DiCaprio tells of Great Barrier Reef "devastation"

DiCaprio tells of Great Barrier Reef "devastation"
By admin


US President Barack Obama is planning to ban fishing, energy exploration and other activities in a large swath of the central Pacific Ocean, with Australia's Great Barrier Reef given as an example of "environmental devastation".

Obama's proposal could create the world's largest marine sanctuary.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, along with Hollywood star and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio, appeared at the Our Ocean Conference in Washington DC where a video message from the president was played.

"It's fantastic to start off the day by hearing President Obama commit to expanding marine reserves in US waters and taking serious steps to prevent illegally caught fish from entering the marketplace," DiCaprio said.

Last year DiCaprio announced a $US3 million ($A3.3 million) donation to help protect the oceans' habitats for marine species.

"Since my very first dive in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia 20 years ago to the dive I got to do in the very same location just two years ago, I've witnessed environmental devastation firsthand," DiCaprio said.

"What once had looked like an endless underwater utopia is now riddled with bleached coral reefs and massive dead zones."

The proposed marine sanctuary would be expanded from about 225,000 square kilometres to more than two million square kilometres in a US-controlled Pacific Ocean area between Hawaii and American Samoa.

Atolls and islands in the area are mostly uninhabited.

"If we ignore these problems, if we drain our oceans of their resources, we won't just be squandering one of humanity's greatest treasures," Obama said in a recorded video message.

"We'll be cutting off one of the world's major sources of food and economic growth, including for the United States. We cannot afford to let that happen."

Latest News

  • Destinations
  • News

APT Launches 2025 Asia Adventures

APT has launched its Asia Adventures for 2025, including new luxury holidays in India, Sri Lanka and Japan. Five new tours lead guests to the highlights of India, including a seven-night cruise along the rarely travelled Lower Ganges aboard the Ganges Voyager. Further south, Sri Lanka’s greatest destinations are revealed on a new 15-day Land […]

  • Cruise
  • Luxury
  • News

Seabourn announces Western Kimberley Traditional Owners as Godparents of Seabourn Pursuit

Seabourn has named Western Kimberley Traditional Owners, the Wunambal Gaambera, as Godparents of the ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Pursuit. It is the first cruise line to appoint Traditional Owners as godparents of a ship. Seabourn Pursuit embarks on its inaugural season in the Kimberley region this June. The naming ceremony will take place on Seabourn Pursuit’s […]

  • Luxury

Malolo Island Resort opens brand new Spa

Fiji’s Malolo Island has added another string to its bow – opening its $1.3 million day spa on Thursday, 18th April 2024. (Lead Image: matriarch Rosie Whitton with spa staff) Located at the edge of the resort’s luscious patch of tropical rainforest, the new “Leilani’s Spa” adds another level of elevated experiences to Malolo’s already […]