Latest / How To Protect The Ocean / How Marine Conservation Works: From Community Action to Global Policy

Transcript

How Marine Conservation Works: From Community Action to Global Policy · How To Protect The Ocean

• 1:00:00
  Let me ask you a question.
• 1:00:01
  Do you know how conservation works?
• 1:00:03
  Where does conservation actually happen?
• 1:00:06
  Because the reason why I'm
• 1:00:07
  asking this is not to be a
• 1:00:08
  elitist or anything like that.
• 1:00:09
  I want to really know how you think
• 1:00:11
  conservation happens.
• 1:00:13
  Because in this episode, I'm going to
• 1:00:14
  talk to you about my
• 1:00:15
  experience with conservation.
• 1:00:17
  I am a marine biologist and
• 1:00:19
  science communicator that's
• 1:00:20
  been working in this field of marine
• 1:00:22
  science and freshwater
• 1:00:24
  science and conservation over the last 20
• 1:00:26
  years, over 20 years.
• 1:00:27
  And I've had a podcast where I talk about
• 1:00:29
  conservation projects
• 1:00:30
  for the last 10 years.
• 1:00:31
  So I have a lot of experience in knowing
• 1:00:34
  what projects have gone
• 1:00:35
  where, how it was done.
• 1:00:37
  The reason why I'm saying this is because
• 1:00:43
  I did a review of the shark whisperer, a
• 1:00:46
  documentary on Netflix that documents
• 1:00:49
  Ocean Ramsey's work with sharks, as well
• 1:00:52
  as her so-called leading conservation
• 1:00:54
  work to get shark
• 1:00:55
  fishing banned in Hawaii.
• 1:00:57
  She contributed to a project that was led
• 1:01:00
  by indigenous Hawaiians and it seemed
• 1:01:03
  like taking credit for a
• 1:01:05
  little bit more than what she did.
• 1:01:07
  I said that was wrong.
• 1:01:08
  People lashed out at me saying, "Hey,
• 1:01:10
  she's done more conservation work than
• 1:01:11
  you have in your entire life and that
• 1:01:13
  scientists have around the world and you
• 1:01:16
  should be thankful for it."
• 1:01:18
  And that's when I realized that some
• 1:01:19
  people don't really understand how
• 1:01:22
  conservation is done.
• 1:01:24
  And there are people that contribute and
• 1:01:25
  collaborate with others to make
• 1:01:28
  conservation happen and it's great.
• 1:01:29
  And this is not a video or a podcast to
• 1:01:33
  crap on influencers because they play a
• 1:01:35
  big role and they play an even bigger
• 1:01:37
  role in the future of working with
• 1:01:40
  conservationists and
• 1:01:40
  scientists to get things done.
• 1:01:43
  But there's some caveats in there and
• 1:01:44
  there are some ways that conservation is
• 1:01:46
  done that I want people to understand.
• 1:01:47
  I want this audience to understand.
• 1:01:51
  So we're going to talk about that on
• 1:01:52
  today's episode of the How
• 1:01:53
  to Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 1:01:55
  Let's start the show.
• 1:01:59
  Hey, everybody.
• 1:02:00
  Welcome back to another exciting episode
• 1:02:01
  of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 1:02:03
  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
• 1:02:04
  This is a podcast where you find out
• 1:02:05
  what's happening with the ocean, how you
• 1:02:07
  can speak up for the ocean, what you can
• 1:02:08
  do to live for a better
• 1:02:09
  ocean by taking action.
• 1:02:12
  I'll tell you this episode.
• 1:02:12
  We're going to be talking
• 1:02:13
  about marine conservation.
• 1:02:14
  How does marine conservation work?
• 1:02:16
  How do we protect the ocean?
• 1:02:19
  This is all about how
• 1:02:20
  you can protect the ocean.
• 1:02:21
  Let's talk about how it
• 1:02:22
  actually is protected.
• 1:02:24
  That's the big thing
• 1:02:25
  we're going to talk about.
• 1:02:25
  Say before we do, if you want to better
• 1:02:28
  protect the ocean and you want to learn
• 1:02:30
  how to protect the ocean and get guided
• 1:02:32
  to protect the ocean, join our online
• 1:02:34
  community called the undertow.
• 1:02:36
  It's really easy to do so.
• 1:02:37
  You just sign up for an app.
• 1:02:40
  There's a waiting list right
• 1:02:40
  now as we prepare this app.
• 1:02:42
  It's going to be a lot
• 1:02:43
  of fun to be a part of it.
• 1:02:44
  I'm going to be a part of the community.
• 1:02:45
  I have two wonderful co founders who are
• 1:02:48
  going to be part of the committee.
• 1:02:50
  You are going to be a part of the
• 1:02:51
  community, hopefully.
• 1:02:52
  And our colleagues here on in the
• 1:02:53
  audience will be part of the community
• 1:02:54
  and we're going to be helping each other
• 1:02:56
  protect the ocean better.
• 1:02:57
  We're going to connect to the ocean.
• 1:02:58
  We're going to have events.
• 1:02:59
  We're going to have in person events with
• 1:03:00
  how virtual events we're going to talk
• 1:03:02
  about the ocean, no algorithms ocean,
• 1:03:04
  just ocean all the time.
• 1:03:05
  All you have to do is go to speak up for
• 1:03:06
  blue.com forward slash join the undertow
• 1:03:09
  that speak up for blue.com
• 1:03:11
  forward slash join the undertow.
• 1:03:13
  The link will be in the description.
• 1:03:16
  All right.
• 1:03:16
  Let's talk about how conservation works
• 1:03:18
  because I want to just let it out there.
• 1:03:20
  I was called jealous.
• 1:03:22
  I was called envious.
• 1:03:23
  I was saying, hey, somebody told me, hey,
• 1:03:26
  you haven't done anything for
• 1:03:27
  conservation like Ocean Ramsey has.
• 1:03:31
  She has done more for conservation than
• 1:03:33
  any scientists around the world.
• 1:03:34
  That's what people are claiming.
• 1:03:36
  And this is not to bash Ocean Ramsey.
• 1:03:39
  I have this is not really about her.
• 1:03:41
  This is the response of the people that I
• 1:03:43
  was some of the people that were like
• 1:03:45
  commenting on videos and
• 1:03:47
  messaging me and so forth.
• 1:03:48
  And I just said, hey, I don't know if
• 1:03:51
  people truly understand how conservation
• 1:03:54
  is done in 2025 or how it's been done in
• 1:03:58
  the past because I think there's a lot of
• 1:04:00
  people who look online and they see
• 1:04:04
  scientists and they see conservationists
• 1:04:06
  and they see influencers who are diving
• 1:04:08
  and out in the field with ocean animals.
• 1:04:11
  All the time and they're wonderful.
• 1:04:12
  They're wonderful videos.
• 1:04:13
  They're wonderful pictures.
• 1:04:15
  They tell great stories.
• 1:04:17
  It's really interesting to see they allow
• 1:04:18
  us to connect to the ocean in a ways that
• 1:04:20
  we couldn't do before the Internet and
• 1:04:22
  before social media, which is wonderful.
• 1:04:24
  It plays a huge role in storytelling for
• 1:04:27
  the ocean and bringing us in to
• 1:04:29
  conservation in a way and bring us closer
• 1:04:32
  to the ocean and it really developing
• 1:04:34
  that love for the
• 1:04:35
  ocean without social media.
• 1:04:37
  We wouldn't know about certain
• 1:04:38
  characteristics of workers or certain
• 1:04:40
  characteristics of the sharks have or the
• 1:04:43
  different species of sharks or how there
• 1:04:45
  are go sharks in the world or how there
• 1:04:48
  are cool things that turtles do, you
• 1:04:50
  know, all the just different things that
• 1:04:51
  get videoed and the fact that manatees
• 1:04:54
  can hug surfboard or something like that.
• 1:04:57
  Who knew that this was a possibility?
• 1:04:58
  We found that out through social media
• 1:05:01
  and through people sharing videos and
• 1:05:02
  sharing their experiences in the ocean
• 1:05:04
  and that is truly valuable and there is
• 1:05:06
  definitely a role of social media and
• 1:05:08
  social media influences and content
• 1:05:10
  creators as I am one that will play a
• 1:05:12
  role in conservation in
• 1:05:14
  the future and even now.
• 1:05:16
  But I think that what happens is people
• 1:05:18
  see that and they say it's all they see
• 1:05:20
  and when somebody starts to talk about
• 1:05:22
  the conservation work that
• 1:05:23
  they're doing, which is great.
• 1:05:24
  You know, that's all they know they talk
• 1:05:27
  about that conservation action and
• 1:05:29
  they're saying, yes, this person is
• 1:05:31
  actually taking part and they believe
• 1:05:32
  that person because they've trusted that
• 1:05:34
  person because they build that trust over
• 1:05:36
  time and they understand that person has
• 1:05:38
  played a significant role or a role in
• 1:05:40
  working on that conservation movement to
• 1:05:43
  have that specific
• 1:05:44
  conservation action, which is great.
• 1:05:46
  It's wonderful if they're telling the
• 1:05:49
  truth and this is where it becomes really
• 1:05:51
  complicated when it comes to influencers
• 1:05:52
  who are actually doing the work or who
• 1:05:55
  are actually trying to do the work and
• 1:05:57
  trying to conserve and whether they're
• 1:05:58
  actually doing the right work and telling
• 1:06:00
  the truth or they just trying to take
• 1:06:02
  credit, which has happened with Ocean
• 1:06:03
  Ramsey in the past with this Netflix
• 1:06:06
  documentary is reclaiming that she was
• 1:06:08
  part as she led the conservation movement
• 1:06:12
  in action to ban shark fishing in Hawaii, which is a very important thing.
• 1:06:16
  It's not the case. It was it was
• 1:06:18
  indigenous led for native for native
• 1:06:20
  Hawaiians and it was something that was
• 1:06:23
  it's known, but people aren't talking
• 1:06:25
  about because the action was already
• 1:06:27
  taken and it's great
• 1:06:28
  that it was actually taken.
• 1:06:29
  But the fact that somebody takes credit
• 1:06:30
  for that is just not it's not good. It's
• 1:06:32
  not good for for conservation. It's not
• 1:06:35
  good for marine biology. It's not good
• 1:06:37
  for a lot of things that we look at when
• 1:06:40
  we do conservation
• 1:06:41
  conservation is done not in the ocean.
• 1:06:45
  That's part of the process. I want to go
• 1:06:47
  over how conservation is done. Scientists
• 1:06:51
  go out right and they do studies and they
• 1:06:56
  depict trends that are happening in the
• 1:06:59
  ocean. Some of these trends might be
• 1:07:01
  positive. Some of these trends might be
• 1:07:02
  negative for the specific topic that
• 1:07:05
  we're looking at. So say for coral reefs,
• 1:07:08
  a scientist decides to do some work on
• 1:07:10
  coral reefs. Let's just
• 1:07:12
  make it as simple as possible.
• 1:07:13
  Are coral reefs healthy? Let's take an
• 1:07:16
  overall metric of looking at what coral
• 1:07:18
  reef health looks like. So we're looking
• 1:07:20
  at biodiverse less out like not as much
• 1:07:22
  algae that's overcoming the corals. The
• 1:07:25
  corals are fleshy. They're healthy.
• 1:07:27
  They're colorful and we see a lot of
• 1:07:30
  animals around it. So there's a big
• 1:07:32
  diversity metric that goes into it of
• 1:07:34
  this coral reef. Great. Okay. Let's just
• 1:07:36
  say that's how we look at things. Then
• 1:07:38
  scientists go out and start measuring
• 1:07:39
  these metrics over time.
• 1:07:42
  Right. And they look for differences over
• 1:07:44
  time. You know, so maybe at one point,
• 1:07:47
  say this year, there's a mass bleaching
• 1:07:49
  coral event, right? So all of a sudden,
• 1:07:51
  the corals go white. How long are the
• 1:07:54
  corals white? Do they recover? Are they
• 1:07:56
  recovering fast enough? And are they
• 1:07:57
  healthy when they are
• 1:07:58
  white when they are bleached?
• 1:08:00
  We look at that and over time we look at
• 1:08:02
  the recovery and we look at how well they
• 1:08:04
  recover. If it happens over a bunch of
• 1:08:06
  years where the recovery takes a bunch of
• 1:08:08
  years, then they're not recovering very,
• 1:08:10
  very quickly. They're recovering within
• 1:08:12
  the same summer, the same season, they're
• 1:08:14
  recovering quickly. Maybe there's hope
• 1:08:15
  for that, that habitat. So there's a lot
• 1:08:17
  of different metrics, a lot of different
• 1:08:19
  trends that we look at to make sure that
• 1:08:20
  these corals are healthy. That study gets
• 1:08:23
  published in a journal. So the scientists
• 1:08:26
  write it up. They do the math, they do
• 1:08:28
  the metrics, they compare.
• 1:08:29
  Season over season over season over
• 1:08:31
  season for a number of years. They look
• 1:08:33
  at the health. They say, you know what?
• 1:08:35
  The health is trending downward. It's a
• 1:08:37
  negative trend. We need to protect this
• 1:08:39
  habitat locally. Say it's in the Great
• 1:08:41
  Barrier Reef at a specific reef. Other
• 1:08:43
  parts of the reef are doing better than
• 1:08:44
  this part of the reef. But why is this
• 1:08:46
  part of the reef doing? So the scientists
• 1:08:48
  will make conclusion inferences on what
• 1:08:50
  needs to be studied more to determine
• 1:08:51
  what other causes are causing the slow
• 1:08:54
  recovery as opposed to other coral reef
• 1:08:57
  habitats within the same area or within the same area.
• 1:08:58
  Or near that area of what's why they're
• 1:09:01
  recovering faster than the others. This
• 1:09:03
  is all hypothetical, but you know, some
• 1:09:05
  truth to it, but all hypothetical. So
• 1:09:07
  there's studies that are done after that.
• 1:09:09
  There's studies that are joined during
• 1:09:10
  that. They write up the study, they
• 1:09:12
  publish the study so other scientists can
• 1:09:14
  see it during that time when they publish
• 1:09:15
  the study, it goes to different editors
• 1:09:18
  to review those editors review it. They
• 1:09:20
  critique it scientifically, critique it
• 1:09:23
  to make sure that the science is right
• 1:09:24
  and that they agree with the science.
• 1:09:26
  That means they agree with the statistics using the science.
• 1:09:27
  They agree with the statistics use, they
• 1:09:28
  agree with the study design. They agree
• 1:09:30
  with the results. They agree with the
• 1:09:32
  interpretation. They fully agree, but
• 1:09:33
  they have to say, you know what, this
• 1:09:34
  makes sense based on what is coming out
• 1:09:37
  with the results and so forth. If it gets
• 1:09:40
  accepted, it gets published. If it
• 1:09:42
  doesn't, it goes back for changes.
• 1:09:44
  There's questions that are asked and they
• 1:09:45
  go through an entire process and they get
• 1:09:47
  it edited again and reviewed. And then
• 1:09:49
  say it gets accepted. It goes on to a
• 1:09:51
  primary journal, which goes out to other
• 1:09:53
  scientists. They read it, especially
• 1:09:55
  those who are in coral reef science.
• 1:09:56
  They start to read it. Conservationists
• 1:09:59
  will read it. They're like, oh, nonprofit
• 1:10:00
  organizations, stuff that are really
• 1:10:01
  interested in coral reef science will be
• 1:10:04
  like, oh my gosh, this is really
• 1:10:05
  interesting. I wonder what's going on.
• 1:10:07
  Where is the problem? Then those
• 1:10:09
  organizations will look at that study and
• 1:10:12
  maybe they already know the scientists
• 1:10:14
  who are involved, the
• 1:10:15
  primary author and so forth.
• 1:10:16
  And they say, hey, can we talk to you
• 1:10:18
  about this? Like we really want to get
• 1:10:19
  this out to our constituents, our
• 1:10:21
  followers, our audience and make sure
• 1:10:23
  that they know what's going on. So they
• 1:10:25
  maybe do an interview. They post it
• 1:10:27
  online. They may send it to me.
• 1:10:30
  Like some of the sometimes people are
• 1:10:32
  getting sent to me. They have a really
• 1:10:33
  good article. I do an interview. We post
• 1:10:35
  that online. Organizations start to say,
• 1:10:38
  hey, we need to have a call to action. We
• 1:10:40
  need to protect these. And maybe if other
• 1:10:43
  cumulative effects, like there's
• 1:10:44
  development nearby or new technology, they're going to be able to do that.
• 1:10:45
  Can we move on to the the
• 1:11:05
  device?
• 1:11:05
  Everything needs to be accessible.
• 1:11:07
  An investigation to its currency. So also the is what we find is happening.
• 1:11:16
  This is what the science has found.
• 1:11:18
  And the government will be like,
• 1:11:19
  "Okay, well, this is a
• 1:11:20
  question that the people have had.
• 1:11:21
  We have to investigate it,
• 1:11:23
  so we'll get our scientists on it.
• 1:11:24
  We'll collaborate together
• 1:11:25
  and we'll find out a solution."
• 1:11:27
  Maybe it has to go to policy.
• 1:11:28
  So if it goes to the policy department,
• 1:11:30
  they're like, "What do we need to do?
• 1:11:31
  Right now, nutrients are at this level."
• 1:11:33
  Or maybe it's just the best possible way,
• 1:11:35
  like keep nutrients as low as possible.
• 1:11:37
  There's not an actual
• 1:11:38
  specific number for companies
• 1:11:40
  and organizations and industries
• 1:11:43
  who are producing
• 1:11:44
  nutrients that go into the water
• 1:11:46
  or in that area maybe.
• 1:11:47
  And so they'll engage,
• 1:11:48
  the government will engage
• 1:11:49
  with those that industry.
• 1:11:51
  The industry's come back and they say,
• 1:11:52
  "Well, we don't really want to change.
• 1:11:53
  We think everything's fine.
• 1:11:54
  It's going to be
• 1:11:54
  really expensive to change."
• 1:11:55
  And then they say,
• 1:11:56
  "Well, nonprofit organizations
• 1:11:57
  in the industry and the government
• 1:11:58
  kind of go back and forth."
• 1:12:00
  And they try to come to a compromise.
• 1:12:02
  That compromise gets put into policy.
• 1:12:04
  That policy gets put into play
• 1:12:05
  and the scientists
• 1:12:06
  will look at the trends
• 1:12:07
  as long with the government
• 1:12:08
  because governments
• 1:12:08
  have scientists as well.
• 1:12:10
  They will look at the trends
• 1:12:11
  and they will go through
• 1:12:12
  the whole process again
• 1:12:14
  and see if those
• 1:12:15
  trends actually take place.
• 1:12:17
  If that happens, the
• 1:12:18
  policy will change in law
• 1:12:20
  and this will get put into place.
• 1:12:22
  So that's how conservation is done.
• 1:12:25
  It starts off in the field.
• 1:12:26
  It starts off in the
• 1:12:27
  ocean, looking at trends.
• 1:12:28
  It goes to different,
• 1:12:30
  it goes to get published.
• 1:12:32
  It goes to different media
• 1:12:33
  and different organizations
• 1:12:35
  to get people involved
• 1:12:36
  and get people to know
• 1:12:37
  if they think it's
• 1:12:38
  necessary for people to know.
• 1:12:39
  Get that support for government.
• 1:12:41
  They put pressure on the government.
• 1:12:43
  The government has to
• 1:12:43
  look at it for the most part.
• 1:12:45
  Sometimes governments don't look at it.
• 1:12:46
  So that's an issue within itself and a
• 1:12:49
  challenge within itself.
• 1:12:50
  If they start looking at it and say,
• 1:12:51
  "Hey, yeah, actually we should do
• 1:12:53
  something about this."
• 1:12:53
  They engage in the
• 1:12:54
  industry and they go forth
• 1:12:56
  and it just gets kind of, you know, just
• 1:12:58
  it goes through a loop,
• 1:12:59
  write a feedback loop and
• 1:13:00
  it continues to go like that.
• 1:13:01
  That's how conservation works.
• 1:13:03
  Conservation, the
• 1:13:04
  policy, the laws that get made
• 1:13:06
  and the negotiations that happen do not
• 1:13:08
  happen out on a boat
• 1:13:09
  in the middle of the ocean.
• 1:13:10
  It happens in a room.
• 1:13:11
  It happens in a conference room.
• 1:13:12
  It happens in a board room.
• 1:13:14
  It happens at a computer where
• 1:13:15
  people are doing data analysis
• 1:13:17
  for years and years of
• 1:13:18
  results or of field data
• 1:13:21
  that has been collected.
• 1:13:23
  It's done in every different place.
• 1:13:25
  It's done by influencers
• 1:13:27
  who are making people aware,
• 1:13:29
  nonprofit organizations who
• 1:13:30
  are putting out the stuff,
• 1:13:32
  the information so that people can be,
• 1:13:33
  more and more people can be aware.
• 1:13:35
  Some people like by me
• 1:13:36
  who puts out to my audience,
• 1:13:38
  say, "Hey, you need to know about this.
• 1:13:40
  This is really important."
• 1:13:41
  There's so many different arms and
• 1:13:43
  aspects and branches of conservation.
• 1:13:46
  It happens in a
• 1:13:47
  number of different places.
• 1:13:47
  It doesn't just happen from one person.
• 1:13:51
  That's the key.
• 1:13:52
  It's not one person.
• 1:13:53
  It's not one organization.
• 1:13:55
  It's not one government.
• 1:13:56
  It's not one science lab.
• 1:13:58
  It's not one scientist.
• 1:13:59
  It is a team of people.
• 1:14:01
  It is a collaboration of people.
• 1:14:04
  I just talked to Bardor.
• 1:14:05
  We just published that episode last week,
• 1:14:06
  couple of episodes ago.
• 1:14:07
  Check it out.
• 1:14:08
  It's a collaboration.
• 1:14:10
  Conservation is collaboration.
• 1:14:12
  It's necessary to do conservation.
• 1:14:14
  You can't do it alone.
• 1:14:16
  So going back to the comments that I was
• 1:14:19
  getting on my video of,
• 1:14:21
  you know, of
• 1:14:22
  critiquing the shark whisperer.
• 1:14:25
  One person, one video
• 1:14:27
  doesn't make a policy.
• 1:14:29
  It is a team of people who have put the
• 1:14:32
  work in to either
• 1:14:34
  come up with the science,
• 1:14:36
  come up with the data, come up with the
• 1:14:39
  feedback from the local community and
• 1:14:41
  local organizations who are involved
• 1:14:44
  daily in this type of work.
• 1:14:47
  From to the fishing community to the
• 1:14:49
  industry that are involved in this type
• 1:14:52
  of work to the influencers and the
• 1:14:54
  content creators who are making more and
• 1:14:56
  more people aware of that work so they
• 1:14:58
  can take their sort of movement and bring
• 1:15:01
  it to the government to put more pressure
• 1:15:03
  to address the issue.
• 1:15:05
  It's a collaboration.
• 1:15:07
  It's not just one person.
• 1:15:09
  So when you hear scientists and you hear
• 1:15:11
  conservation conservation and say, hey,
• 1:15:14
  you know what, you know, when that one
• 1:15:15
  person said that they were the reason why
• 1:15:18
  this fishing band got put in place.
• 1:15:21
  That's not true
• 1:15:22
  because she played a part.
• 1:15:24
  Two million, two million followers on
• 1:15:27
  Instagram, probably more on TikTok and on
• 1:15:30
  YouTube and so forth.
• 1:15:31
  She has an army of public people who are
• 1:15:34
  interested in conserving
• 1:15:36
  sharks for whatever reason.
• 1:15:37
  It doesn't matter if it's
• 1:15:38
  what she does is right or wrong.
• 1:15:40
  She has the attention of people and she
• 1:15:42
  can mobilize those people, right?
• 1:15:44
  If they want to be mobilized, she can
• 1:15:46
  say, hey, there's this new movement going
• 1:15:47
  on or there's this movement going on.
• 1:15:49
  It's led by so and so.
• 1:15:51
  And I want you guys to check it out
• 1:15:52
  because I think it's important.
• 1:15:54
  And if you send your support by doing
• 1:15:56
  such and such thing, it would
• 1:15:57
  really help out this movement.
• 1:15:58
  And it would be it would feel good to
• 1:16:00
  protect these sharks that I work with
• 1:16:02
  each and every day, whether you agree
• 1:16:04
  with what she does or not, which I don't.
• 1:16:07
  That's what she could have done.
• 1:16:08
  And she could have come out and said,
• 1:16:09
  hey, you know what, remember that
• 1:16:10
  movement, that policy that I wanted that
• 1:16:12
  we wanted to do as a team and we want to
• 1:16:15
  get the shark fishing band like that.
• 1:16:16
  These indigenous Hawaiians have been
• 1:16:18
  trying to get banned for number of
• 1:16:20
  numerous years and the Senate finally
• 1:16:22
  listened and they finally passed it.
• 1:16:24
  You were helping that.
• 1:16:25
  I thank you. Thank you so much for
• 1:16:27
  protecting these sharks.
• 1:16:29
  We did it together.
• 1:16:30
  We did it as a team.
• 1:16:32
  Not I did a video where I
• 1:16:33
  hung on to a great white shark.
• 1:16:35
  And because of that, people saw that
• 1:16:37
  sharks are not monsters.
• 1:16:39
  So we got this shark
• 1:16:40
  fishing ban like done in Hawaii.
• 1:16:44
  That's not how you do it.
• 1:16:45
  That's the wrong thing.
• 1:16:47
  And I think people need to know that
• 1:16:50
  people need to know
• 1:16:51
  how conservation works.
• 1:16:52
  This is not to say that what influencers
• 1:16:55
  do or content creators do is useless.
• 1:16:58
  They play a very important role in the
• 1:17:00
  conservation process, but it is a process
• 1:17:03
  is made up of a number of contributors
• 1:17:05
  that help get things passed, including
• 1:17:07
  lawmakers, including lawmakers who want
• 1:17:10
  to get a pass who they say, hey, you know
• 1:17:13
  what, this is really important.
• 1:17:14
  We need to get this passed.
• 1:17:16
  And that is what I want to get across
• 1:17:18
  today in so many words.
• 1:17:19
  There's probably a lot
• 1:17:21
  more than I should have.
• 1:17:22
  But I want I wanted
• 1:17:23
  people to understand that.
• 1:17:24
  So I'd love to hear
• 1:17:25
  your thoughts on this.
• 1:17:26
  You know, after you join the undertow
• 1:17:28
  speak up for blue dot com
• 1:17:29
  forward slash join the undertow.
• 1:17:31
  I want to hear your thoughts.
• 1:17:32
  Let me know in the comments below.
• 1:17:33
  But also let me know if you if you're
• 1:17:36
  listening to this on if you're listening
• 1:17:37
  to this on YouTube and you're listening
• 1:17:39
  to this on your favorite podcast app.
• 1:17:40
  Just let me know, you know, by going to
• 1:17:42
  speak up for blue dot
• 1:17:43
  com forward slash contact.
• 1:17:45
  Send me an email. I'd love
• 1:17:46
  to hear your thoughts on this.
• 1:17:46
  I think it's really important that we
• 1:17:48
  have discussions on this or DME on
• 1:17:50
  Instagram at How to Protect the Ocean.
• 1:17:52
  I want to thank you so much for joining
• 1:17:54
  me on today's episode of the How to
• 1:17:55
  Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 1:17:56
  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin from the True
• 1:17:57
  North Strong and Free.
• 1:17:58
  Have a great day. We'll talk to you next
• 1:18:00
  time and have a conversation.