The Future of Our Oceans

The Future of Our Oceans

Continuing Sir Peter Blake's Environmental Legacy

The French vessel Tara is returning to New Zealand for the first time since the death of Kiwi yachtsman, environmentalist and hero, Sir Peter Blake. Tara was formerly Seamaster, Sir Peter’s yacht and has a special place in the heart of New Zealanders.

Join this Auckland Conversation about the vision for ocean leadership and learn about local and global initiatives to look after our ocean. This is a great opportunity to connect with Sir Peter Blake’s legacy and the work that is happening daily to increase environmental awareness among young people and the public.

Since 2003, Tara has travelled 300,0000 kms across the world’s oceans, undertaking research to understand the impacts of climate and ecological changes and to anticipate the future. This current voyage, Tara Pacific, has been sailing for nearly 40,000 km through the Pacific Ocean to explore coral reefs.

Listen to the podcast

Mark Orams

Head of School, Sport & Recreation; Associate Dean, AUT Millennium

Professor Mark Orams is a respected yachtsman having been involved in successful campaigns from around the world ocean races, the America’s Cup, and world and New Zealand championships in a range of small yacht classes. His involvement in the sailing has extended into coaching at the Olympic and elite World Cup level through to learn to sail coaching for children.

He is an important leader in the governance of the sport and has served as a New Zealand selector, as a captain of New Zealand representative teams, he is on the board of the New Zealand Sailing Trust and the New Zealand International Yachting Trust and is a key member of the organising team for the largest small boat regatta in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sir Peter Blake Torbay Regatta. He has been honoured by Yachting New Zealand twice for services to sailing and was part of the crew awarded the Halberg Sports Team of the Year Award in 1990.

Shelley Campbell

CEO, Sir Peter Blake Trust

Shelley Campbell is currently the CEO of Sir Peter Blake Trust and is responsible for implementing its leadership development and environmental programmes throughout the country.  

Prior to taking up her role in 2010, Shelley was overseeing the health business cases for the Minister of Health’s reforms in Auckland. She is a former Chief Executive of Waikato Primary Health that provided health services to 315,000 people across the central North Island. 

Shelley is Board member of the Halberg Foundation, Te Pou and Pacific Inc.  She is a member of Cancer Council NZ and chaired the Minister’s National Bowel Cancer Screening Taskforce. She was a member of the New Zealand delegation to the World Health Assembly in 2008 and has examined health systems in Canada, the US and the UK. 

In 2007 Shelley was awarded a Sir Peter Blake emerging leader award for New Zealand and was the first person of Maori descent to ever win the award. In 2015 she received the award of Honorary Captain from the Royal NZ Navy.
 

Romain Troublé

Tara Foundation Executive Director

With a double degree in biotechnology and business management, Romain is equally known for his sailing skills and participations in the America’s Cup in 2000 and 2003.

From 2003 to 2006, he worked for Cerpolex together with Bernard Buigues and specialized in polar logistics in the Arctic, Antarctic and in Siberia. 

They were involved in the organization of sporting, tourist and scientific expeditions, but also in the discovery of frozen mammoths. He has been coordinating the expeditions since 2004 and has become the Executive Director of the Tara Expeditions Foundation.

Dr Rochelle Constantine

Associate Professor in Biological Sciences, Auckland University

Rochelle is a conservation biologist whose research is primarily focused on cetaceans and more recently, sharks and seabirds. She heads the Marine Mammal Ecology Group and works on a number of multi-disciplinary, collaborative projects anywhere between the tropics and Antarctica.

She leads an international project on humpback whale connectivity with the Southern Ocean Research Partnership - International Whaling Commission dedicated to non-lethal whale research and is the director of the Joint Graduate School in Coastal and Marine Science (NIWA and the University) where she has seen many graduate students continue on in the exciting field of marine science

Expand speaker bios

Be the first to know about upcoming Auckland Conversations

Sign up to the mailing list