AIPF – The Aeolian Islands Preservation Fund has been linked to actor Adrian Grenier,
creator of the Lonely Whale Foundation, in order to create a global network of activities and exchange of information for the protection of the most fragile marine ecosystem, starting from the Aeolian Islands.
Salina 1st of October.
A few weeks ago, Luca Del Bono, chairman of the Aeolian Islands Preservation Fund was on a golden beach, overlooking the Pacific Ocean when he met by chance actor Adrian Grenier, founder of the Lonely Whale Foundation, a recently born organization dedicated to the Ocean.
The connection between the two, is their dedication to raise awareness about issues at sea, through education and empathy, in order to engage with communities to act for the defense of the marine ecosystem.
Through a simple ashtag #makeasplash, Lonely Whale seeks to give voice to the oceans and fight for its survival, in particular focusing on the problem of marine debris and ocean acidification.
The AIPF think tank took place this weekend in Salina, at the Capofaro Resort, following the undertaking of the crossing of the Strait of Messina conducted by Adrian Grenier with Richard Branson, to urge attention to the issues of conservation of the oceans and has been the opportunity to arrange a meeting between local and international experts to discuss marine preservation and strategic communication on environmental issues related to the big blue. Also the Hotel Signum has contributed to the success, by providing their own structure for the AIPF team.
During the think-tank, other participants include Allison Perry of Oceana Ngo, expert on Habitat Mapping of the Mediterranean and Oceans; Andrea Morello president of Sea Shepherd Ngo in Italy, Mariasole Bianco of IUCN and Worldrise Ngo, just returning from the World Conference of Marine Protected Areas in Hawaii, Rory Moore of BLUE Marine Foundation and the Italian biologists Monica Blasi, director of Filicudi Wildlife Conservation and Giulia Bernardi who is finishing her PHD on the underwater survey of fish species in Salina.
The think tank, coordinated by Federica Tesoriero, aims to create awearness and share strategies for the preservation of the sea around the Aeolian Islands, especially for the future marine protected area implementation, for too long boasted by local governments.
In fact, the AIPF recently organized in August on the island of Panarea, a successful meeting with the Italian Minister of Environment and Protection of Land and Sea, Gian Luca Galletti, which was also attended by all key stakeholders crucial for the success of the MPA establishment, including leading ocean advocates like Ernesto Bertarelli.
As already other international stars as Natalie Imbruglia and Noa, Adrian Grenier has been enthusiastic to see the unique beauty of our, but he also was upset after diving at the “Grotta dei gamberi” in Salina, to see as our beautiful sea is too depauperated.
During the Think Tank we discussed important issues such as how best to communicate to local people and stakeholders the need to protect our sea; it has been enphatising the importance of involving the fishermen in process since the begin, as they are key people to identify and to safeguarding the fishing reserves that should be established in order to guarantee the reproduction of fish species to the Aeolian Islands and revive traditional fishing that has always characterized our islands.
We compared functional models of marine protected areas around the world, from Mexico to El Hierro, marine areas that work and bring important economic benefits to local communities. Especially the model of El Hierro is important: the fishermen zoned specific fishing reserves and organise themselves to protect their fishery resources.
The important experience of Sea Shepherd, through the extraordinary stories of Andrea Morello, showed us why our sea is now a fragile ecosystem that we have to protect and document how illegal fishing in Sicily is moving very fast toward our waters.
It has been enphatised how crucial is to create now an international network to give voice to the sea: we want this meeting of world experts in marine environment to become a regular appointment in the Aeolian, with the involvement of important stakeholders who can really raise internationally awearness of our Aeolian archipelago.
Along with Adrian Grenier and other experts involved we launch a worldwide appeal: We want to preserve the Aeolian Islands through the virtuous cooperation between local communities, fishermen, tourism operators and municipalities to let our beautiful islands to be defended and to preserve natural resources, allowing future generations to be able to fully enjoy the richness of this unique sea in the Mediterranean.