Author(s)

Imogen Zethoven

Author(s) Description

Director, Global Ocean Legacy's Coral Sea Campaign, Pew Environment Group

Imogen Zethoven responds to a letter published in the Cairns Post on Thursday, April 5 that was critical of Pew's efforts to protect the Coral Sea.

To the Editor, Cairns Post:
 
Garry O’Brien’s comments about the Pew Environment Group and its support for the protection of the Coral Sea (5 April 2012) are inaccurate and misleading. Allow me to clarify.
 
The Pew Charitable Trusts, an independent non-profit organization, is the sole beneficiary of seven individual charitable funds established by the descendants of Sun Oil Co. founder Joseph N. Pew and his wife, Mary Anderson Pew. Pew divested the last of these holdings in 1997 and has no ties to the Sun Oil Co.
 
The Pew Environment Group, which is the conservation arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, is an international organisation based in the United States with offices in various parts of the world, including Australia. Our mission is to foster a better understanding of environmental problems and promote sound conservation policy. Our work is transparent, science-based, nonpartisan, and built upon partnerships with local citizens, businesses, and governments.
 
Finally, Pew’s work in Australia is staffed by Australians, all of whom have long and distinguished records in the field of conservation and work cooperatively with fishing groups, industry, and government. Pew is a member of the Protect Our Coral Sea coalition, which is made up of 14 regional, national, and international conservation organisations that want the Coral Sea to be safeguarded for its remarkable features and wildlife. Less than 1 per cent of the world’s oceans are highly protected, and the Coral Sea is one of the last remaining places on Earth where populations of large ocean fish—sharks, tuna, and billfish—still thrive. Pew is proud to contribute to efforts to conserve this special place.
 
Imogen Zethoven
Pew Environment Group

Headline: Murky picture
 
Thanks to Captain Terry Russell (2-4-12) for exposing the activities of the PEW Trust and The Wilderness Society regarding the attempted closure of the Coral Sea. To have a foreign entity funding an Australian environmental group is bad enough but when you see that the foreign entity was established by Sun Oil then the picture becomes murky (this information is freely available on the internet). Oil interests and environmental groups in bed together is enough to destroy anyone's idealism.
 
Garry O'Brien, Mt Sheridan