Sydney - the home of Underwater Earth

For over ten years Underwater Earth has been revealing the magic of the world’s ocean to millions of people globally placing our 360-degree immersive technology in such platforms as Google Street View, but many may not appreciate all our work started back in 2010 in our home coastal waters of Sydney where early prototype camera testing and, later, Sydney Coast and Harbour surveys took place. Since then our work has extended to partnering with the Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival and with Mission Blue team, helping to secure Sydney Coast as a Hope Spot. More detail lies beneath.

SIMS Collaboration

In March 2014, as part of our XL Catlin Seaview Survey global initiative, we partnered with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science to carry out a temperate scientific survey of the world-famous Sydney harbour and surrounding coastline, creating a scientific baseline record of the marine environment that can be used to accurately monitor change over time.

Sydney Coast - a Mission Blue Hope Spot

In April 2019, to align with the inaugural Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival at Bondi Beach, Sydney Coast was declared a new Mission Blue Hope Spot.

Championed by Anita Kolni and Carolyn Grant (of Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival) and Lorna Parry (of Underwater Earth), this recognition firmly puts Sydney’s cherished coastline onto the international stage.

The Hope Spot announcement was held at the iconic Icebergs Club, Australia's oldest swimming club and the Icebergs tidal pool featured a crayweed installation in recognition of the Operation Crayweed restoration project underway at the Hope Spot.

Operation Crayweed

Crayweed is a seaweed that was once dominant in the waters off the coast of Sydney that form dense underwater forests that support the area’s diverse marine ecosystem. Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle believes that understanding plants is the first step to understanding any ecosystem – she has conducted considerable research in marine botany, and completed her dissertation Phaeophyta of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico in 1969 in which she collected and studied more than 20,000 samples of algae. Dr. Earle’s mission is to ignite public support in protecting the Earth’s waters through a network of marine protected areas, also called Hope Spots, with the idea that when the life in the ocean is healthy, it ensures that the life on land can enjoy a healthy existence, as well.

Sydney Coast

A dive into Sydney's striking blue waters will reveal more than 600 species of vibrantly coloured fish including the weedy seadragon and the Eastern blue devilfish – magnificent species found nowhere else in the world. Sydney is also on the humpback and Southern right whale migration routes with historic Southern right whale calving grounds in Sydney Harbour. The Sydney Harbour is also home to the last mainland colony of little penguins on the New South Wales coast, who only grow to 33cm and are the smallest penguins on Earth!

Unfortunately, the area has suffered under mounting pressure from pollution, overdevelopment on the coast, the increasing human population and negative effects of climate change including rising sea temperatures. Plastic pollution is choking the waterways and harming the wildlife. In 2017, coral bleaching reached Sydney Harbour for the first time. With so much at stake and less than 1% of Sydney’s blue backyard currently protected, it is our privilege and duty to protect the coast for both the marine life and future generations who reside here. The Sydney Coast Hope Spot is an investment into the future that can ensure we pass a healthy legacy on to the next generation. The solution includes reducing our carbon footprint, rejecting single use plastic and promoting responsible development policy in Sydney.

Sydney’s coastal waters are the pride and joy of the region and perhaps one of the continent’s greatest assets with more than 13 million visitors flocking to its beaches every year to enjoy its glowing sun and inspiring marine life. The treasures of the Sydney coast need to be preserved, and with the public’s involvement and support we can ensure a healthy future for Sydney’s marine ecosystem and of the rest of the world’s oceans, as well.

“I have a particular fondness of the waters around the Sydney coast. The waters around Australia have treasures that are special, but they’re at risk. Not because people are trying to lose them or trying to harm them, but because of the pressure that comes from our activities that are spilling over into the ocean – what we’re putting into the sea and taking out of it. Going back to the time of the 1970s when we really didn’t know that it mattered; we had an idea that the ocean would always recover no matter what. But now we know and we have the evidence. Now you have a special role. You know why the ocean matters and you know that you have the power to do something to protect what remains and to restore what we can of what has been damaged.” Her Deepness, Dr Sylvia Earle.

Image attribution - various photographers: Christophe Bailhache, Franck Gazzola, Vanessa Torres Macho, Talia Greis, Lenny Clifford, Lorna Parry

For further information regarding the Sydney Coast region, look to our multiple resources including the Sydney Coast Hope Spot website, Underwater Sydney website and Facebook Page.