Hello Everyone,

On behalf of Blue Marine Foundation, I'm going to be cycling over 1000 kilometres from Calais to Monaco to support our oceans. 

My ride sets off from Calais on Monday 19th September and I will arrive at Prince's Palace of Monaco on Tuesday 27th September.

I’ll be cycling on average 150 kilometres a day on my new Philippe Starck designed / Moustache e-bike!

For those who don't know BLUE, it's a charity which exists to solve the crisis in the oceans through providing innovative solutions to over-fishing and enabling the creation of marine reserves.

http://www.bluemarinefoundation.com/london-monaco-cycle/

BLUE are a charity that really shakes things up and gets stuff done, they have already contributed to nearly 1.5m square kilometres of ocean being protected from the ravages of overfishing.

Funds raised from the cycle ride will go towards two of BLUE's projects that will contribute significantly to ocean protection:

The beautiful Aeolian Islands to the north of Sicily are being threatened by overfishing and irresponsible tourism.

Funds raised from the cycle ride will go towards projects which will:

- Build eco-moorings for sailing vessels so they don’t
damage the sea - grass beds when they anchor;

- Monitor and protect endangered marine species such as
sperm whales and dolphins;

- Enhance fish reproduction through site-specific
protection/zoning;

- Reduce the number of ‘ghost’ nets (discarded nets which
trap species such as loggerhead turtles)

The remote island of Ascension in the tropical Atlantic is home to some of the biggest fish in the world, sharks, turtles and rare sea birds, but was being plundered by long-line fishing. The UK government has just
declared half Ascension’s waters protected from fishing, but the Ascension islanders rely on income from fishing licences.

Funds raised from the cycle ride will support BLUE’s work to open up other sources of income on the island, particularly science and eco-tourism so that 100% of the island’s waters (nearly twice the size of the UK) can become a marine protected area.

Thank you SO much for your support. 

John