Noel Ashton A Lifetime with Whales

SACRED OCEAN IS LAUNCHED BY ARCHBISHOP TUTU

In November 2008, the Sacred Ocean anti-whaling campaign was launched by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town. Created by Noel and Belinda, sponsored by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and in partnership with the Two Oceans Aquarium, Sacred Ocean and the Great Whaling Debate focus on the magnificence of whales and the imperative to bring an end to the brutal practice of commercial whaling.

Sacred Ocean is centered around Noel’s iconic 3.4 metre sculpture that is on permanent display in the foyer of the Two Oceans Aquarium. Its symbolism reflects on man’s long relationship with whales, and, with a media and signature campaign, raises awareness around whales, their magnificence, the threats to their survival, and with a special emphasis on bringing to light the brutality of modern whaling.

“I created Sacred Ocean as a symbol of my strongest wish that we celebrate our shared existence on this beautiful blue planet, and that the horrendous killing of whales must stop. Join me and let this sculpture represent your voice as well, and vote in the Great Whaling Debate - it might take you a minute, but that minute could save the life of a magnificent whale.” Noel, 2009

In his address, Archbishop Tutu spoke poignantly about our impact on the natural world - “Are we surprised that we can gun down innocent people in hotels, and bomb innocent children, when we can behave so barbarically towards God’s creatures? This campaign warns us that we are slowly ourselves committing a kind of suicide. If it is not a physical suicide, it is a moral and ethical suicide. For our own sakes even more so than for the whales, we need to recover our humaneness, our humanity and our Ubuntu. It is time to say no, no, no! to the killing of whales.”

View the Launch Video

View the IFAW Pierce Brosnan Message

Read Sacred Ocean by Janis Theron

Read the Jennifer Stern Article

THE GREAT WHALING DEBATE - A GLOBAL CAMPAIGN

Across the globe hundreds of whales are killed each year by whaling nations who use a loophole in the International Whaling Commission’s Moratorium on whaling, which allows them to kill a certain quota each year under the guise of scientific whaling.

The explosive harpoon, fired from a fast-moving whale-catcher, has propelled us into an era of unethical whaling, where it is no longer man against the great whales of the deep, but rather the impact of an advanced technology that no creature great or small can withstand.

Modern-day commercial whaling had a devastating impact on the largest animal that has ever lived on earth, the graceful 33metre blue whale, with over 350,000 animals killed in the Southern Oceans during the first half of the 20th Century.

The Great Whaling Debate display (right) in the Two Oceans Aquarium, with its message from actor and whale activist Pierce Brosnan, offers visitor’s to this prestigious destination the opportunity to take part in this global anti-whaling campaign.

HAVE YOUR SAY AND VOTE IN THE Great Whaling Debate

We call on the people of the world to join us in celebrating the magnificent whales that share our blue planet and honour their right to live in peace in our oceans

Noel and Belinda Ashton, The Sacred Ocean Campaign 2010