Sandals Resorts International (Sandals), The Travel Corporation (TTC), and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) are celebrating World Oceans Day 2021 08JUN in an effort to support the oceans that they depend on, and the environment as a whole.
World Oceans Day is celebrated to inform the public of the impact of human actions on the ocean and to develop a worldwide movement of citizens for the oceans. It also suggests mobilizing and uniting the world's population on a project for the sustainable management of the world's oceans.
Sandals
Sandals is celebrating by offering programs that guests can participate in to help protect the waters of the Caribbean Sea.
Through its not-for-profit Sandals Foundation, guests of Sandals resorts throughout the Caribbean can participate in helping hatch turtles, learning to rebuild dying reefs, and playing a role in reducing the presence of the lionfish, an invasive species.
Last year, Sandals and the Sandals Foundation assisted in the release of 18,940 turtle hatchlings. This year, Sandals plans to see anywhere from 16,000 to 23,000 hatchlings venture into the Caribbean Sea, and visitors can take part in the Island Routes' Turtle Watching Experience, and work with local turtle conservation authorities to help monitor thousands of fresh hatchlings as they journey into the sea.
To protect the reefs, guests of any Sandals Resort in St. Lucia can join an introductory course in coral outplanting. Once familiar with the basic skills and knowledge required to successfully propagate corals in underwater nurseries, guests can go into the sea on a specialized dive to put their new skills to work saving Caribbean coral reefs.
Divers vacationing at Sandals Resorts or Beaches Resorts, can take part in a lionfish hunting dive and earn a PADI certification in lionfish removal through an Invasive Species Tracker specialty certification course. Sandals also sponsors lionfish tournaments to reduce populations. Participating guests can even have their lionfish catch cooked to eat by Sandals chefs.
The Travel Corporation
The TreadRight Foundation, The Travel Corporation’s not-for-profit, is also participating in World Oceans Day. TTC includes brands such as Trafalgar, Contiki, Insight Vacations and Uniworld Boutique River Cruises.
To support the transition to a low-carbon future and its goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, TTC and TreadRight have invested in two nature-based carbon removal solutions; Project Vesta and GreenWave.
GreenWave is a regenerative ocean farming organization studying how kelp can be added to soil to increase its natural carbon storage potential, while decreasing harmful nitrous oxide emissions on regenerative land farms. Kelp has strong potential to reduce both the need for nitrogen additives (fertilizer) on agricultural crops and nitrous oxide emissions in soils and this process would have significant implications for climate benefit.
Project Vesta is exploring the natural power of the ocean as a carbon sink. The organization is using olivine, a naturally abundant volcanic rock, to harness the natural power of the ocean to remove an estimated trillion tonnes of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. By crushing up olivine and moving it to coastal areas, it can be broken down further by the natural weathering process of wave power, removing carbon from the air and permanently storing it into rock.
Norwegian Cruise Lines
In celebration of World Oceans Day, Norwegian Cruise Lines has donated $25,000 to the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (GHOF) and announced that the artist will create a custom masterpiece that will wrap the Lighthouse on Great Stirrup Cay, the Cruise Line’s island in the Bahamas.
The donation, which is part of a continued partnership to raise awareness about the importance of ocean conservation, will further benefit the foundation’s scientific research, including first-of-its-kind shark tracking programs which have revealed discovery insights into the lives of these species and therefore encouraged increased protection efforts.
The donation will also assist in the development and availability of the GHOF Educational Program, designed to provide state-standardized curriculum that introduces students from kindergarten to grade 12 to the world’s oceans and their delicate ecosystems.
World Oceans Day
World Oceans Day is celebrated every year on 08JUN to remind everyone how important it is to protect the oceans that play a role in sustaining our livelihoods, health, and food sources and providing shelter to vegetation that provides the planet with oxygen.
Happy World Oceans Day! Norwegian’s donation to the cause is great!! unfortunately they still promote wild dolphin “swim and ride” shore excursions, which seems to conflict with their goal to protect the delicate ocean ecosystem. I am hopeful that Norwegian and other cruise lines will take the opportunity of a forced covid pause to rebuild more sustainably than ever!