Kate Parker - Saving the oceans with courage and humility

From a young age, Kate had a passion for the oceans and this was only deepened when Kate moved to Melbourne in 2014 where she joined Sea Shepherd, an international, marine focussed environmental group with a mission to Defend, Conserve and Protect our oceans. Kate joined Sea Shepherd because she was passionate about preserving our planet and felt she could no longer be a bystander, anxious about threats to marine habitats. Starting off as an onshore volunteer; Kate spent her time fundraising for the organisation and promoting marine conservation in her spare time. She then signed up to crew on board the Sea Shepherd vessels and has since taken part in 6 campaigns off shore, starting with an Antarctica campaign to oppose Japanese whaling and most recently has been concentrating her efforts on defending the world’s most endangered marine mammal, the Vaquita Porpoise, from becoming extinct in Mexico.

Kate also decided she wanted to fundraise for this cause, managing to raise just under $7000 that was spent directly towards keeping the ships at sea and the crews fed and safe Mexico. Kate wanted to raise awareness for the plight of this animal and along with another Sea Shepherd crew member they did just that, by walking 400km in 20 days down the west coast of the USA, along the Pacific Crest Trail in January of this year. Sadly due to COVID these vessels are no longer able to patrol the area and for the few remaining Vaquita (estimated between 6-19) things are looking increasingly desperate.

Mentions:

Sea Shepherd - https://www.seashepherd.org.au/

Whale Wars (series) - https://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/whale-wars/

Animal Planet - https://www.animalplanet.com/

Cowspiracy (film) - https://www.cowspiracy.com/

The Cove (film) - https://www.opsociety.org/our-work/films/the-cove/

Blackfish (film) - http://www.blackfishmovie.com/

Sea of Shadows (film)- https://films.nationalgeographic.com/sea-of-shadows?fbclid=IwAR3aUzAFV2MhDcVxwCrJUp2tz4HGlDkcafM0ZJHJnQz5OIkEejDEyzrmcrs

Wild (movie) - https://www.searchlightpictures.com/wild/

Racing Extinction (documentary) - https://streamingmoviesright.com/us/movie/racing-extinction

Feral - George Monbiot (book) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_(Monbiot_book)

Lamave - https://www.lamave.org/