Shoppers visiting the world famous Oxford Street in London are in for quite a treat. The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) has partnered with Selfridges, a high end department store in the heart of the city, to help educate the public about protecting the world’s marine life. The Project Ocean initiative is intended to show customers of the store, as well as window shoppers passing by, which products to purchase and use that have the smallest impact on wild fish populations. The project also intends to educate seafood lovers on which fish are threatened by the seafood trade, with obvious hopes of getting the public to dine on a more sustainable ocean-based food source. Additionally, Project Ocean will also highlight various conservation activities performed by the ZSL behind the scenes. The corals used in this public relations endeavor were all donated by the London Zoo and were all originally confiscated from customs as illegal shipments. Using these corals is done in part to improve the sustainability of the coral trade and prevents the seized corals from dying in a warehouse buried under tons of other seized goods.
We applaud educational efforts by zoos and aquariums such as this, as getting the public involved in seafood and marine life sustainability is the best bet for saving our oceans. We hope the best for the project and would like to see it exceed all of its goals, especially since living corals are being the educational tool.
