Published by Ocean Conservancy For people living in northern climates, the transition to the fall season marks significant annual events, from the end of summer vacations to the emergence of brilliant autumn colors as cooler temperatures arrive. In the far North regions, one major environmental event that is closely watched by climate scientists and Arctic enthusiasts […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy When a seminal paper was published five years ago, the world decided that its core finding—8 million metric tons (MMT) of plastics enter the ocean annually—was simply unacceptable. Almost overnight, this Ocean Conservancy-supported analysis drove the world to respond with a shared sense of outrage that set off a series of ambitious […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy The San Francisco Giants chose Hunter Pence as their Roberto Clemente Award nominee for 2020, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) annual recognition of the MLB player who best represents the game through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field. A World Champion with the Giants in […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy “Oh, the places you’ll go.” This is not a reference I never thought I’d conjure while staring at dirty clothes in my laundry hamper. I recently came across a scientific paper from University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) researchers who investigated the global contributions of laundry graywater to microplastic emissions, finding roughly […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy For billions of people across the world, fish is an essential part of their diet and livelihood. Fish accounts for at least 13.8% of the animal protein intake of the human population and in many countries, the number is even higher. In Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, fish makes up […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Penned by Becca Robbins Gisclair, Nicholas J. Mallos, Michael LeVine and Henry P. Huntington, this blog is sourced from a featured column in the journal Environment on the threat plastic pollution poses in the Arctic Ocean. From our ocean’s surface to its darkest depths, plastic pollution is ever-present. No part of our […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Jihan Younis, a Saipan resident, sifts through mounds of stranded ocean plastics on Pagan, Northern Mariana Islands. © Jihan Younis Adjacent to the deepest part of the ocean (the Mariana Trench) lies a string of small emerald-hued isles amidst a vibrant blue sea. This island chain, known as the Mariana Islands archipelago, is […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy This blog was written by Dave Doebler, the co-founder, along with his partner Dara Schoenwald, of VolunteerCleanup.org, a citizen-led environmental action group that has removed tons of marine debris from South Florida waterways and beaches, and a critically important partner of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. When people started texting me pictures […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Faster than a speeding bullet, it’s … the pistol shrimp! At first glance, the pistol shrimp might seem more Mr. Krabs than Butch Cassidy, but this small invertebrate has a power-packed punch. Sometimes overshadowed by the very powerful, very colorful mantis shrimp, it’s time that the sassy snapping shrimp gets the recognition […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy If ever there was a place you’d think would be off-limits for a mine, it is Bristol Bay. Home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run, this land of wild rivers and abundant salmon runs supports a thriving commercial fishery that supplies more than 140,000 jobs a year for people in Alaska […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Today we released the 2020 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) report. Each year this is an opportunity to celebrate the work of our partners and volunteers. With these latest results, nearly 16.5 million volunteers have collected more than 337 million pounds of trash from beaches and waterways worldwide since 1986, when Ocean Conservancy […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy On September 7, Ocean Conservancy will turn 48 years old. A lot has changed since our founding in 1972. We’ve celebrated some incredible ocean victories, like the passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Management and Conservation act in 1976 and the first International Coastal Cleanup in 1986. We’ve also witnessed great tragedies, like […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy This blog was written by Austin Ahmasuk, an Inupiaq from Nome, Alaska. He is a lifelong hunter, trapper and mariner, and serves his people as a tribal and marine advocate at Kawerak, a community-based organization in Nome. It’s 2020, and those of us living in the north are confronting the unsettling ecological reality […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Ghost gear is a problem with a common misconception: many people believe it’s a term for fishing gear that’s been recklessly discarded into the sea. The truth is that fishers don’t want to lose the expensive equipment that provides their income. Fishing gear is usually only abandoned intentionally in emergency situations or […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy Almost a year ago, Ocean Conservancy released the results of the 2018 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). We had reached a new milestone for the annual event: more than one million volunteers around the world coming out to remove trash and plastics from beaches and waterways. We shared how plastic cutlery was among […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy In 1973, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was passed to help provide protection for endangered and threatened species and their habitats. And it worked! Because of the ESA, our kids will be able to hear a humpback whale call, swim amongst vibrant coral reefs and know that monk seals still swim off […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy One of our main concerns at Ocean Conservancy is climate change and its impacts on our communities, resources and wildlife. Bleaching corals are among the first signs of climate change impacts we have seen have seen in our ocean. And though climate change has been a stressor on most ocean wildlife, there’s […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy The events of the past few months have been a wakeup call for us at Ocean Conservancy. We know that to create lasting, structural change for our ocean and the people that depend on it, we must tackle systemic racism. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy On Thursday, July 23, Ocean Conservancy held its first-ever virtual fundraiser, Cooking for the Ocean. The delicious and engaging cooking experience hosted about 150 attendees and raised more than $35,000 for Ocean Conservancy’s work in Florida and around the world. Chef Allen preparing his sustainable seafood dish that celebrates Florida and its […]
Published by Ocean Conservancy We’ve all heard of this mysterious, enormous shark: Otodus megalodon. But having been extinct for millions of years, how much do we really know about these massive, ancient sharks? The answer, in short, is not a lot. But we do know a handful of things, and while scientists work to uncover more […]