Our Oceans to Save by Emily Cunningham, MBE PUBLISHER: One Boat / Pan MacMillan COST: £ 10.99 ISBN: 978-1-0350-6527-1
Volunteers clear the way in Grand Cayman
A LITTER-STREWN BEACH IN THE CAYMAN ISLANDS – A NOTED SITE FOR turtle nesting – has been cleaned up, thanks to the efforts of the local BSAC club.
Seven Mile Beach is the most popular beach on Grand Cayman. Located just outside the capital, George Town, its stretch of white sand is also a nesting location for sea turtles.
Cayman Islands Divers member Raquel Tobian was dismayed to learn that the white sand of Seven Mile Beach had been covered by discarded piles of rubbish. And she was disgusted to find a lot of litter in an area of the beach where there are three turtle nests.
So, Raquel, with the help of members including the club’ s Marine Champion Samantha Cooper, organised a beach clean to collect nine bags of litter which could have otherwise found its way into the marine environment.
“ Hopefully the three nests of turtle hatchlings that will now have a safe passage to the sea, plus a section of our most famous beach has been restored to a decent condition,” Samantha said.
Would you like to help make a difference? Why not become a BSAC Marine Champion and join a dedicated volunteer network of passionate ocean advocates. BSAC is looking for even more Marine Champions take on the role within their club. For more information on becoming a Marine Champion and to register, go to bsac. com / marinechampions
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Book review
Our Oceans to Save by Emily Cunningham, MBE PUBLISHER: One Boat / Pan MacMillan COST: £ 10.99 ISBN: 978-1-0350-6527-1
Our Oceans To Save is subtitled‘ How You Can Protect Our Greatest Climate Ally’, which is an ambitious call to action. But by the end of this engaging and personal book, it becomes significantly less daunting.
A BSAC Marine Champion and co-founder of the Motion for the Ocean initiative, Emily was awarded the MBE for services to marine conservation in 2025. She has worked at the front line of ocean protection for more than 15 years, and her work has taken her round the world, from the tropics to Antarctica. But throughout this book, the North Wales coast of her childhood and student days also loom large, and she writes in a relatable way, tapping into memories many of us have, shaped by the natural landscape.
Emily’ s lifelong passion for her subject – as well as her overriding desire to remain true to the young girl who viewed the ocean with wonder – is evident throughout this reflective, honest, realistic but ultimately hopeful book. Written in response to the many questions Emily has fielded during her career, it is intended to be the antidote to the feelings of overwhelm we can all succumb to when the issue at hand feels too large. Emily’ s answer – our ocean matters, we care, and we can all do something.
Our Oceans to Save is a book of two parts: the first explores in both scientific and personal detail the current ocean crisis and the various threats the marine environment currently faces. Throughout, the book reasserts why it’ s essential that we are mobilised to help empower its recovery. Sobering facts and scientific evidence are put to the reader with personal anecdotes, all neatly balanced to make the issues accessible, even if that means they feel closer to home.
Part Two works to counter environmental angst with practical ideas for action we can all take on board. Emily acknowledges we are all coming to the climate crisis from a variety of angles; she outlines realistic and accessible ways we can all make a difference.
At a time when the world seems ever more in flux, Emily stands tall with her assertion that ocean recovery is possible and we can work together to turn the tide. But she doesn’ t just offer lofty rhetoric; she gives the reader a roadmap to what they can do.
This is a book you can read in one sitting. But it’ s also a book that invites you to return. Despite the urgency of its subject matter, there’ s comfort to be found among its pages, driven by the optimism and hard-earned academic reputation of an oceanstruck young girl from landlocked Stafford who has become an awardwinning marine biologist. As Emily says in the book, it contains the advice and guidance she wished she had when she was younger. But that small girl is never too far away from the book’ s message and it is all the better for it. Alison Dando
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