Six Senses pledges to support BLUE with share of diving revenues
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Six Senses pledges to support BLUE with share of diving revenues
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Category: Worldwide
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2010-10-11
The Six Senses Eco Symposium at Soneva Fushi ended today with a rallying cry to invest more in preserving fish stocks.
Chris Gorell Barnes, co-founder of BLUE Marine Foundation, said that only 0.6% of the world’s oceans are protected. “The rest can be fished until they are empty,” he said, and added: “If we go on at the same rate then the oceans will be empty of fish by 2050.”
Six Senses, the luxury resort company, has pledged to support marine conservation after signing a deal with BLUE. Under the terms of the agreement, Six Senses will give a share of revenues from guest diving excursions at its Maldives retreats to BLUE.
Sonu Shivdasani, Chairman of Six Senses, said: “As part of our commitment to sustainable development, I am delighted to be able to support BLUE in its vital commitment to preserving marine ecosystems. Unless we protect our oceans now, fish stocks will suffer an irreversible collapse.”
Six Senses’s Soneva Fushi and Soneva Gili resorts in the Maldives only use fish from sustainable sources.
Chris Gorell Barnes, co-founder of BLUE, said: “I am delighted with the partnership with Six Senses. It has a fantastic record in innovative sustainable business. I hope this deal calls out to all other resorts in the Maldives to follow suit.”
BLUE is also in talks with the government of the Maldives about creating a marine conservation area in the country’s territorial waters and examining ways in which the country can improve its sustainable fishing credentials.
Following the country’s ban on exporting any shark related products, Gorell Barnes took the opportunity to press President Nasheed on the subject of banning the fishing of other dwindling sources such as blue fin tuna, sword fish and caviar. “Banning shark fishing has cost our government 30 million dollars. It is a subject we take very seriously, but it is not as straight forward as many would think.” The difficulty of plights of this sort was then humorously summarised by the president when he quipped “Yes, and we could ask Britain to only serve skate too!”
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