PAUL WALKER’S BID TO SAVE THE SEAS

Paul Walker is the star of one of the most successful film franchises of all time, but that doesn’t mean he’s taking it easy.

The Fast And The Furious actor has been “hooked” on all things oceanic since childhood and is committed to helping the ocean. And that’s why Walker has become an ambassador for Davidoff Cool Water, which is launching Love The Ocean 2, a campaign that supports National Geographic’s Pristine Seas Mission.

Walker has teamed up with National Geographic’s explorer-in-residence Enric Sala to discuss the plight of the ocean and how to help. “People protect only what they love and people love only what they know,” says Sala. “So the first thing is to get down there and explore.”

The manner in which Sala got hooked on the ocean was courtesy of watching the famous explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau on TV as a child, and admitted: “That got me completely obsessed.” Walker’s love of the ocean began differently. “I was four years old, and that first anemone, first star fish, first sea urchin – I was hooked. The passion never died,” he says.

Sala has led National Geographic’s Pristine Seas Expeditions, supported by Davidoff Cool Water, to remote and endangered areas, such as the Pitcairn Islands and the Desventuradas Islands. “We went to Pitcairn, because it’s one of the last pristine places left in the ocean. We had no idea what we were going to find and,when we jumped in the water, we were completely amazed. We were surrounded by 15 sharks coming to check us out. They had probably never seen humans before. It was like getting in a time machine and going back 500 years.”

It gave Sala an idea of what could be achieved under the water, and he has since proposed setting up a large marine reserve, which would be the size of Alaska and the biggest in the world, to ensure it is saved from what Sala calls “encroaching fishing pressure”. The Desventuradas Islands were equally eye-opening, as Sala and his team came across a breed of sea-lions regarded as extinct a century ago.

Both Walker and Sala are keen on safeguarding the areas closed to fishing. But, as Sala points out, that is not an easy battle. “Only one per cent of the ocean is protected. Scientic studies recommend that at least 20 per cent should be protected. We have a long way to go.”

And you can help. Buying a bottle of Davidoff Cool Water will help to protect 10,000 square metres of ocean, and a simple ‘Like’ on the Davidoff Cool Water Facebook page will help to protect a further 5,000 square metres.

So join Cool Water today to explore and help protect the ocean’s beauty.