CITES7 is a coalition of seven organisations set up in xxxx to protect sharks from unsustainable trade by ensuring the listing of five endangered sharks and rays at CITES CoP16 in March 2013. On board from the beginning we planned and delivered communications for the campaign, culminating in the two-week CoP16 conference where we worked hard alongside the coalition to promote the plight of the sharks and rays – all five species were listed. Our comms work included delivering media coverage in up to 23 countries; producing a series of species booklets in five languages; developing and maintaining a dedicated website; running a highly successful social media strategy during CoP16, which engaged with an estimated seven million twitter users.
Communications INC has been responsible for all of DSCC’s communications since shortly after the Coalition was founded to highlight the devastating impacts of bottom trawling on the seabed. We act as a member of the Coalition Coordination Team, providing advice and strategic direction and then delivering the campaigns. We manage the website www.savethehighseas.org; run a media outreach programme across each region of the world; produce publications in multiple languages; develop and manage special events; lobby; and look after the day-to-day running of their communications.
Highlights include putting on a film at the United Nations in New York accompanied by popcorn and deep-sea cocktails; the fun but impactful web-based ‘I’m Worth Saving’ campaign highlighting less-appealing endangered ocean animals; tracking an orange roughy from New Zealand to Cornwall in the UK to demonstrate, and issuing report cards for fisheries management organisations to rate their performance.
