Our Victories
In fewer than ten years, Oceana has achieved dozens of concrete policy victories for marine life and habitats. From stopping bottom trawling in sensitive habitat areas to protecting sea turtles from commercial fishing gear, our victories represent a new hope for the world’s oceans.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered a major victory for the oceans by signing into law two critically important ocean protection bills. These bills will prohibit the cruise industry from dumping sewage from toilets and sewage from sinks and showers into state waters.
Oceana CEO Andy Sharpless received a letter from Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain committing his company to installing advanced wastewater treatment technology on all of its ships. The commitment was the culmination of an eleven month campaign Oceana had waged to convince Royal Caribbean, the second largest cruise company in the world, to stop dumping inadequately treated waste in the oceans. Royal Caribbean is the first cruise company to commit to upgrading sewage and wastewater treatment fleet-wide.
Oceana hailed Congress's decision to more than double the funding for federal fishery observer programs. Fishery observers are independent scientists who work alongside fishermen at sea to collect data on what is caught incidentally and thrown overboard. This increase in funding, made in the 2004 Omnibus Appropriations Bill, is a significant first step towards improved management of our nation's fisheries.
