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“New Zealand begins with sea and ends with sea. Understand this and you begin to comprehend New Zealand and the New Zealander” – Author Maurice Shadbolt

WWF-New Zealand is getting creative to help New Zealanders protect our seas, and is inviting Kiwis to do the same.

WWF-New Zealand Executive Director Chris Howe says WWF’s latest initiative – the Ocean:Views competition – is part of a new movement of environmental campaigning based on the positive buzz people feel when they act to protect their environment. The conservation organisation is appealing to New Zealanders’ creativity and passion to bring about change for New Zealand’s oceans.

“It’s about positive reinforcement of what we value. Our seas are in the safest hands when New Zealanders feel an increased sense of ownership. The best means of achieving this is to focus not on what we’ve lost but by celebrating what we have,” Mr Howe says.

Some of New Zealand’s most creative people are getting behind the WWF cause by expressing what the ocean means to them, from award-winning authors Lloyd Jones and Bill Manhire and musicians including Ladyhawke and Hollie Smith, through to visual artists Sarah Larnach and Dick and Otis Frizzell, and actress Anna Paquin.

WWF hopes their stories will inspire New Zealanders to reflect on their own ocean connection, and submit a creative work to the competition expressing their ocean view.  There are four categories – music, visual art, creative writing, and short film – and people are invited to enter their ocean view online at www.wwf.org.nz/oceans.  This site also includes the stunning Ocean:Views already created by New Zealand artists, writers and actors.

“Our oceans are a central part of what it means to be a New Zealander and we hope to inspire New Zealanders from all walks of life to reflect on their own connection to the sea,” says Chris Howe.

Commenting on his personal connection to the ocean and his support for the WWF campaign, poet Bill Manhire said: “I’m pleased to be involved in Ocean:Views – it’s a creative way of focusing attention on the need to protect our oceans. The ocean used to be called the deep, and that’s because its life is larger and richer than anything we can conceive. The ocean is a pathway to a world we hardly begin to understand – a pathway both to ourselves and to what’s beyond ourselves. It tells us who we are, and sometimes it inspires us to be more than we are.”

Artist Sarah Larnach commented on her reasons for supporting the cause: “I was particularly eager to get involved with the Ocean:Views campaign as WWF is an organisation I have been familiar with and impressed by since I was a child. I have just moved home to New Zealand after many years away, and the timing of this opportunity allowed me a meaningful way to celebrate and confirm my happy restoration to the place I love.”

Collectively, the works will be a unique expression of New Zealanders’ view of the waters that surround our islands, with the winning works exhibited on World Oceans Day.

“New Zealanders love the sea, and the majority want significant protection for our oceans, so Kiwis can continue to enjoy what we have today,” WWF’s Mr Howe says.

He said one particular area of focus is the merit of marine reserves: “People tend to think about the sea differently from the land. Less than 1 per cent of our oceans are protected in marine reserves, compared to equivalent protection on around twenty per cent of our land[1]. Yet our territorial waters cover 15 times the area of our land.”

He said the Ocean Views campaign was a way to draw attention to this and highlight that the majority of New Zealanders want more protection for our oceans: “In 2005, Colmar Brunton research commissioned by WWF found 90 per cent of New Zealanders believed the area of New Zealand’s marine reserves was greater than it actually was. When asked how much they thought should be protected and, on average, people said they felt 36 per cent of our oceans should be in marine reserves.”

WWF is commissioning new research to gauge New Zealanders attitudes to marine protection today and will release this in the coming weeks.

“Moves like the new 435,000 hectare marine reserve surrounding Antipodes Island, the Bounty Islands and Campbell Island are of course welcome because an area that is home to an exquisite and unique diversity of wildlife is now better protected. But there are many more areas of our oceans which are similarly diverse and special, that New Zealanders enjoy in their everyday lives and want to see protected,” Mr Howe says.

Mr Howe says one of the best means of bringing about change is to demonstrate the passion New Zealanders have for the sea and the core part it plays in our lives.

“The greatest threat to the Ocean is taking it for granted – that’s why we’re wanting to celebrate it to the utmost.”

The competition is open now and WWF is inviting entries at wwf.org.nz/oceans, where you can also read and see creative New Zealanders’ Ocean:Views.  The deadline for competition entries is 15 April 2011. WWF-New Zealand is grateful to all the many New Zealanders and New Zealand organisations supporting the campaign.

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