Swimming Te Ara a Kiwa for sharks

This is so messed up. The orange roughy are rare and were almost fished to extinction. Petition here: https://www.change.org/p/nz-government-stop-the-fishing-industry-destroying-ancient-coral-forests/psf/promote_or_share

In a shocking move, the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) has just
certified the rare Orange Roughy as "sustainable". 😲

Link: https://au.news.yahoo.com/rare-species-to-be-served-up-to-aussie-diners-as-certified-sustainable-meal-033408417.html

This deep-sea fish, which can live for over 250 years, has been pushed to the brink - and we need to protect it from more destructive fishing. The Orange Roughy fishery uses bottom trawling, which also kills ancient deep-sea corals hundreds or even thousands of years old. 🐙

Threatened species should never be labelled as sustainable seafood, and the Marine Stewardship Council had to lower its own Standards (which previously ruled out certifying fisheries that target threatened species) to certify this fishery. 🤔

These towering underwater mountains are lifelines for the ocean, supporting marine biodiversity and climate regulation. 🌊

Let's protect these special places from destructive activities, like bottom trawl fishing. Sign the petition to ban bottom trawling, follow the link in our bio. ✒️

Finally sat down and wrote a bit about our day down in Te Ara a Kiwa 💙Click the blog post to read a bit about the swim, see some beautiful photos taken by Jessica Russell, and most importantly you can scroll straight to the bottom to read some actions you can take to protect sharks and the moana!

Full Circles in Te Ara a Kiwa Full Circles in Te Ara a Kiwa The first time I thought about Te Ara a Kiwa was 6 years ago, swimming with Eliza at Fryberg pool. We were tal...

I have some very exciting news! My incredibly talented friend Aleisha Neary has drawn a beautiful piece of art, which I'm selling prints (A3 size) for $20 each as a fundraiser for Mountains to Sea Wellington. There is a colour print or a black & white print available. A beautiful xmas present

As Te Ara a Kiwa isn't happening until next season now, I'm organising a swimathon in the meantime! Aiming to raise funds and awareness for Mountains to Sea Wellington, celebrate a great summer of swimming, and have a fun and safe day. We'll have a little set-up on the beach. Feel free to come along for the whole thing, or one or two miles, or just to stop in and say hello 🤟This is an informally organised event where everyone is responsible for keeping each other safe - please bring a tow float, warm gear, lights if you're there for the dawn/dusk period and if possible swim with people of similar speed.
Details:
Date and time: Saturday 13th April, from 6am - 7pm
Location: Fryberg Beach :)

As the swim isn't happening this season anymore, I'm organising a swimathon to close up the summer! Aiming to raise funds and awareness for Mountains to Sea Wellington celebrate a great summer of swimming, and have a fun and safe day. We'll have a little set-up on the beach. Feel free to come along for the whole thing, or one or two miles, or just to stop in and say hello 🤟This is an informally organised event where everyone is responsible for keeping each other safe - please bring a tow float, warm gear, lights if you're there for the dawn/dusk period and if possible swim with people of similar speed.
Details:
Date and time: Saturday 13th April, from 6am - 7pm
Location: Fryberg Beach :)

Due to weather and water temperature, my window for swimming Te Ara a Kiwa this season has unfortunately closed. I'll now be doing the swim in December 2024. I've written a few thoughts and reflections about this on my swimming blog, which you can read here: https://still-belowthesurface.blogspot.com/2024/03/bobo-is-no-go-lessons-from-20232024.html
In the meantime, I'll be continuing to raise money for Mountains to Sea Wellington on Give A Little: https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/swimming-te-ara-a-kiwa-for-sharks and will be continuing on an educational campaign raising awareness for how important sharks are, how much danger they are in and how we can be part of the solution.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported me so far on this journey

An enormous thank you to the Eastern Suburbs Sports Trust for generously sponsoring my swim with $1000! The Eastern Suburbs Sports Trust is an absolutely incredible initiative which helps so many athletes in the Eastern Suburbs community. In fact, when my friends and I were 16 they helped sponsor us to go to World Championships for Waterpolo in Spain! Going into the supermarket to get the sponsorship photo felt like revisiting an old and really special part of my life. Especially because I have been training so hard the past few months and have been making times that I haven’t done since I was around that age - 10 years ago now! Madi has already got to work decorating these Eastern Suburbs Sports Trust drink bottles with shark stickers so it’s ready for my Te Ara a Kiwa swim 🥹I truly could not do this swim without the help of my communities, and I am so grateful to say that the Eastern Suburbs Sports Trust is now another one of those communities - and that includes everyone who shops at Eastern Suburbs supermarkets ❤️Thank you !

Thank you to everyone who came to the second Ocean Safety Session 🌊With our two sessions combined there are now almost 70 more people in the Te Whanganui-a-Tara swimming community who are more confident in preventing and responding to emergencies in the ocean. Together we have also raised over ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS for the ! If you haven’t been there I highly recommend checking it out. Organisations like this, (along with , , and many more) help to connect people to the precious Taputeranga Marine Reserve, which is so important. A big shout out again to for being such an incredible surf club and giving us a space to pass on ocean safety knowledge! If anyone would like me to remove any photos feel free to message me 🥰

I've heard lots of people say that they feel helpless when it comes to the genocide happening in Palestine. Action is the antidote to despair, so here's a list of things you can do to help. Most of these are easy things that just take a few clicks and/or copying and pasting.

​Protests:
Go to protests. See https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064134091562&sk=events for updates on when and where protests and actions of solidarity are.

Sign petitions:
Action Station Petition for NZ to live up to its international legal obligations:
https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/genocide-in-gaza-call-for-new-zealand-to-live-up-to-its-international-legal-obligations?fbclid=PAAaaxCjirtpv9MUWlRG73I0RrBp6Rd-txBOdewa9cmqk08q7ROqxrzDb8yK4_aem_ARrSBvqTJP_oMLkl-CnGwFONcsM6oe8Iwwe4wfO7Zto_sd7_hpPyxppDFEmmL0bBkqs
PSNA petition to close the Israeli embassy:
https://www.psna.nz/petition

Write letters:
Write to MPs + Christopher Luxon about supporting South Africa's genocide case at the Court of International Justice: https://www.psna.nz/letter-to-pm-luxon
Whatsapp group: (they send templates for you to email MPs)
https://tr.ee/n1I69gU7AE (open on your phone)
Write to NZ news agencies:
Link to a resource about media coverage and advice:
https://tr.ee/-JBmRmRK5R (open on your phone)
Follow this page and write letters to people's companies/employers: https://www.instagram.com/stopzionisthate/

​Boycott:
​Boycott businesses donating and supporting Israel:
Big ones:
- Starbucks
- Mcdonald’s, KFC, Subway
- Coca-Cola, Fanta, etc
- Disney Plus
- Nestle

​Download this app to scan and see if the product is supporting Israel:
Halal Kiwi
​You can also support Palestinian-owned businesses

Put up posters:
https://againstapartheid.art/wheatpaste

​Educate yourself:
​Learn more about Palestine:
https://decolonizepalestine.com/
​https://www.psna.nz/pamphlets-books

​Donate:
​There are many places you can donate to for Palestine. Here are a few:
https://www.psna.nz/where-to-donate-for-palestine
https://www.psna.nz/donate
https://www.palestinercs.org/en
You can also donate SIM cards to Journalists on the ground. Found out how here: https://www.gazaesims.com/

Other, random things you can do:
If you have an iPhone, open the maps app and shake your phone to report an issue, report that Palestine is not on the map​ but it should be

Engage with Palestinian content:
If on Instagram, follow these people:
Click on this link then go to the “resources” highlighted story, and you’ll see a list of Palestinians to follow. If you click the post their tagged accounts will come up
https://www.instagram.com/sbeih.jpg?igsh=MWlndGVtMGJ4N2VwcA==
Go to Shaneel's highlighted story "Pal to Follow"
https://www.instagram.com/shaneellall?igsh=MXQ1NmN6cGNnMDJqdA==
https://www.instagram.com/eye.on.palestine/
Like, comment, and share posts to increase engagement. Lots of content is getting shadow-banned so click on the actual profiles. See Shannel's Highlight "Gaz Insta Tips"

Aotearoa support and rally pages with resources and protest dates/updates:
https://www.instagram.com/just4pal/
https://www.instagram.com/saf_te_pia/
https://www.instagram.com/organiseaotearoa/
https://www.instagram.com/ponekeantifa/
https://www.instagram.com/palestinian.id/
https://www.instagram.com/palestinian.youth.aotearoa/
https://www.instagram.com/aotearoaliberationleague/
These are all Instagram links but you can follow them on Facebook too :D

Shop:
https://preservedidentity.com/shop-products/?fbclid=PAAaaaRyY06qZmse3gOwGxgCneysvTYWjm2nbhOgzIa0-2f2ezn8ksmLL5q8k_aem_ARp7_3YuGhyRpwKlIY0lrJyPpYFpEsxM8CV4kilGs2OHf8wMlUC1UDYeuR95DPs4WhA
​
If you have any additional things you can do please comment below :) Keep fighting for a better world... Injustice anywhere is still injustice everywhere.