A salute to the deep

This month, as it does every June, premium skincare brand La Mer celebrated World Oceans Day with an event last week held at Audrey Cafe and Bistro and dubbed “La Mer’s Blue Heart”.
As usual too, the company partnered with National Geographic Society to help support the next generation of emerging ocean explorers.
This year La Mer is honouring biologist Andrea Marshall for her ground-breaking research and conservation programmes, which help to save globally threatened manta rays, as well as other vulnerable marine fauna and their critical habitats.
The biologist, who has programmes in Southeast Asia, eastern Africa, and South America, is the founder of the Marine Megafauna Foundation, and personally discovered two new species of manta ray.
Her latest legacy is a new automated online database she developed for manta rays, giving researchers the unprecedented ability to share manta photos and findings globally. A champion of “citizen science”, Marshall hopes to enlist ocean enthusiasts worldwide as contributors to this growing photographic archive.
On hand at last week’s event to listen to Marshall’s video presentation were keen divers Puri and Alicia Hiranprueck, Nathasedh and Orn-arpa Poonsapmanee, Byron and Sirinya Burbridge, Tawin and Tipanan Srifuengfung, fellow marine biologist Dr Thon Thamrongnawasawat and Dr Saranarat Kanchanawanit.
Puri and Alicia have been exploring the ocean depths for more than a decade. “Spending time under the sea is fantastic. Each sea creates different feelings and impressions. However, we can’t help but notice that there are now fewer large fish and much less coral than in the past,” says Puri.
Thon too is worried about how our underwater world is diminishing and says everyone can contribute towards ocean conservation, even if that contribution is as little as saying no shark fin soup.
Saranarat agrees, adding that too many pollutants are flowing into the ocean thus hastening the destruction of important habitats. “Ocean conservation will be a major challenge for the young generation,” she notes.
To date, La Mer has donated almost $2 million to organisations to promote ocean conservation efforts and help save the sea. Firmly committed to the miraculous power of the underworld sea plants, especially the nutritious deep-sea kelp, La Mer immerses itself in the guardianship of the oceans, protecting and preserving home of the sea kelp and only resorting to the sustainable hand-harvested means.
The brand is continuing to celebrate the ocean through the end of the month by offering its Creme de La Mer in a 100ml exclusively designed jar.