On May 5th 2021 Moonen’s M/Y BELUGA won BOAT International’s Ocean Awards ‘Yacht of the Year’. An award that recognises private vessels, their owners, and crew, who have actively helped enhance the health of our oceans, by demonstrating a commitment to ocean conservation.
The use of M/Y BELUGA was donated to Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, an organisation that aims to capture data from the entire length of the reef, in order to effectively survey and analyse how reef health changes over the years. Spanning 2,300km in length and with over 3,000 individual reefs, the Great Barrier Reef is one of the world’s most stunning natural creations, but only around 5% is regularly surveyed.
Owners, Sandrina Postorino and Chris Ellis, both of whom are heavily involved in philanthropy and passionate ocean lovers, are thrilled to have been a part of such a worthwhile cause.
“We were very humbled to receive this amazing award, especially given the calibre of the other nominees and winners of the Ocean Awards over the years.
The Great Reef Census aims to collect data from previously unsurveyed parts of the Great Barrier Reef in a joint effort between tourism operators, boat owners and scientists. We were happy to donate the boat’s use as we are passionate ocean lovers and wanted to contribute to the protection and restoration of the reef. The initiative is a great example of the Circular Economy in action. Assets, in this case, boats, that are already on the Great Barrier Reef, are used for the greater good, in this case scientific research.
The Circular Economy is also at the heart of Take 3 For the Sea https://www.take3.org/ which aims to stop plastic pollution, and which we also support.
Another ocean focused charity we support is the Conflict Island’s Conservation Initiative https://www.cici.org.au/, which protects critically endangered turtles in PNG and also runs a plastics beach clean-up program.
We hope that other yachts will find out about the Great Reef Census and will want to be part of it in the future!”
We are incredibly proud to be the builder of this beautiful superyacht who has been at the forefront of marine research and ocean health. Congratulations to all involved in this inspiring project.
If you would like to know more about Take 3 For the Sea and the Conflict Island’s Conservation Initiative, please visit their websites below:
