ocean literacy means to have an understanding of our influence on the ocean, and the ocean’s influence on us.
As a surfer, its pretty simple - the Ocean provides everything we need to ride waves.
Sustainability, surfing and systems
My research is driven from a personal place of being a surfer; I am passionate about conserving ocean ecosystems (especially surfing ones) and protecting them from pollution. My awareness and understanding of the ocean as a complex system evolved due to spending time in different habitats and seeing the variation of issues affecting surf breaks across the globe.
Surfing encouraged me to become a marine activist, but without policy a lot of our surfing habitats are at risk from coastal development and pollution. I am completing a Masters in Sustainability with Anglia Ruskin University and the Eden Project, which has enabled me to go deeper into this area; thinking critically and systematically about how we can create better future scenarios.
As a researcher I want to see if other surfers think and feel the same about the ocean. My thought is that surfers could be custodians of their coastlines because they have an intrinsic understanding of their local surf breaks and through longterm exposure witness the changes that happen. This knowledge could well be valuable to other groups such as policy makers, marine conservation groups and the general public. It will be interesting to see if the data supports this theory. Depending on the outcome, strategies could be created to help communication of marine conservation; between these different groups. This is the potential of inter-disciplinary research, which reaches across social and environmental sectors.
My ocean science research is driven by passion and purpose
Studying sustainability brought me into the world of “systems thinking”, which blew my mind and gave me hope. More importantly, systems thinking organises the concept of our Universe into a structure we already intuitively known and understand: dynamic, creative, interconnected, living systems.
As an interdisciplinary subject; sustainability covers crucial themes such as climate change, food security and poverty and it has allowed me to develop critical thinking around social, environmental and financial systems.
Given the freedom and breadth of this course, I have chosen to tailor my assignments to focus on plastic pollution in the marine environment. This has extended to circular economy, North Atlantic causal loop processes, threatened marine habitats and overfishing. I took on a placement with ecosystem services social enterprise Mossy Earth to learn more about carbon offsetting and continue to write articles for them.
This year I began my major project, with guidance from my supervisor Dr. Dannielle Green; who is an ecologist with extensive research experience in microplastics and the natural environment. My research is investigating:
Surfer health and well being
Is surfing simply a physical sport, or does it hold implicit, intrinsic value on a much deeper level?
What are the varying experiences and connection that surfers have to the ocean and their local coastline
How far would they go to protect their local surf break / coastline / ocean ecosystem
Surfers knowledge of ocean ecosystems
What influences surfers environmental awareness
What is their relationship to microplastic contamination of surf breaks
Would they be interested in sharing knowledge, collecting data and being part of citizen science
How reliable / appropriate / useful would it be to have surfers involvement as citizen scientists
Microplastic contamination in surf breaks
Piloting novel methods for collecting surface samples in coastal areas and surf breaks
Determining how to retrieve microplastic samples using methods from a surfboard
Analysing data collected to suggest what impacts levels microplastic accumulation
Comparison of surf breaks and beaches during different seasons, conditions and tides
Considering potential to scale up studies
My research proposal has been displayed on the Seas Oceans and Public Health in Europe (SOPHIE) website, and I have been recognised as an early career researcher. In March, 2020 SOPHIE launched the Strategic Research Agenda with includes Blue spaces, tourism and well-being as their Target Action Area 2.
I am continuing to develop my research “Surfing as a mechanism for ocean literacy and opportunity for marine science activism.”
Is surfing simply a physical sport, or does it hold implicit, intrinsic value on a much deeper level?
What are the varying experiences and connection that surfers have to the ocean and their local coastline?
How far would surfers go to protect their local surf break / coastline / ocean ecosystem?
How reliable / appropriate / useful would it be to have surfers involvement as citizen scientists?
What is the relationship between surfers and microplastic contamination of surf breaks?
A case study will be piloting novel methods for collecting surface samples of microplastic in coastal areas and surf breaks.
opportunities:
Are you an organisation company, NGO or individual that would like to help with funding my study?
Please feel free to contact me to schedule in a call.
GET involved
I now have approval from my University’s ethics committee, so am making a call for research participants, either individually or through NGO’s and organisations.
If you’re inspired to be involved:
As a research participant
The survey is open until 30th June 2020, with study 2 - an online focus group - taking part in July 2020.
In citizen science
Ecological research aims to commence in June 2020 and will be mainly in Portugal (depending on Covid-19 situation)
Don’t hesitate to drop me a line for more info!
book me
For a presentation or workshop.
references:
Camins, E., de Haan, W.P., Salvo, V.S., Canals, M., Raffard, A. and Sanchez-Vidal, A., 2020. Paddle surfing for science on microplastic pollution. Science of The Total Environment, 709, p.136178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136178
Cole, M., Lindeque, P., Halsband, C. and Galloway, T.S., 2011. Microplastics as contaminants in the marine environment: a review. Marine pollution bulletin, 62(12), pp.2588-2597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.09.025
Green, D.S., Kregting, L., Boots, B., Blockley, D.J., Brickle, P., Da Costa, M. and Crowley, Q., 2018. A comparison of sampling methods for seawater microplastics and a first report of the microplastic litter in coastal waters of Ascension and Falkland Islands. Marine pollution bulletin, 137, pp.695-701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.11.004
Ponting, J. and O'Brien, D., 2014. Liberalizing Nirvana: an analysis of the consequences of common pool resource deregulation for the sustainability of Fiji's surf tourism industry. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 22(3), pp.384-402. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2013.819879
exxpedition
I took part in my first citizen science project sailing from Plymouth to the Azores with Emily Penn and eXXpedition in October 2019. For me, it was an opportunity of a lifetime; inspiring and shaping my research to come…
science + sailing
It was only 12 days, but it felt like a lifetime! Storms, continual bad weather and a plethora of microplastic pollution; leg one of eXXpedition was as eventful as it was tedious. But one thing was for sure, we we banded together as crew and got down to business - sailing across the North Atlantic, collecting evidence of microplastic fragments in the surface ocean as we went.
An all female crew, led by ocean advocate Emily Penn; we took the rough with the rough to commence eXXpedition Round the World!
From marine activist to citizen scientist
I was always been fuelled by an emotional connection to nature and drawn towards radical change to intervene against environmental injustice. After spending years as an activist, and witnessing the shortcomings of activism, my mind began to open to more rigorous and sustained methods of implementing change: science. It’s been a long road to get here. Watch the webinar below to learn how I’ve chosen to piece it all together.
All photos courtesy of Sophie Dingwall & eXXpedition