Pigeon Island, Blue Resources Trust present ‘A Shark Story: The Future’
Sri Lankan tropical wear brand Pigeon Island, based on marine conservation and plastic recycling, and its marine empowerment partner Blue Resources Trust launched ‘A Shark Story: The Future’, a lecture series which aims to promote marine conservation and protection.
Through this series, Pigeon Island and Blue Resources Trust aim to build awareness about status of sharks in Sri Lanka and contribute towards their conservation and sustainable management.
The inaugural series featured a talk by International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Indian Ocean Regional Vice-chair Dr. Rima Jabado.
Dr. Jabado is a marine expert and she specialises in evaluating pressures faced by sharks and rays, particularly across the Indian Ocean region. In 2019, she was awarded the Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation to investigate some of the most threatened ray species in the world.
During her talk, Dr. Jabado highlighted the threats facing these species such as overfishing and outlined management measures required to ensure that fisheries and trade are sustainable.
Pigeon Island roots its design philosophy on two environmental pillars - one is marine conservation and empowerment and the second is creating fashion products from plastic waste. The brand Pigeon Island, inspired by its namesake marine national park in the North East of Sri Lanka has given itself the mandate to build awareness and educate society on coexisting, conserving, and preserving marine ecosystems and sea life.
Pigeon Island supports the conservation and empowerment of the Grey Reef Shark, Black Tip Shark, Hawksbill Turtle and Olive Ridley Turtle along with coral reefs as the areas of focus for which they are collaborating with BRT as the experts in that field.
The plastic to fabric programme of the Pigeon Island brand is one of the most quantifiable plastic recycling programmes where it is possible to measure the exact amount of waste converted to create the product.
Seven plastic bottles are recycled to make a pair of Pigeon Island shorts and 10 plastic bottles are recycled to make a polo t-shirt, making the brand one of the most quantifiable recycled products in the fashion industry.
“We are very happy to introduce this lecture series that starts with the world-renowned Dr. Rima Jabado in partnership with Blue Resources Trust as we strongly believe that for us to coexist, we need to better understand the marine environment, only then will we respect the marine life and help conserve it. This is one of the key mandates of our brand, Pigeon Island along with Plastic,” said Pigeon Island Tropical Wear Founder and Chief Creative Director Ajai Vir Singh.
The Blue Resources Trust is an organisation in which researchers, creators, and other partners come together to raise awareness about the state of the oceans and to collaborate on projects that can protect and conserve them. Pigeon Island will collaborate with Blue Resources Trust in its education and communication efforts which intend to save the oceans and the endangered species which call these waters their home.