BLUE Education

An important part of Blue Marine’s strategy for a healthier ocean is education, through community engagement, schools’ initiatives, and collaboration with local stakeholders. Recognising the lack of marine conservation education in school curriculums, our Blue Education unit has developed free educational resources and online platforms like ‘The Sea We Breathe’ and the Berwickshire Ocean Observatory. By bridging the gap in education, resources like these help to cultivate a personal interest in ocean protection among younger generations.  

In the Maldives, Blue Education has established citizen science programs, providing young people with scientific field skills and the chance to meet conservation experts through local seminar series. To further foster a culture of conservation in the community, Maldivian fishermen who adopt sustainable practices receive educational sessions on topics such as climate change. 

In the Aeolian Islands, just above Sicily, Blue Marine supports local students with a two-month marine education program led by biologists and fishermen. This initiative not only passes on knowledge of the sea to younger generations but also creates conservation ambassadors who are crucial for designating marine protected areas (MPAs).  

Blue Marine’s ‘makerzines’ feature educational content about MPAs and topics like ocean innovation, climate change, and species adaptations. They are distributed to schoolchildren in locations including Ascension, St. Helena, the Solent, the Maldives, and London, fostering awareness and interest in marine conservation.  

Blue Education initiatives have been instrumental in building support for MPAs at our project sites by empowering communities and encouraging positive change in the way people think and behave. These efforts are documented in the Education case study, one of several collated in Blue Marine’s blueprint for MPAs, providing a toolkit of ideas and sharing experiences in creating and managing protected areas around the world. In this way, Blue Marine strives to achieve its mission of restoring healthy oceans in collaboration with local communities, fishermen, and young people.   

Dive into our VR Experience with Helena Bonham Carter   

Blue Marine has created free educational resources about the ocean and marine conservation. You can download these here: Blue Education Resources  

Or you can explore Blue Marine’s online education platforms; The Sea We Breathe and the Berwickshire Ocean Observatory.   

In 2023, we transformed ‘The Sea We Breathe’, our award-winning educational website, into a VR experience. Guided by a voiceover from British actor Helena Bonham Carter, it explores three marine habitats — open ocean, kelp forest and seagrass meadow — allowing viewers who live far from the coast, or can’t visit marine environments, to dive into the wonders of the ocean. ‘The Sea We Breathe’ is now available in four languages, with Arabic the most recent addition, launched in 2023 at COP28 in Dubai.