Cape Town - In celebration of World Oceans Day, Extinction Rebellion (XR) Cape Town held a demonstration at Muizenberg Beach. The Blue Rebels formed an artistic invocation for government to increase ocean protection.
The XR Cape Town group urged government to participate in ocean protection projects such as the 30x30 project, which called on leaders to support the goal of protecting at least 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030.
XR Cape Town spokesperson Judy Scott-Goldman said the Blue Rebels were a quiet yet potent reminder of the beauty and inherent worth of the ocean, a visual representation of its fragility and the precarious life balance that it fostered.
“The demonstration action was a simple ‘story’ where five Blue Rebels/water beings walk along the beach, stopping now and then to use gestures to express their awe and respect for the ocean.
“They come across an apparently dead mermaid lying trapped in a net surrounded by pieces of plastic. The Rebels are distressed. They pull back the netting and try to revive the mermaid with gentle caresses – but to no avail. Eventually, they withdraw in great sadness and process off,” Scott-Goldman said.
She said ‘mermaids’ were mythological half human, half fish creatures and so represented the inter-relationship between the human and non-human world.
The group named multiple issues that pressured the lifegiving capacity of the ocean such as pollution from plastic, oil, agricultural waste and sound, ocean acidification and overfishing.
“These issues represent a frightening threat to life on earth. If the ocean continues to heat, acidify, choke on pollution and buckle under pressure from overfishing, the results will be mass extinction, food insecurity and starvation, and a hotter, more polluted atmosphere in which survival is unlikely,” Scott-Goldman said.
CapeNature general manger Petro van Rhyn said the theme for World Oceans Day this year, ‘Revitalisation, collective action for the ocean’, highlighted the importance of getting involved in protecting and conserving marine resources.
“Currently only 5% of South African marine and coastal areas are part of Marine Protected Areas but there is a global drive to protect at least 30% of land and ocean by 2030,” van Rhyn said.