“It’s quiet down there. All you can hear is your own breathing.”
(Ocean Conservation Trust seagrass restorer)
Plymouth Sound?1
Marine HEAT waves!
Marine HEAT waves!
3.5 times as many “marine
HEAT wave days”2 as any
previous year on record.
A 50% increase since 2011.2
The cool sea
is boiling alive
in record ocean
temperatures
while humans bask
on Bovisand beaches
Warning, warning, warning!
But interventions “limited.” 2
Coastal communities still
blissfully unaware
Or concerned only about
“economic consequences.”
“You shall have a fishy
on a little dishy
when the boat comes in.” 3
The surge fuelled
by climate change
by easy jets
by business as usual
by hard habits
by blind-eye-turning,
by “I’m alright Jenny.”
“I’m alright Jack.”
Did somebody say “Just Eat?”
El Niño blamed. Easier
on the human conscience.
Pre-boiled lobsters.
Crustacean compassion non-existent.
Fish harmed.
“Increased strandings
of whales and dolphins.” 2
Starving seabirds.
The fan mussel facing
imminent extinction.
Mass migration
Northwards.
Record ocean temperatures!
Living sea beds turned
to coral crematoriums.
Blue meadows,
blue meadows,
blue carbon meadows
DEAD – BLEACHED
to Nothingness.
The 4th global
coral bleaching event.
Ashes to ashes.
Ghost sea grasses
sapped and silvered.
Algal blooms
suffocating
the survivors.
Global devastation
in just two years.
Human induced.
Boar fish, Pipe fish,
Snipe fish, Star fish…
Seahorse, Cat Shark,
Squat Lobster…
The octopus’ Garden!
No more Strawberry Anemone…
No more Velvet Swimming Crab…
No more Porcelain Crab or Brittlestar…
No more Cuckoo Wrasse or humble Blenny…
As above, so below.
As below, so above.
Marine heat waves are driving
“Extreme weather patterns…
Deadly atmospheric heatwaves.
Widespread flooding.” 2
Proactive action is needed
to mitigate damage.
Reversal difficult.
The Primordial Soup!
Whale road, shark road, mussel meadow!
Haven of the hook-nosed sea pig! 4
White horses screaming “SOS,”
foaming at the mouth,
for a turn of the Tide!
Plymouth Sound?
Plymouth Sound?
Heidi Stephenson
1 Plymouth Sound is a deep inlet in the English Channel near Plymouth. Home to over 1000 marine species, it covers a distance of 3 nautical miles east-west and 3 nautical miles north-south. The marine entrance is from the English Channel with a deep-water channel to the west of Plymouth Breakwater. There are two freshwater inlets: from the River Tamar via the Hamoaze and Devonport Dockyard, (the largest naval dockyard in western Europe) and the River Plym. Plymouth Sound is now the UK’s first National Marine Park: https://www.bluemarinefoundation.com/projects/plymouth-marine-park/
2 This poem is part Found. It uses new research from the Marine Biological Association. Please see: https://www.mba.ac.uk/record-breaking-marine-heatwaves-caused-global-devastation-in-the-last-two-years/
3 A traditional English folk song from Northumbria. The lyrics were written by William Watson in 1826.
4 The literal meaning of the ancient Greek word for “seal.”
https://news.sky.com/story/plymouth-set-to-be-the-home-of-uks-first-national-marine-park-11808533
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Wow, Heidi, for those of us that love the oceans and all their denizens, this is both wonderful (your words) and chilling (your meaning)! As a snorkeller for 50+ years and scuba diver for 27 what I see confirms the deterioration of the sea environment all around the globe. Some is just human abuse and overuse, but some is global warming, global destruction, overeating, overfishing, but also just damned overheating! And it will get worse! People don’t realize that Net Zero carbon emissions would just mean turning the engines off the juggernaut of climate destruction which would continue gliding forward towards doom under its own momentum. Only when we get into Negative Carbon output can we slow, stop and reverse this holocaust of nature.
Comment by Paul Ernest on 23 April, 2025 at 7:40 amThank you so much Paul, for amplifying this vital message, and with eye witness testimony as a diver…We need radical change. Each of us needs to clean up our act: no more flying, and locally-grown, plant-based, vegan diets would be a good start. And collective action to get rid of the monsters in power who are driving so much of this “holocaust of nature.”
Comment by Heidi Stephenson on 23 April, 2025 at 5:44 pmI’ve been a diver for 40 years and can confirm Paul’s observations. Now I live in southern Europe and am really shocked how little life is left in the Mediterranean. There’s endless awful news from the Red Sea but nobody seems to care what the effects on marine life are. The islands off Yemen were absolutely incredible to dive but are they still? If Saudi Arabia goes ahead with it’s ridiculous construction plans what will happen to the Manatees that hang out in the south bay on Sanafir Island? It’s overwhelming really and I’m so busy trying to grow all my own food that I can’t do much to help but do try to support Sea Shepherd and Capt. Paul Watson’s Foundation and I hope you will excuse me for advertising them here.
Comment by Tim on 24 April, 2025 at 7:47 amIt’s beyond the beyond…those wonderful, intelligent, sociable herbivores now facing starvation and extinction because of seagrass decimation, habitat destruction, red tides, boat strikes, ship strikes, and historical hunting…
https://www.paulwatsonfoundation.org/
https://seashepherd.org/
https://environmental-action.org/take-action/help-make-every-day-safer-for-manatees/
https://savethemanatee.org/about/advocacy-and-public-awareness/
and while we’re at it:
https://www.crustaceancompassion.org/
Comment by Heidi Stephenson on 25 April, 2025 at 5:06 pmhttps://www.greenpeace.org.uk/challenges/#oceans
https://uk.whales.org/
https://www.savedolphins.eii.org/campaigns/sjd
https://www.sas.org.uk/
“Whale road, shark road, mussel meadow!” this resonated with me, the unwitting testimony of road signs highlighted here in Heidi’s terrifyingly beautiful words, and thank you for all the useful links, the thoughtfulness and for facing the harshness, head on, that equally terrifies me.
Comment by Helen Pletts on 26 April, 2025 at 10:19 am