Locally based author publishes educational marine conservation book

Locally based author Marie Harrington has recently published her book Salvador the Sea Lion, the first of series of 12 titled ‘Our Precious Ocean’ about marine animals.

Our Precious Ocean is a marine conservation initiative focusing on research, education and awareness and the preservation of marine and coastal habitats.

The book is aimed at readers from five to nine years old.

“It is to raise awareness of the plight of our oceans and the issues and challenges marine animals face in the wild,” said Ms Harrington.

“So each character depicts what they get up to on a day to day basis in the wild and then some challenge or difficulty presents them. They get into some kind of trouble but help is usually at hand and there is a happy ending.”

Salvador is a happy sea lion who is swimming in the water with his friends hunting for food and he gets caught in some very sharp discarded fishing net.

He can’t swim and it becomes very difficult for him to move and he “is in a real bad way”.

“But thankfully some friendly rescuers are on hand and they cut him free and he is back to the wild,” explains the author.

Salvador was based on a real life experience she had with a sea lion she saw caught in some horrify wire around his neck in Mexico early last year.

Some of the other characters whose books have yet to be published include Orla the Otter who lives in a kelp forest and the forest is disappearing, Orianna the Orca who is faced with a captivity situation and Gracey the Grey Whale who is on a long migration and has to deal with ship strikes.

“We also have issues such as pollution and all the main climate change issues such as the ones affecting polar bears. Different characters represent different issues but they are issues that affect all marine life around the world,” said Ms Harrington.

“The issues are not specific to these animals. They are wide spread issues but the main thing was to have a character to represent.”

The books are illustrated by Jackie Evans, who runs Jac's Little Welsh Studio in the Welsh Valleys.

35% of the proceeds of the each book is going to a related marine conservation charity.

The money from Salvador the Sea Lion will go to the Cornish Sea Sanctuary which is part of the sea life trust and they rescue and rehabilitate sea lions from the Cornish coast.

The book is available on Amazon.