Op-Ed: To save the Earth, think like a ‘blue water’ sailor
“The idea of doing something like this is that of going on a blue water expedition,” said David Firth, a naval architect and founder of New Blue Water Seafarers.
“I did five years as an expedition navigator/chief engineer in the French Navy and I’d like to help you do the same thing.”
The goal: to sail from Miami to the Bahamas during what is expected to be hurricane season and make a film on how we might survive and build a sustainable community without destroying the coast forever.
“This is not a movie about saving the world,” Firth told the Miami Herald. “The ocean is under increasing stress and there isn’t enough information about what we need to know.”
David Firth
“There isn’t enough scientific research,” Firth added. “So, we go out and just try to observe what the ocean is doing to change the ecosystem around the coastline.”
So Firth and his fellow Blue Water Fishermen started an online poll to ask what people most wanted to hear about their lives as a blue water sailor.
After the poll was filled, Firth decided to go ahead with a documentary about the life of a blue water sailor and spent two days filming him.
“I like adventure. I like to go out to places that you’d never think of going and take the opportunity,” said Firth. “If I have to live in the Bahamas, then maybe one day the Bahamas will be a place that we can live.”
In other words, the Bahamas has been under stress since the slave trade and the first hurricane hit, but if things stay the same I want to film this blue water navy pilot for a documentary.”
Firth added, “We’re in good shape.”
Fishing is a way of life for a lot of people here on the Treasure Coast. I’ve been fishing for a long time but I was introduced to the sport by my father.
When you live in the ocean, it changes your outlook on life. I’m not that interested in seeing the world from a great height or looking down on people and their
