We live in a world of plastic. And of course the invention of plastic has also given us many advantages. When we go to the supermarket, most products are packed in plastic packaging to make them last longer. In addition, plastic is very light compared to glass or other materials and has therefore made the transport of many products much easier. Apart from that, it can be used in many different ways because it can be made into a wide variety of shapes and degrees of hardness.

And that is precisely why it is so difficult to live without it. But unfortunately plastic also has countless disadvantages for our environment and especially for the creatures in the ocean. Plastic takes many years to decompose in nature and single-use plastic in particular serves a purpose once and can then be found in nature for a really long time.

For this reason, we should try to reduce our own plastic consumption, even if it is not always easy, especially for the end consumer.

So here are a few tips from us on how you can easily integrate plastic reduction into your everyday life:

• If possible, drink tap water or filtered water and avoid single use plastic water bottles. Especially when you travel to places where plastic is not yet recycled, it is important not to use and leave even more plastic.
• Leave out the straws. Yes, it may seem like a small thing, but nobody really needs a straw to drink and so it should be easy to do without.
• Use cloth bags, backpacks or baskets instead of plastic bags for your shopping.
• If you enjoy the luxury and have one near you: go shopping in packaging-free stores.
• Try to avoid to-go meals packaged in plastic and take the time to eat on site or cook for yourself.
• When buying fruit and vegetables, make sure to choose products that are not additionally packaged in plastic.
• Many products such as toothbrushes, dental floss, cotton swabs, soap, shampoo, etc. are now available without any plastic content or plastic packaging.
• If plastic reduction is not possible, it is very important to ensure that plastic waste is disposed properly in order to feed it into the recycling cycle and thus promote the circular economy.

In addition to the consumption of fishery products, the consumption of meat also has a major impact on our environment. Industrial meat production worldwide leads to significant emissions of CO2 and other climate-damaging greenhouse gases. The consumption of beef is particularly harmful to the climate due to the emission of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas methane, which is around 25 times more potent, during the digestion of ruminants. But feed production and the associated land use and deforestation are also harmful to the climate and biodiversity, due to the destruction of habitats and the use of pesticides.

The greenhouse gases emitted increase climate change, which in turn leads to warming of the oceans, which can lead to coral bleaching, among other things, and thus damage the marine ecosystem.

For this reason, it is advisable to massively reduce meat consumption or to avoid meat altogether. In addition to the effects on the climate, this of course also benefits animal welfare, since factory farming is often accompanied by cruel living conditions for the animals.

In addition to shark fin soup, there are many other products that contain shark parts. Even in non-Asian countries, shark meat is sold for consumption in various forms or in dog and cat food, but often under other names such as Dogfish, Flake, Schillerlocke, Rock Salmon, Rock Eel and Huss and others. Of course, these products should not be bought and consumed.

Most tour operators brief their guests before they go into the water and explain the code of conduct. Please follow these rules to protect nature and for your own safety. When choosing an operator, make sure that the animals come first and that the tour operator explains how to properly treat the animals and the environment. If you observe negative behavior from other guests, speak to the people politely and explain it to them. Most of the time, behavioral violations are not committed out of malice, but out of ignorance.

We understand the fascination that surrounds these animals and the desire to see them live. On the one hand, there are fantastic documentaries these days where a lot of knowledge about the animals is passed on and beautiful shots can be seen in their natural environment. On the other hand, there is also the possibility of seeing the animals in the wild, for example on a whale watching tour or, in some places, underwater. However, always make sure to choose the right tourism provider who cares about the welfare of the animals and who behaves correctly. This option is of course associated with increased costs and effort and is not feasible for everyone. Nevertheless, in our opinion, locking up animals and subjecting them to torturous conditions just so that everyone has the opportunity to see them live can never be an alternative. If in doubt, those who love these animals would rather forgo seeing the animals than watch them in these degrading conditions.

Sunscreen is particularly important for us humans to protect our skin from harmful UV rays. Especially when we are on or in the sea, we run the risk of getting sunburned. Unfortunately, many sunscreens contain ingredients that are harmful to marine life, such as corals. Every year, several thousand tons of sunscreen end up in the sea. The octinoxate and oxybenzone they contain have a negative effect on corals in various ways, damaging their DNA, causing oxidative stress, disrupting the symbiosis with algae, affecting hormonal systems and making the corals more susceptible to disease. These effects lead to coral bleaching, a process in which corals lose their symbiotic algae and can ultimately die if conditions do not improve. Negative effects on the hormonal balance have also been proven in other creatures such as fish and dolphins.

For this reason, creams with chemical UV filters should be avoided completely. But how else should you protect yourself from the sun?

One very good solution is UV protection through clothing. There are also rash guards and pants with UV protection for snorkeling or swimming. Another advantage is that these also protect against contact with, for example, jellyfish and other stinging creatures.

The second option is mineral sunscreens with physical UV filters such as zinc. However, you should definitely make sure that these do not contain any nano particles. The ingredients can be either non-nano zinc oxide or non-nano titanium dioxide, then you are on the safe side. Unfortunately, you cannot always rely on labels such as “Reef Safe” or “Reef Friendly” when making your choice, as there are no uniform or regulated standards for these labels, so it is best to take a look at the ingredients. To make things easier, you could also use the CodeCheck app and scan the barcode of the sunscreen. This gives you an immediate overview of whether there are problematic ingredients in the cream and allows you to make a good purchasing decision.

There are many other ways to protect oceanic megafauna. Marine conservation associations and foundations or scientific research projects usually rely on donations and you can support their work this way. Another way to help is to sign petitions aimed at protecting the oceans and talk about them.

It is also always helpful to educate and inform yourself about marine conservation and share this information with people around you.

Ultimately, the impact of every person who helps protect the oceans can always be multiplied once others hear or see it and imitate the behavior. So our advice is: get out there and talk about your passion for ocean wildlife! Tell people you know about your last experience in the ocean, exchange experiences about sustainable tour operators and marine conservation projects. Forgo birthday and Christmas presents and ask friends and family to donate money to your favorite marine conservation association instead.

You can actively support some NGOs and projects by planning your next trip as a volunteer and supporting the projects on site with voluntary work. This way you learn a lot and at the same time see where your money goes and what it achieves. You tell your friends and acquaintances about it and infect them with your passion.

And who knows, maybe you will inspire someone to become the next Ocean Lover and that person will spread the word and inspire other people to take action…

We live in a world of plastic. And of course the invention of plastic has also given us many advantages. When we go to the supermarket, most products are packed in plastic packaging to make them last longer. In addition, plastic is very light compared to glass or other materials and has therefore made the transport of many products much easier. Apart from that, it can be used in many different ways because it can be made into a wide variety of shapes and degrees of hardness.

And that is precisely why it is so difficult to live without it. But unfortunately plastic also has countless disadvantages for our environment and especially for the creatures in the ocean. Plastic takes many years to decompose in nature and single-use plastic in particular serves a purpose once and can then be found in nature for a really long time.

For this reason, we should try to reduce our own plastic consumption, even if it is not always easy, especially for the end consumer.

So here are a few tips from us on how you can easily integrate plastic reduction into your everyday life:

• If possible, drink tap water or filtered water and avoid single use plastic water bottles. Especially when you travel to places where plastic is not yet recycled, it is important not to use and leave even more plastic.
• Leave out the straws. Yes, it may seem like a small thing, but nobody really needs a straw to drink and so it should be easy to do without.
• Use cloth bags, backpacks or baskets instead of plastic bags for your shopping.
• If you enjoy the luxury and have one near you: go shopping in packaging-free stores.
• Try to avoid to-go meals packaged in plastic and take the time to eat on site or cook for yourself.
• When buying fruit and vegetables, make sure to choose products that are not additionally packaged in plastic.
• Many products such as toothbrushes, dental floss, cotton swabs, soap, shampoo, etc. are now available without any plastic content or plastic packaging.
• If plastic reduction is not possible, it is very important to ensure that plastic waste is disposed properly in order to feed it into the recycling cycle and thus promote the circular economy.

Our food choices also have a significant impact on the marine ecosystem. Industrial fishing and seafood catching in particular is increasingly emptying our oceans and is also to blame for the fact that thousands of turtles, rays, whales and sharks die as bycatch every year. In addition, the ecosystem, such as the seabed, is destroyed by the massive use of fishing equipment and huge amounts of industrial fishing waste, such as ghost nets and fishing lines, are dumped into our oceans by the fishing industry, contributing to pollution and leading to the cruel deaths of caught animals.

In order not to support this excessive robbery and pollution, it is best to avoid industrially caught fish and seafood altogether. Unfortunately, fish from fish farms, so-called aquacultures, is not a good alternative either, as it also damages the ecosystem. The antibiotics used to combat parasite infections in fish enter the sea unfiltered as wastewater and thus also have a significant impact on wild stocks.

Various labels for sustainable fishing, such as the MSC label, have been proven not to be as sustainable as they give the impression and violations keep occurring. This means that these fishery products do not represent a serious alternative. For more information on the subject, we recommend the Seaspiracy documentary.

If you don’t want to miss out on the taste of fish in everyday life, there are now great vegan and vegetarian products similar to salmon or fish fingers.

In addition to the consumption of fishery products, the consumption of meat also has a major impact on our environment. Industrial meat production worldwide leads to significant emissions of CO2 and other climate-damaging greenhouse gases. The consumption of beef is particularly harmful to the climate due to the emission of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas methane, which is around 25 times more potent, during the digestion of ruminants. But feed production and the associated land use and deforestation are also harmful to the climate and biodiversity, due to the destruction of habitats and the use of pesticides.

The greenhouse gases emitted increase climate change, which in turn leads to warming of the oceans, which can lead to coral bleaching, among other things, and thus damage the marine ecosystem.

For this reason, it is advisable to massively reduce meat consumption or to avoid meat altogether. In addition to the effects on the climate, this of course also benefits animal welfare, since factory farming is often accompanied by cruel living conditions for the animals.

Sharks are hunted by humans for a variety of reasons and are becoming increasingly extinct.

One of the reasons that may surprise many is the so-called squalene, or a form of it, squalane, an oil that is extracted from the liver of sharks and is found in many cosmetic products such as anti-aging and moisturizing creams, deodorants, hair conditioners and lipsticks.

And this despite the fact that there are simple alternatives to the animal product, because squalene/squalane can also be extracted from plants.

You are always on the safe side when buying your cosmetic products if they are certified vegan, i.e. free of any animal components.

Another reason besides the use of shark products in cosmetics is the consumption of shark meat products itself. In some Asian countries, for example, the popular shark fin soup is consumed. This consumption and the associated demand is a major reason for the cruel practice of shark finning.

In addition to shark fin soup, there are many other products that contain shark parts. Even in non-Asian countries, shark meat is sold for consumption in various forms or in dog and cat food, but often under other names such as Dogfish, Flake, Schillerlocke, Rock Salmon, Rock Eel and Huss and others. Of course, these products should not be bought and consumed.

One day people will look back on this time and ask themselves how it was possible that we locked up animals for our entertainment. Just as we ask ourselves today how it was possible that human zoos ever existed. Because one is just as wrong as the other. Places like SeaWorld serve solely to entertain and amuse people and mean a life of suffering and torture in captivity for the captive animals. No dolphin or seal likes to jump through hoops every day of their own free will. The animals only do this because otherwise they would either be punished or because they have been conditioned to receive food. No orca likes to live locked up in tiny water tanks. This is also shown again and again by their conspicuous behavior in captivity.

And anyone who thinks that this somehow saves the animals or keeps them from extinction is wrong. They are either born in captivity or captured from the wild as young animals so that their will can still be easily broken. Dolphins and orcas often have their teeth filed down so that they cannot injure each other or their trainers. Because yes, the animals do injure each other in captivity. Either because they are stressed overall, or because animals from different families have to live together in pools that do not know or understand each other and have no way of avoiding each other.

We understand the fascination that surrounds these animals and the desire to see them live. On the one hand, there are fantastic documentaries these days where a lot of knowledge about the animals is passed on and beautiful shots can be seen in their natural environment. On the other hand, there is also the possibility of seeing the animals in the wild, for example on a whale watching tour or, in some places, underwater. However, always make sure to choose the right tourism provider who cares about the welfare of the animals and who behaves correctly. This option is of course associated with increased costs and effort and is not feasible for everyone. Nevertheless, in our opinion, locking up animals and subjecting them to torturous conditions just so that everyone has the opportunity to see them live can never be an alternative. If in doubt, those who love these animals would rather forgo seeing the animals than watch them in these degrading conditions.

Sunscreen is particularly important for us humans to protect our skin from harmful UV rays. Especially when we are on or in the sea, we run the risk of getting sunburned. Unfortunately, many sunscreens contain ingredients that are harmful to marine life, such as corals. Every year, several thousand tons of sunscreen end up in the sea. The octinoxate and oxybenzone they contain have a negative effect on corals in various ways, damaging their DNA, causing oxidative stress, disrupting the symbiosis with algae, affecting hormonal systems and making the corals more susceptible to disease. These effects lead to coral bleaching, a process in which corals lose their symbiotic algae and can ultimately die if conditions do not improve. Negative effects on the hormonal balance have also been proven in other creatures such as fish and dolphins.

For this reason, creams with chemical UV filters should be avoided completely. But how else should you protect yourself from the sun?

One very good solution is UV protection through clothing. There are also rash guards and pants with UV protection for snorkeling or swimming. Another advantage is that these also protect against contact with, for example, jellyfish and other stinging creatures.

The second option is mineral sunscreens with physical UV filters such as zinc. However, you should definitely make sure that these do not contain any nano particles. The ingredients can be either non-nano zinc oxide or non-nano titanium dioxide, then you are on the safe side. Unfortunately, you cannot always rely on labels such as “Reef Safe” or “Reef Friendly” when making your choice, as there are no uniform or regulated standards for these labels, so it is best to take a look at the ingredients. To make things easier, you could also use the CodeCheck app and scan the barcode of the sunscreen. This gives you an immediate overview of whether there are problematic ingredients in the cream and allows you to make a good purchasing decision.

Unfortunately, we have not yet banned all the plastic in the world and millions of tons of it are still produced every day. Our oceans are full of it and sooner or later a lot of it washes up on the beach. And that’s not good for so many reasons. Obviously, nobody wants to spend their vacation in paradise surrounded by garbage. But beach garbage is even more harmful to many animal species, which either mistake it for food and eat it, or use the garbage to build nests or as hiding places. Consequently, the animals often get tangled up or injured and die. For this reason, beach clean-ups are a great way to contribute to environmental protection and saving the oceans.

And even if you don’t live directly by the sea, you can also do your part in your home region, as there is most certainly a river somewhere near you. All rivers flow into the sea in one way or another, which also means that the garbage in them is carried into the ocean. Therefore, river clean-ups are not only valuable for species that live in and around the river, but ultimately also for all animals living in the ocean.

There are many other ways to protect oceanic megafauna. Marine conservation associations and foundations or scientific research projects usually rely on donations and you can support their work this way. Another way to help is to sign petitions aimed at protecting the oceans and talk about them.

It is also always helpful to educate and inform yourself about marine conservation and share this information with people around you.

Ultimately, the impact of every person who helps protect the oceans can always be multiplied once others hear or see it and imitate the behavior. So our advice is: get out there and talk about your passion for ocean wildlife! Tell people you know about your last experience in the ocean, exchange experiences about sustainable tour operators and marine conservation projects. Forgo birthday and Christmas presents and ask friends and family to donate money to your favorite marine conservation association instead.

You can actively support some NGOs and projects by planning your next trip as a volunteer and supporting the projects on site with voluntary work. This way you learn a lot and at the same time see where your money goes and what it achieves. You tell your friends and acquaintances about it and infect them with your passion.

And who knows, maybe you will inspire someone to become the next Ocean Lover and that person will spread the word and inspire other people to take action…