This sea…

Finola Scott

Ayr Beach

.. is expert at relaxing.
Below sand martins' nests, 
beyond the littered shallows
surfaces glitter innocent.

.. never reveals its depth
of despair. Here secret shelves 
and seamounts are plundered
by rapacious men.

.. is taunted by grasping mining. 
Here ghost nets tangle life while
whales sing across oceans. Heard 
are cries we don't understand.

.. can be protected, island oceans can
offer shelter, protection, nurturing.
Here in blue-grey northern waters sharks 
can bask, sea and beaches can be pure.

.. is not owned, its creatures are free.
We can manage our fishing greed,
our snuggling in fleeces, our mineral need.
Renewal is possible, not a fairy tale.

Here brittle stars wish for unsullied abyss, 
wish that metal monsters, caterpillar tracks
were mermaids' tales, 
that human things were myth.

The Science

Deep sea mining threatens the Abyss. Machines trample and flatten creatures, sweep away corals and sponges. Exploitation is everywhere.  However, negotiations at the United Nations offer hope for a new global ocean treaty. The possibility of regeneration is seen in the establishment of marine reserves. Most encouraging is the Antarctic Treaty and that the UK has a Marine Protected Area Network. The Protected Area in the Sea of Hebrides offers safety for many creatures. Hopefully the Marine Conservation Society's Ocean Recovery Plan for Scotland will deliver. 

The Poet

Finola Scott worries about what future generations will inherit. Many things fuel her writing – a childhood swimming in Scottish seas, her reading & her interest in art. At a photo exhibition of our oceans she was attracted by the images' beauty, then distressed at the reality of micro plastic. When Glasgow hosted COP26 she saw greenwashing, heard the betrayal of governments, the dismay of those suffering the effects of Climate Change. Reading The Brilliant Abyss by Helen Scales prompted this poem.

Next poem: To a subsoiler by Lucy Beattie