Launch of World Ocean Network France
Monaco
This year, on Saturday 8 June 2013, World Ocean Day sees the launch of the French World Ocean Network association
13 organisations in contact with the public are committed to working together for Man and the Ocean:
Aquarium de la Porte Dorée, Paris / Aquarium de La Rochelle / La Cité de la Mer, Cherbourg / World aestival of Underwater Imagery, Marseille / Mare Nostrum, Montpellier / NAUSICAA, National Sea Centre / Green Cross France and Territories / Oceanographic Institute, Albert I Prince of Monaco Foundation / Planète Mer/SeaOrbiter / Tara Expéditions /Te mana o te moana, Moorea / Union of Aquarium Curators
They are being joined, as part of the Mr Goodfish programme, by the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation / Océanopolis, Brest.
One of World Ocean Network France’s first initiatives is that its members are playing an active role in celebrating the “Journées de la Mer” (Sea Days), from 5 to 9 June, on the theme of “Responsible fishing and sea farming”.
And on 8 June, they’ll be marking World Ocean Day with an event entitled “Let’s preserve the ocean together”, shared with their World Ocean Network colleagues from the 5 continents.
For World Ocean Day, World Ocean Network France invites us to make a gesture in favour of the oceans and our future and sign the Paris Appeal for the High Seas! These great marine spaces lie beyond national jurisdictions and cover over half the planet. They are our largest store of biodiversity, produce half of the oxygen that we breathe and regulate our climate.
The Paris Appeal is a people’s initiative coordinated by the Economic, Social and Environmental council, with the participation of various organisations and institutions in France.
Over the coming months, World Ocean Network France will be deploying the Mr. Goodfish programme on a national scale via the regional members of the Network.
The Mr Goodfish programme aims to propose new choices of seafood products that are less well known to consumers by selecting species that are under less or little threat.
The initiative will be led in each region by the aquariums, educational organisations and foundations with the aim of working closely with members of the fishing industry and consumers.
More generally, World Ocean Network France will be publicising the work of World Ocean Network in Metropolitan France and in the Overseas Territories, and will be suggesting a wide range of initiatives to help manage the oceans wisely.
World Ocean Network– a worldwide initiative for Man and the Ocean
Founded in 2002, World Ocean Network is an international association made up of museums, aquariums, scientific centres, educational organisations, institutions and non-government organisations.
Its aim is to raise public awareness of the importance of the ocean for humanity and of the impact that our day-to-day actions have on the marine environment.
Each of these institutions operates at a local level, but the development of partnerships and the joint projects carried out by the network mean that it has a worldwide impact. World Ocean Network has launched a joint scientific advertising campaign to reach out to billions of people throughout the world over the next ten years.
World Ocean Network has 450 partners on the 5 Continents. World Ocean Network informs 300 million visitors every year.
World Ocean Network has designed number of awareness-raising aids such as the Ocean citizen Passport, which commits the passport-holder to taking individual or collective action for the future of the Ocean. The passport is translated into 10 languages. More recently, it launched a programme relating to the sustainable consumption of fish: Mr. Goodfish, which is already deployed in Spain, France and Italy.
World Ocean Network and its partners, the International Ocean Institute and The Ocean Project, were responsible from 2002 for promoting 8 June as World Ocean Day until the day was officially designated as an international day by the United Nations General Assembly in 2008.
Useful links
On World Ocean Day, sign the Paris Appeal for the High Seas!
http://www.worldoceannetwork.org/FR/page-RELAIS_DU_RESEAU-JMO_Europe-7-144.htm
http://www.agissons.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/-Les-Journees-de-la-mer-