What We Do - Oceana

ABOUT US

Oceana is dedicated to protecting and restoring the world’s oceans on a global scale.

Our Vision

Oceana seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy, and abundant as they once were.

Oceana seeks to make our oceans more biodiverse and abundant by winning policy victories in the countries that govern much of the world’s marine life.

Oceana, founded in 2001, is the largest international advocacy organization focused solely on ocean conservation. Our offices around the world work together to win strategic, directed campaigns that achieve measurable outcomes that will help make our oceans more biodiverse and abundant.

Oceans cover 71 percent of the globe, and they are as important to us as they are vast. Our oceans are home to most of the life on our planet and play a central role in the world’s natural systems, like regulating our climate and absorbing carbon dioxide. They provide livelihoods to countless fishermen and others around the world. They also feed hundreds of millions of people and have the capacity to provide a healthy seafood meal to a billion people, every day. Unfortunately, the oceans are in trouble — scientists report that the amount of fish caught from the oceans began declining — for the first time in recorded history — just a few decades ago. Fortunately, we know how to fix things. Science-based fishery management — which establishes science-based catch limits, reduces bycatch and protects habitat — is helping the oceans rebound and recover where it is established. Oceana is dedicated to advocating for science-based fishery management and restoring the world’s oceans.

Our History

Oceana was founded in 2001 as an international organization focused solely on ocean conservation.

Oceana was established by a group of leading foundations — The Pew Charitable Trusts, Oak Foundation, Marisla Foundation (formerly Homeland Foundation), Sandler Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund — after a 1999 study they commissioned discovered that less than 0.5% of all resources spent by environmental nonprofit groups in the United States went to ocean advocacy.

No organization was working exclusively to protect and restore the oceans on a global scale. To fill the gap, our founders created Oceana: an international organization focused solely on oceans, dedicated to achieving measurable change by conducting specific, science-based policy campaigns with fixed deadlines and articulated goals.

The Ocean Law Project — also initiated by The Pew Charitable Trusts — was absorbed into Oceana in 2001 as Oceana’s legal arm. In 2002, Oceana merged with American Oceans Campaign, founded by actor and environmentalist Ted Danson, to more effectively address our common mission of protecting and restoring the world’s oceans.

Since its founding, Oceana has won more than 275 victories and protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean. Find out more about how Oceana is helping to save the oceans victory by victory.

The Problem

The oceans are vast, but they are not immune to human influence. We have already altered or destroyed marine ecosystems and driven million-year-old species to the brink of extinction. According to a study published in Science, less than 4 percent of the oceans remain unaffected by human activity.

1

WE ARE TAKING TOO MANY FISH OUT OF THE WATER.

Overfishing threatens ocean ecosystems and our livelihoods.

DOWNLOAD OUR REPORT ON WASTED CATCH

2

WE ARE POLLUTING OUR OCEANS.

Mercury, antibiotics, oil, and climate-changing gasses threaten marine wildlife, habitat, and human health.

3

WE ARE SQUANDERING POTENTIAL SOURCES OF FOOD.

Seafood has the potential to sustainably feed millions of hungry people.

4

WE ARE TRASHING MARINE WILDLIFE AND SPECIAL PLACES.

Destructive and wasteful fishing practices threaten animals and damage the seafloor.

Oceana’s Solution

Oceana was created to identify practical solutions and make them happen. The good news is that we can restore the oceans to their former glory. Oceana is…

Campaign-Driven

We channel our resources towards strategic, directed campaigns to achieve MEASURABLE OUTCOMES that will protect and restore our oceans to former levels of abundance.

LEARN ABOUT CURRENT CAMPAIGNS

Fact-Based

We believe in the importance of science in identifying problems and solutions for the oceans.

READ OUR SCIENTIFIC REPORTS

Multi-disciplinary and expert

Our scientists work closely with our teams of economists, lawyers, communicators, and advocates to achieve tangible results for the oceans.

MEET OUR STAFF

The Perfect Protein

The Fish Lover’s Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the World

Oceana believes that wild seafood, when properly managed, can provide a delicious, nutritious, and renewable source of protein for millions of people.

Andy Sharpless, CEO of Oceana, together with his co-author, Suzannah Evans, reveals how eating more seafood is not only good for our health but can also help to save the planet. He explains how wild fish really are the perfect protein.

So can we be stewards of our oceans? Do we have the practical conditions we need to actually do this for our oceans? If the oceans are legal high seas in which no one is in charge, how can we possibly hope to implement ocean stewardship?

Learn more about the book

FEATURED CAMPAIGN

Save the Oceans, Feed the World

We are restoring the world’s wild fish populations to serve as a sustainable source of protein for people.

Learn More

More CAMPAIGNs

Protect Habitat

Bycatch

Plastics

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We have already protected nearly 4 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea life - but there is still more to be done.

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