Great One of the Oceans – a Poem by Lesley Rochat. Your Beauty is otherworldly, Your skin, rough like silk, Your eyes like mysterious l dark tunnels I fall into with awe.
Author Archives: Lesley Rochat
After returning from London last week one of the first emails I received was a link to the Dive Site’s blog post about the sevengill sharks that were being caught for their livers for the white shark cage diving industry. Since I was already working with the media on a piece about our lobbying progress,…
Tears poured down her face as she caught my eye as if to say: “This is so, so sad and incredibly cruel and it pains me to watch it.” She was a young, attractive Asian-looking woman, sitting one row back from the front, watching my film ‘Sharks in Deep Trouble’ which I presented at the…
When I became a shark conservationist over a decade ago sharks were not in vogue as self-promoting marketing tools, nor considered to be in any real danger of extinction and therefore not worth conserving. As a freelance environmental journalist I knew differently. Not happy with my career at the time, I was on a spiritual…
Surrounded by lemon sharks, tiger sharks, nurse sharks, reef sharks, and playing with spotted dolphins in the gin clear, azure blue ocean of the Bahamas, against the backdrop of postcard sunsets, shared with wonderful people from all corners of the globe, was my recent privilege enjoyed. This exciting photographic expedition was all part of the…
I am the spokesperson on sharks for the Global Ocean, a non-profit organisation based in the UK, and was recently asked to assist them with a lobbying campaign they initiated to stop shark finning in the EU. Passionate conservationists who are dedicated to the conservation of marine life run Global Ocean. The organization acts as…
So the question on my mind as the wind whips a slight chill against my skin and dreaded sand particles onto my cameras is why are there so many different types of dead animals washed up along this short 300m stretch of coast? A 2.5m blacktip shark lies partly buried in the sand creating a…
I have always had a deep love for Nature and animals of all kinds. As a child I would spend hours tracking ants, patiently observing tiny fish in rock pools, which I mastered the art of catching with my little hands, and I always had a pet. They were a colourful collection of animal souls:…
Recently I had an opportunity to join former famous solo rock climber, my ‘x’ partner of many years, and now good friend and helicopter pilot, Chris Lomax, on a flight around the Cape Peninsula. It was a stunning day. While hanging out of the helicopter as far as safety would allow, I marvelled at the…










