A Fictional Article; Safe Haven

An article written concerning the necessity of No-Takes Zones and the importance of a UK Marine Bill
SAFE HAVEN

In the mid-summer of 2009, the British people came together to form the largest peaceful protest the world had ever witnessed. The aim: to secure full protection for Britain’s marine environment. They protested for a simple cause; they protested in their millions; and they won.

BY JESSICA WHEELER

Betty Vallentine allows herself a wry smile

as she says, “although we must not forget our

great achievement in the summer of 2009,”

adds that “it is crucial to remember that

there is still much work to be done in the light

of the full force of climate change.” An
original member of the Fight for Marine Life team, whose famous march on the House of Commons cemented the gravity of the future facing the UK’s marine environments in the eyes of the British public. Ask any person walking down the street and they will remember the images projected on the Houses of Parliament of the dying seabed, the suffocating species, and a small red haired lady, calling forth the British people; calling for their help. “It was one of the most spectacular and vivid images,” recalls Chris Jefferson, who took his wife and three children, and joined the protest on the evening of 26^th July 2009.

“Well,” Betty exclaims, “it was quite something wasn’t it. I mean, we really didn’t expect the response; we were probably in as much of a state of shock as the government.” The 26^th July 2009, will be recorded in history as the day the public drew battle lines against the government, and won. During the morning a small crowd of protesters had gathered outside the Houses of Parliament to listen to Betty, lamenting the urgent need for the ratification of a UK Marine Bill. Betty remembers, “there can only have been a handful of us. I was talking, and felt like screaming. For years we had been campaigning; from our base on Skomer, we had banged our heads repeatedly on the doors of Whitehall. No-one was listening; no-one wanted to hear!”

It was her friend, and fellow campaigner, James Small who persuaded a reporter to record a section of Betty’s speech that morning. “Betty had such stage presence; she was battle hardened, sharp, charismatic and not afraid of anyone,” Small recounts. “I persuaded a friend of mine to film part of the speech, mainly for our records. The rest you could say is history, but I wouldn’t want to be that clichéd. The footage found its way into his editor’s hands. We should be thankful that he had green hands, as he aired the footage almost immediately.” From the moment of airing, something about

Betty and the plight of the UK’s seas grabbed the attention of the British Public, “and,” as Betty says, “they just started arriving. In small groups at first, stopping traffic; and then, well, it was just crazy. All you could see were people, and I just kept talking, I just could not stop. For years, I had waited for an opportunity like this; I certainly wasn’t going to waste it.”

It is uncertain just how many people descended on the capitol on that day. London was at a standstill; the tube stood empty, cars were left abandoned, buildings were evacuated as workers made their pilgrimage to the Houses of Parliament: all London drank in the sound of Betty’s message. Normally at a close of session, an unprecedented move saw parliament recalled. “It was almost like a dream; the scale of the demonstration. It all seemed so unreal, and at the centre this flame haired pied piper calling her children to her,” Mr John Evans, MP for Dulwich, remembers. “We had been under tremendous pressure to ratify a Marine Bill, but had thus far only reached the draft and consultation stage. We wanted to be sure that the Bill was practicable. We did not want to undermine our economic and sustainable development with inaccurate conservation measures.” Reading this quote, even now, you can see the fire of protest begin to burn brightly in Betty’s eyes, “It was this arrogant rhetoric that we were fighting. The ignorance: the assumption of man that he is above critique, above checking.” In a metaphorical coup d’etat, conservationists overthrew parliament that day and an act was passed at 11.46pm: the first Marine Bill. “They had it written, all that time. They were just waiting for the ‘appropriate’ or opportune moment.” Betty says.

Although, twenty years have passed, and Betty is now 68 years old, this has not diminished her endless pushing for change. “Achieving the Marine Bill was one small piece in a much larger jigsaw. It was the beginning of the real revolution.” The real revolution, she claims, was the fight just beginning to counteract man’s destruction of earth and the onslaught of climate change. “I am proud of my involvement in the events of the summer of 2009; I shall be prouder still if I can help preserve some little piece of the world I love for my great grandchildren.”

The Marine Bill 2009, in hindsight was passed just before the worst series of global catastrophes the world had ever seen. Beginning with the flooding of most low lying areas in the UK and Europe, to the worst drought on record in both India and Asia, culminating in an outbreak of the deadly “cold-flu” virus, which saw mass devastation of populations across the world.

“So, you see, the fight is never-ending. As long as there is life in me, I shall continue to fight for the preservation of it on earth.”