Each Autumn we work with Blue Marine Foundation as a coffee sponsor on their adventurous London 2 Monaco fundraiser, making coffee on mountain tops, nature reserves and beach boardwalks across Europe. This trip is a showcase for the brilliant work Blue Marine Foundation does to support ocean conservation worldwide and is just one part of their busy calendar of projects, events and fundraisers through the year.
The health of the world’s oceans has a global effect on climate, with healthy marine landscapes supporting the regulation of climate by providing oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. An unprotected and overexploited ocean will serve to negatively increase the effects of climate change. Specialty coffee is an industry that has a global impact, where our decision making can positively or negatively affect our producing partners across the world, some of whom stand to suffer the most drastic effects of rising temperatures. As a registered B Corp and sustainability focussed business we seek to make a positive impact in the decisions we make, and support causes close to our values, just like the projects Blue Marine Foundation lead.
With the return of Passiflora, the Colombian coffee we serve each year on the trip as espresso, we wanted to share a little more about Blue Marine’s projects around ocean restoration, legal protection of marine areas and tackling overfishing as well as supporting low-impact fishing and associated economic and social sustainability across the world. Since London 2 Monaco’s inception, Blue Marine have expanded from 12 employees to over 50, making a serious impact along the way.
Meet Blue Marine Foundation
So what is the Blue Marine mission? In one sentence, to ensure the effective protection of at least 30% of the ocean by 2030. It’s a 30x30 mission. The reality of making this happen is a web of global change makers and the support of projects on a local level, all making steps towards sustainable management of the whole ocean.
Through 2023, they worked on 57 projects across 31 countries and 5 continents. A global reach working in partnership with local partners, communities and governments towards marine conservation solutions. Their approach is underpinned by a deep connection with local communities and their marine environments. A Blue Marine project will often benefit those who depend on these environments the most - whether this is through the industries of agriculture, low-impact fishing or tourism.
Here’s a small snapshot of the foundation’s substantial impact in the last year.
Securing Effective Ocean Protection
Blue Marine works closely with local communities and NGOs to identify and establish new marine protected areas, as well as ensuring existing protection remains effective. This includes both vibrant coastal waters covered by state legislation as well as the high seas which sit beyond national jurisdiction and cover two thirds of the world's oceans. Through these initiatives, 30% of the world’s oceans will be under effective protection by 2030.
The diverse island nation of Maldives is the home of just one of the many initiatives Blue Marine have worked with around ocean protection on a local level in the last year. Through their support of local NGO Maldives Resilient Reefs 6 new marine protection areas are now in place on Laamu Atoll, serving as protection for essential grouper and Napoleon wrasse spawning sites as well as a manta ray cleaning station. They have also led a campaign to halt the lifting of a 10-year shark fishing moratorium helping support this vital species for the ecosystem.
Tackling Overfishing
Using scientific advice, Blue Marine makes decision makers accountable for unsustainable quotas that are proven to have a disproportionately damaging impact on marine ecosystems. In March 2024, Blue Marine began legal proceedings to take the UK government to court for facilitating decades of overfishing in our waters. This year the UK government has issued fishing quotas for several species, including mackerel, cod, whiting and monkfish, that is above scientific advice.
Charles Clover, co-founder of Blue Marine, said: “By continuing to allow exploitation above sustainable limits the government is not only putting fish populations at risk but also everything that relies on them including marine ecosystems and the fishing industry itself.
“In terms of transparency, it is not remotely clear what benefit the public is getting from over-allocating this very valuable resource. It is time that the distribution of fishing opportunities is reformed to make it clear that natural resources are being distributed according to scientific advice to protect the marine environment and food security and in ways which benefit our struggling coastal communities.”
This is pretty big news right now, they want to see the government held accountable; a win would be to get the information needed to understand the decision making behind the misuse of public resources. Watch this space.
Restoring the Solent’s Seascape
In their aim to not only protect but also restore damaged marine ecosystems, Blue Marine works to identify areas that have been heavily degraded and are beyond natural regeneration. Here, restoration can return these human-damaged ecosystems to their once thriving states. These projects aim for lasting change rather than quick fixes, with a financial model to support this. We have spent time with Dr Luke Helmer and Eric Harris-Scott on the London 2 Monaco trip. Not only are they mad cyclists, but they are also the expert marine biologists heading up this project.
The diverse habitats of Southampton’s Solent have been lost with fishing pressure, disease, invasive species and poor water quality. Here, Europe’s once largest oyster fishery has collapsed along with 50% of the area’s saltmarsh. In 2020, Blue Marine began work with the University of Portsmouth to develop the Solent Oyster Restoration Project - the UK’s first native oyster restoration hatchery. Since its inception the project has seen 105,000 native oysters restored to the solent through 12 oyster restoration sites, as well as supporting the ecosystem as a whole with 97 marine species also found living in the oyster cages. This success on the single-species scale is now being replicated in the wider Solent Seascape Project, a collaboration of 10 specialist organisations actively restoring seagrass, saltmarsh, seabird nesting sites and oyster reefs in the key waterway.
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Find out more about Blue Marine Foundation by reading their full Impact Report for 2023.
Keen cyclist? This year the fundraiser trip will have two legs. The first, a day trip here in the UK from London to Solent to check out their restoration project on the South coast. The second, a three day trip from Ventoux to Monaco. Sign up for this year’s fundraising trips here.
Try our official London 2 Monaco coffee, Passiflora, Colombia here.
