The Blue Marine Foundation has opened nominations for its 2024 Ocean Awards, ‘celebrating the people making extraordinary efforts to save the world’s oceans’, and is asking for members of the public to submit their nominations.
The awards are divided into six categories to distinguish the various ways in which individuals and organisations are working to make a difference to ocean conservation, from local heroes to global companies, scientists, innovators and young campaigners.
The 2023 award saw 23 projects shortlisted by the judges from 94 global entries. The winners in each category benefit from extensive media coverage highlighting the work they do, to help raise funds and attract new partners.
If you know of a person, group or company that deserves an award for their devotion to ocean protection, head to the awards nomination page to cast your vote.
See the complete list of 2023 winners and their stories here…
Local Hero
This award recognises the individual or (grassroots / community-based / local) group that has had the most positive impact on the marine environment within their local community this year. The winner will be a recognised leader on marine conservation issues within their community. Special attention will be paid to those working in an unfavourable environment or circumstances.
Criteria: Nominees for this award must have a) initiated a promising effort for the benefit of the ocean within their community, or b) significantly improved, advanced, or revived an existing effort towards new achievements.
2023 winner: Las Chelemeras, Yucátan, Mexico
In 2010 the area around the fishing village of Chelem and its lagoon was designated a protected area within the Yucatán Nature Reserve. Since then, a collective of 18 local women, who call themselves ‘Las Chelemeras’ after their village, have been restoring the mangrove forest. Mangroves protect coastal erosion and prevent sediment from damaging nearby coral reefs and seagrass meadows. They are also powerful carbon sinks, sucking in carbon dioxide from the air.
Science
This award recognises the individual or research team that has made an original scientific contribution to the scientific study of the ocean this year.
Criteria: Nominees for this award must have significantly contributed towards a peer-reviewed publication or study that is directly useful for the benefit of global marine conservation or ocean health.
2023 winner – Dr Austin Gallagher et al
Dr Austin Gallagher and team discovered the world’s largest seagrass meadow, an area of up to 92,000 square kilometres in the Atlantic across the Bahama Banks. Seagrass captures carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests, and this area is believed to be the ocean’s largest carbon sink.
They also took the step of ‘partnering’ with wild tiger sharks to map the area. Gallagher’s paper, ‘Tiger sharks support the characterisation of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem’, was published by Nature Communications in November 2022.
Innovation
This award recognises the individual, company or group that has this year publicly introduced innovative measures for reducing stress on the oceans or for improving ocean health. Such measures might include business operations which are not undertaken at the expense of the marine environment, or the development of promising new technologies that benefit the marine environment.
Criteria: Nominees for this award must have undertaken activities or commitments to significantly develop or implement products, services, processes, or measures that have – or are likely to have – a positive impact on the health of the marine environment
2023 winner – Fishtek Marine
Rob Enever, head of science and uptake at Fishtek Marine, a conservation engineering company that develops devices that minimise incidental capture or bycatch of threatened species by commercial fisheries.
In 2023, Fishtek Marine discovered a global first – described by Rob Enever, head of science and uptake at the company as ‘a new low-impact fishing method for scallops’, which lures them into crab and lobster pots with LED lights, reducing the need for destructive dredging of the seabed.
Public Awareness – the Black Mermaid
This award recognises the individual or group that has done the most this year to advance marine conservation objectives, including public literacy about marine conservation issues – be it through campaigning and advocacy, the mainstream media, art forms – or educational programmes.
Criteria: Nominees for this award must have this year initiated or significantly advanced activities with a demonstrable impact on ocean management or the public understanding or public visibility of an important ocean issue (or issues).
2023 winner Zandile Ndhlovu
The Blue Marine Foundation judges were impressed by The Black Mermaid, a film produced by Zandile Ndhlovu, the first black African freediving instructor in South Africa. The film explores the relationship that black communities have with water and follows her expedition to see the sardine run, a marine phenomenon off the coast of KwaZulu-Natal when billions of pilchards spawn, creating a feeding frenzy that draws up to 18,000 dolphins, sharks, and Bryde’s, humpback, southern right and minke whales. Watch The Black Mermaid at Waterbear.com
Lifetime Achievement
This award recognises an individual who has taken the lead on globally significant actions, such as policy or advocacy initiatives, for the benefit of ocean health, over an extended period of time. The winner of this award will have shown consistent leadership and vision on ocean issues, going above and beyond others in their commitment to protecting marine life.
Criteria: Nominees for this award must have a demonstrable track record of leadership on marine issues. They must either have initiated or taken a lead in influencing a globally significant effort for the benefit of the ocean or seen a significant milestone in a previously initiated effort.
2023 winner – Lisa Speer, ocean advocate
The 2023 winner of the Ocean Awards was Lisa Speer, director of the International Oceans Program at the US not-for-profit Natural Resources Defense Council and member of the High Seas Alliance’s steering committee, a partnership of more than 40 organisations dedicated to conserving the oceans.
Young Initiative
This award celebrates and recognises an individual between the ages of 18 and 30 who is at the beginning of their career. They will have shown commitment and action within ocean conservation, and demonstrated promising leadership and vision on ocean issues, be it through campaigning and advocacy, the mainstream media, art forms, or educational programmes.
Criteria: Nominees for this award must have this year shown hard work and determination in their commitment to ocean conservation with a demonstrable impact. They must be able to illustrate how they have shown leadership and implemented their ideas through either a voluntary or professional position.
2023 winner – Brigitta Gunawan, Indonesia, Bali.
Growing up by the sea in Bali, Brigitta Gunawan witnessed first-hand the detrimental effects of human misconduct on the marine environment and resolved to do something about it. So, at 17, she founded 30×30 Indonesia, with the aim of ‘[inspiring] people of all generations to take action to protect 30 per cent of the world’s ocean by 2030 in order for us to have a future… by leveraging diverse community efforts through education, policy, advocacy and habitat restoration’.
For more about the Blue Marine Foundation and to register your nomination for the Ocean Awards 2024, head to the Blue Marine Foundation website. Follow the awards’ social media publications on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn
