Environmentalism in Britain for some is a lifetime commitment. For a few others, it may even go beyond.
That, at least, is one explanation for the increase in burials at sea: They are ecologically correct."We've always had people with a particular connection to the sea," said Wally Parson, "the sailors, the women whose husbands were torpedoed during the war and who want to be with them at the end."
Parson speaks knowledgeably, and for Britain's National Association of Funeral Directors. He was elaborating on his own estimate that burials at sea "have increased by over a hundred percent over the past five years."
"Now we have these other people as well," he said. "People who are saying it's the best method of disposal, people who don't like burial because it uses up the ground, who don't like cremation because of the gases it exudes (from burning wooden coffins) and adding to the ozone problems"
These are the super greens.
Not everyone shares this point of view, least of all the people at the Agriculture Ministry who issue the permits for burials at sea and set the standards.
And there are standards - such as fast degrading coffins, usually of chipboard, with holes drilled into them to help them sink faster, and weights to keep them down. And the matter of location.
"We are actively discouraging it," said Paul Hayward, a spokesman for the ministry. "It doesn't fall into line with our policy for protection of the marine environment. We see it as just another form of pollution. Imagine! Bodies floating around."
Nevertheless, if a serious request for a burial at sea is made, Hayward's ministry will usually issue a license. They will do this because the numbers of such burials, despite the great percentage increase, are as yet not great.
The government estimates the number of ocean burials at about only 30 a year. But Parson doubts that figure. He suggests it is often carried out informally because most people do not know a license is required. And, he points out, the practice is becoming more popular.
The ministry requires such burials be confined to certain offshore areas where fishermen rarely go. These are the places where sewage and household garbage dumping is permitted.
"Fishermen know of this and tend to stay away," said Hayward. "The biggest problem would be the coffins being dragged up by nets. Can you imagine?"
There are those who suspect that ocean burials may be just a macabre fashion, just as there are those who regard them as a legitimate if unorthodox way to go.
Michael Hawgood is the man at J.H. Kenyon Ltd. in charge of unusual funerals. Horse drawn funerals, he points out, are the most common of the uncommon type. But he has done nine ocean burials since 1984.