International Hollywood actress Kate Walsh, popularly known for her role in Grey’s Anatomy, is coming to Mombasa, Kenya, to advocate for the protection of African oceans and support local communities.
Walsh, who is also a global ocean advocate, will join experts from an organization called Oceana. Oceana is the biggest international group that works only on protecting the world’s oceans. Together, they will meet with small-scale fishers and community leaders in Mombasa. The main goal of this visit is to make sure that the voices of local African fishers are heard when world leaders make key decisions about ocean safety, food security, and jobs.
This visit is happening just before the 11th annual Our Ocean Conference, a major global event called.
The conference will take place in Mombasa from June 16th to June 18th.
The conference is being held on the African continent since it started back in 2014. Over the years, this conference has raised more than $169 billion to help protect oceans around the world.
According to Oceana, African coastlines are facing serious challenges. While many people across Africa depend on the ocean for food and income, marine ecosystems are hurting because of pollution, climate change, and overfishing.
This has become a huge concern about large industrial ships, including foreign-owned boats, fishing on African waters. The ships are accused of exploiting the ocean resources including fish which are sold to wealthy countries, leaving very little food for the local communities that actually live near the ocean.
To fix this, Oceana is asking governments to put small-scale fishers first. They want leaders at the conference to create stricter rules against illegal fishing, stop the destruction of marine habitats, and make fishing data public so everyone can see who owns these big ships.
By tracking these boats closely, countries can rebuild fish populations. This conference gives world leaders a real opportunity to pass practical laws that will protect the environment while securing the livelihoods of local fishers for many generations to come.
