To most of us, the ocean is a deep blue mystery. Even when we flock to its edge at places such as Bondi Beach, we see barely a speck of what lies within. But as we battle climate change, species loss and other challenges, ocean educators such as Dr Vanessa Pirotta are trying to bring the public closer to our mysterious marine world.
Daniel Kukec Photography. www.danielkukec.com Photograph: Daniel Kukec Photography (www.danielkukec.com)/Daniel Kukec Photography
Dr Vanessa Pirotta. Image credit: Daniel Kukec
“It’s very important for scientists to provide information to not only people who fund their research, but to the general public, to get a better understanding of what’s going on,” Pirotta says. “Whether it be understanding why whales are swimming in the waters of Bondi Beach during wintertime, and why they won’t during summertime, it’s important to share that information.”
The whales may be elsewhere for now, but another migration to the waters of Bondi is imminent. From 20-24 March, marine experts, artists, filmmakers and educators will gather at Bondi Beach for the Ocean Lovers Festival, ready to share the secrets of the seas through panels, workshops and screenings.
The polar explorer and South Australia’s 2024 Australian of the Year, Tim Jarvis, will take an audience on a journey through a rugged, frozen paradise between Tasmania and Antarctica. His latest film, Macquarie Island: Australia’s Jewel in the Southern Ocean, screens on Saturday 23 March.
“It’s really the Galápagos of the Southern Ocean,” Jarvis says. “It’s home to 3.5 million seabirds, multiple types of penguin, some of which are found nowhere else, and 10% of the world’s elephant seal population, which is very topical at the moment because they’re being impacted heavily by disease in parts of Antarctica.”
With the film, and at a talk earlier on Saturday, Jarvis hopes to share not just the beauty of Macquarie Island, but the challenges it is facing.
“Climate change really impacts the resilience of these environments,” he says. “You have to protect them as best you can from any pressures you can protect them from, and in this case, it’s things like fishing and other activities that might impact upon the ecosystem.”
Pirotta’s own research has taken her to a place where, like Macquarie Island, few have ventured: just above a whale’s erupting blowhole. “Whale snot is a way that we can think that whales are similar to us,” says Pirotta, who used drones to collect samples from humpback whales. “They’re mammals, they breathe air, they host viruses and bacteria. Sometimes their health might be reflective of their population changes or the environment.”
As part of the panel for the talk What Are Whales Telling Us? Pirotta will join Prof Olaf Meynecke, from Griffith University, and Sea Shepherd’s director of campaigns, Captain Peter Hammarstedt, to discuss the mysterious world of our largest mammals. Pirotta says: “We need to have friendly reminders of how we create threats to these animals, whether it be pollution or releasing balloons into the air – which you shouldn’t do – fishing gear entanglement, climate change.”
Whales, as some of the biggest creatures on Earth, are an obvious symbol of the ocean. But another Ocean Lovers Festival panel will look at some of the smallest: algae. Hosted by Natasha Mitchell of the ABC radio program Big Ideas, Algae Gold will feature algae experts Dr Alexandra Thomson and Dr Pia Winberg, who will share the secrets of this fascinating form of life, which is revolutionising environmentally friendly production in industries from cosmetics to biofuel to pharmaceuticals.
Tony Haymet, professor emeritus at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and a previous Ocean Lovers Festival panellist, says: “[Algae] were put here on Earth to turn sunlight and CO2 and nutrients into fat and protein. They really are amazing little machines and, given the problems we’ve made ourselves with CO2, nothing could be better suited to solve our problem.”
Algae, Haymet says, are incredibly quick to grow (“The plans that I’ve seen for biofuel production are you grow the algae [and] it doubles in one day”), disease resistant and important sequesterers of carbon. Algae will be a vital resource in our near future, he says.
“They’ve sort of been waiting there for the 21st century, waiting for us to figure out that we need them. We’re in the last stages of figuring out how to really take them into production.”
As the festival approaches, Pirotta is excited not just to talk about whales, but to connect with the public about the challenges facing our oceans, and the opportunities to make a difference.
“I’ve connected with so many younger generations by people approaching me at festivals like this,” Pirotta says. “It’s a lovely thing to be there and to answer questions, but also just have a frank conversation about the ocean. I think we often take the marine environment for granted.”
Explore the Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival’s program of free talks here.
