Stories of the Coastline (For Planet Ocean Challenge, 30/05/2025)

An art challenge for the ocean - how could I resist?

In 2022, For Planet Ocean launched an amazing journey, raising ocean awareness through art and storytelling. Each year, they organise an art challenge, calling on anyone who wants to join their ocean ARTivism.

Although I’m not an artist - and certainly not a professional one - , I decided to dive into some art (and storytelling) myself.

Today, 30th May, we set off with the prompt “Stories of the Coastline.”

'Artwork' I made for today's prompt on the right. It was based on a photo I took in Oostduinkerke in 2023 (posted below)

To me, that coastline is the Belgian one: 60 kilometers long, stripped of most of its natural vegetation and unable to recover, due to heavy machinery constantly cleaning the beaches. Dunes have become rare. And what’s happening underwater isn’t much better. “A ploughed field,” a communication officer at Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) once told me. Bottom trawling has transformed the seafloor into a barren desert.

And yet - our coastline is not devoid of life.

What’s more: life at our coast is some of the most stunning there is. Because, o my! The creatures living here are sturdy!

Unlike the Mediterranean, our North Sea experiences tides. Combined with our flat beaches, this creates a huge intertidal zone (the area between low and high tide) teeming with tiny creatures trying to survive these harsh conditions.

Harsh, you say?

Isn’t life at the beach dazzling? Barefoot strolls in the sand, sun on your face, ice cream in hand?

No.

It’s a hard-knock life, that intertidal region.

A zone defined by its extremities.

Creatures here are either fully submerged or completely exposed. They're used to salt water, but after heavy rains, they may suddenly be surrounded by freshwater. Tides and waves drag them up and down. Conditions on the beach can shift from dead calm to brutally stormy. Temperatures range from well below freezing to over 40°C. Name a weather condition - life in the intertidal zone has experienced it.

Not many species can survive these extremes.

But the ones that do? Hallelujah!

If you're interested in survival strategies, this is the place to be.

Barnacles build plates to seal themselves off during low tide, preventing dehydration. Limpets cling tightly to rocks to avoid being swept away. Some intertidal snails can tolerate ice forming in their tissues. Periwinkles survive wide ranges of salinity and temperature. Some species even produce heat shock proteins to withstand high temperatures.

You and I wouldn’t last 24 hours on that beach without modern human tools or skills. No walking long distances to escape the waves. No sunscreen or clothing to shield from the sun. By day’s end, we’d likely be drowned, sunburned, dehydrated - or at the very least, utterly exhausted.

But the creatures on the beach?

They do this year in, year out.

So next time you stroll along the shore - bow your head. They deserve your respect. 

The painting I made was based on a photo I took in Oostduinkerke in 2023:

This post is part of my contribution to the For Planet Ocean Challenge 2025, using art and storytelling for ocean awareness.

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