The Cliff x The Pearl Protectors: Postcards that Inspire Ocean Conservation

To celebrate World Ocean Day, The Cliff Weligama partnered with The Pearl Protectors for a creative Postcard Project featuring illustrator Melody Yeo and underwater photographer Kirsty McQue uniting art and activism to support ocean conservation in Sri Lanka.  

The physical postcards are now available for purchase at The Cliff Weligama venue. Each sale contributes directly to supporting the vital advocacy and education work of The Pearl Protectors. 

We sat down with The Pearl Protectors team for an exclusive behind-the-scenes interview. In this inspiring conversation, they discuss their ongoing mission, how youth activism is reshaping the future of marine conservation in Sri Lanka, and how creative partnerships like this one help spread their message beyond traditional environmental spaces. 

Pearl Protectors has become a powerful voice for marine conservation in Sri Lanka. For those unfamiliar, can you share your core mission and what drives your work? 

The Pearl Protectors is a marine conservation organization which promotes volunteerism towards ocean conservation. We have a pool of over 3000 passionate volunteers who engage in various elements towards protecting the ocean. They are mainly through creating awareness amongst the public on the importance of protecting the marine environment, advocating for better policies towards marine environment protection, conducting research through baseline database and citizen science and promotion of volunteerism towards direct ocean conservation.

The Postcard Project celebrates the beauty of our seas while reminding us of our duty to protect them. What message do you hope people take away when they receive one of these postcards? 

The sea around Sri Lanka faces many challenges. An urgent message we would like to relate to anyone is, if you are visiting Sri Lanka, be considerate of our marine and terrestrial environment. Avoid engaging in any illegal or unethical travel experiences such as swimming with whales, use of spearfishing, turtle hatcheries which allows people to touch turtles and release hatchlings during the day, illegal coastal construction establishments and diving to remove marine growth. Be always ocean minded. 

What are some of the biggest challenges currently facing Sri Lanka’s coastal ecosystems, and how can creative partnerships like this help address them? 

Some of the key marine environment impact are as follows; Illegal & over fishing activities, climate change, coastal construction, plastic pollution, Maritime accidents, ghost fishing net pollution, marine habitat loss and erosion. Simple steps to better dispose waste she responsible selection of travel experiences are a good way to help protect our marine environment.

Pearl Protectors is known for its youth-led initiatives. How do you envision this collaboration inspiring the next generation of ocean advocates and storytellers? 

Collaboration such as ours will ensure the story of our unique marine environment along with it's beauty and its challenges will be shared amongst many ocean minded individuals and travelers. We invite anyone to be a volunteer with us and to support the continuing marine environment conservation efforts The Pearl Protectors is conducting.