to fifth grade marine science-based education initiative. We’ve partnered with the Academy for Global Citizenship on the southwest side of Chicago to build a unique education initiative that is rooted in empathy [co-developed with practising scientists and marine researchers, children learn about seven sea creatures and the polluting challenges they face]," he says. “The biggest threat to our oceans right now is non-action. Our oceans are resilient but only if we take collective steps towards protecting and rebuilding them. We need to protect 30 per cent of our oceans by 2030. Today, we’ve protected just three per cent. We have a long way to go but I’m ready for the challenge and the opportunity to engage a new community of environmental leaders.”

lonelywhale.org

Having led countless expeditions across six continents and produced more than 100 award-winning short films about water issues, Cousteau is dedicated to continuing the work of her renowned grandfather Jacques-Yves Cousteau and her father Philippe Cousteau Sr. In 2008 she founded Blue Legacy International with the mission of empowering people to reclaim and restore the world’s water supplies, one community at a time.

“The ocean has always been a part of my life. I was seven years old when my grandfather taught me to scuba dive in the South of France, but climate change, ocean acidification and overfishing mean the waters my grandfather introduced me to don’t exist any more. This year I’ll be filming in the Philippines, the USA and Peru, and joining Oceana for some deep-sea exploration in Canada. I have also been working on a documentary about how we can save the oceans and feed the world. Just 30 countries control 90 per cent of the world’s fisheries. If we can work with them on policy solutions that will end overfishing and expand marine protected areas, we could have an enormous impact by rebuilding populations of marine life to close to their historic levels. It’s ambitious and bold and I love it. We need big, hopeful solutions right now.”

alexandracousteau.com

On a mission to rid the world of plastic bottles, S’well founder Sarah Kauss has turned an inspired idea – reusable bottles that keep drinks cold for 24 hours and hot for 12 – into a multimillion-dollar business that has supported many eco-friendly charities including WaterAid. With approximately nine million bottles sold globally, limited edition designer collaborations with artists such as Gray Malin and Yoon Hyup, and celebrity fans like Tom Hanks, a S’well bottle has become the "it" accessory. “Prior to creating S’well, I learnt of the Pacific garbage patch, which is a patch of plastic waste in the ocean that’s something like the size of Canada and in places one mile deep,” says Kauss. “This plastic will never biodegrade. It will just become smaller bits that will eventually make their way into our food system. In creating S’well, I set out to convert the non-converted and to encourage others to stop using single-use plastic bottles. I’m so proud to have been able to turn an eco-conscious item into a fashionable one.”

swellbottle.com

It has been just over a decade since Prince Albert II of Monaco followed in the footsteps of his great great-grandfather and visited the Arctic, reaching the North Pole to explore the effects of global warming on the weakening ice. In the aftermath of this expedition, the Prince created his eponymous foundation, which is dedicated to environmental protection and focuses specifically on projects in the Mediterranean Basin and the polar regions and on identifying the richest and most fragile areas of biodiversity in the least developed countries. These include areas such as Cambodia, where the foundation has helped to implement new initiatives to manage fisheries.

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In the six years since BLUE began its quest to protect 10 per cent of the world’s oceans by 2020, it has inspired and united governments, scientists and celebrities to take action and raise awareness of the crisis currently facing our seas. Making waves around the globe, BLUE worked alongside the Great British Oceans coalition to persuade the government to create a blue belt of protected waters around all 14 British Overseas Territories, from Bermuda to the Pitcairn Islands. It is currently working to help St Helena and Ascension Island secure marine protected areas in their waters, too.

BLUE has joined forces with inventive campaigns such as one by Fishlove, using its striking image of Helena Bonham-Carter hugging a tuna to keep the core issues of overfishing and marine protection in the limelight. Simon Le Bon supported a 1,500km charity bike ride from London to Monaco and the charity also aims to engage the privileged few via the Blue Marine Yacht Club, which encourages superyacht owners to protect the oceans by committing to a “conservation code”. It has also partnered with Boat International for the annual Ocean Awards ceremony.

“We are excited about the year ahead and the wonderful possibilities that are opening up for us to do some great work in Antarctica after news of the landmark international agreement to create the world’s largest marine park in the Ross Sea,” says executive director Charles Clover. “We also continue to be committed to projects closer to home, where we hope to replicate the success of the sustainable fisheries programme we instigated in Lyme Bay, Dorset, in 2012 with a similar initiative in the Solent that we hope will restore the population of native oysters to the area.”

bluemarinefoundation.com

Here’s another reason Williams can make you happy: when he’s not filling dance floors with feet pounding to his catchy tunes, he’s turning recycled ocean plastic into some pretty nifty threads. As the co-owner and (try not to smile) Head of Imagination of G-Star RAW, the pioneering Dutch denim brand, he was pivotal in the RAW For the Oceans denim collection.

This used recycled ocean plastic, integrated into a high-tech “bionic yarn” that was carefully woven into jeans making G-Star RAW one of the key fashion brands helping save the oceans. “We are not shoving it in your face,” said Williams. “If you’re wearing it, you’re supporting our issue to be sustainable – [the cause] is in the clothes.” In the three years since its launch, the project used an estimated two million reclaimed plastic bottles and almost 1,000 tonnes of plastic debris in its products. The label is following the project with a commitment to using sustainable or recycled materials.

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As co-chair of the Global Ocean Commission, which ran from 2013 to 2016, the former UK foreign secretary took on an unpaid role to highlight problems and promote the protection of the high seas – vast areas of ocean that make up 45 per cent of the world’s surface but lie beyond the jurisdiction of individual states. With plastic pollution, pirate fishing (often using slave labour linked to drugs and weapons smuggling) and the future risk of illegal dredging and geological mining at stake, “it’s the ecological equivalent of a financial crisis”, said Miliband. Working with former Costa Rican president José Maria Figueres and South Africa’s former finance minister Trevor Manuel, the commission set out practical proposals for action, most notably a call for an international ocean police force to prevent plunder and pillage on a massive scale. “We are living as if there are three or four planets instead of one and you can’t get away with that,” Miliband has said.

In an industry that operates largely on face value, La Mer has taken a deep dive into protecting the marine habitats it relies on for its Crème de la Mer anti-ageing skincare range. Championing the sustainable harvesting of sea kelp (only the top prongs are hand picked, twice a year, to keep the plant and ecosystem intact) and partnering with world-renowned oceanographers such as National Geographic Society’s explorer-in-residence Dr Sylvia Earle, La Mer is committed to raising awareness of marine conservation. “The ocean is an integral part of La Mer’s brand heritage and we are always looking to expand our support of programmes that improve the health of it,” explains Sandra Main, its global brand president.

The company also established La Mer’s Blue Heart, a philanthropic effort that raises awareness with limited edition jars of face cream (released on World Oceans Day) and has partnered with charities such as Oceana in previous years to help protect more than 16.4 million square miles of diverse ocean habitats around the world.

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Honoured by Riverkeeper for leading the Ralph Lauren Corporation with a deep commitment to protecting the environment, the fashion mogul gave $100,000 to the New York charity. Riverkeeper has worked for 50 years to reverse the decline of the Hudson River and ensure more than nine million New Yorkers have clean, safe drinking water. Lauren landed the coveted Big Fish award at the 50th anniversary Fishermen’s Ball last May. “I’m a New Yorker. I was born here. I was married here. I raised my children here. The Hudson is my river – it’s our river,” he said.

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Y.CO, the luxury yacht broker and management company, is leading the charge with its CLEARWATER initiative, which will educate crew and in turn owners and charterers on reducing the environmental impact of yacht operations to protect the oceans. “We’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time,” says Hatty Campbell, who is spearheading the programme. “We manage almost 100 yachting operations around the world and I think the idea of influencing, inspiring and working with this number of yachts and crew is exciting.”

The war on plastic is the mission for 2017 as it plans to reduce the impact of plastic bottles on board the yachts it manages. Y.CO has teamed up with the creators of the documentary A Plastic Ocean to educate crew on the dangers of plastic and has partnered with the reusable, chic stainless steel water bottle company S’well. “But it’s going much, much deeper than that,” says Y.CO co-founder Charlie Birkett, who hopes crews will ask themselves “how are we as a boat going to do something that is environmentally friendly and, for example, help an island in the South Pacific?”

It was, after all, the Y.CO-managed Dragonfly that provided lifesaving relief to the outer islands of Vanuatu when Cyclone Pam struck in 2015. With plans to get scientists, charities and marine biologists on board to educate crew, and an idea to create official accreditation for those crew that go the extra mile, Y.CO is at the forefront of how the industry can show a brighter way of thinking.

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