The Ocean Conservancy

The Ocean Conservancy

Type	Private non-profit organization
Founded	1972
Headquarters	Washington, D.C., United States
Key people	Vikki N. Spruill
Employees	500,000+ volunteers & members
Website	http://www.oceanconservancy.org

The Ocean Conservancy (founded as The Center for Environmental Education) is a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States.

History

The Ocean Conservancy was founded in 1972, with goals to promote healthy and diverse ocean ecosystems, and to oppose practices that threaten oceanic and human life. The Conservancy's list of priorities include "Restore Sustainable American Fisheries," "Protect Wildlife From Human Impacts," "Conserve Special Ocean Places," and "Reform Government for Better Ocean Stewardship." It started with goals to promote healthy and safe ocean ecosystems and to help prevent things that threaten oceanic and human life. The conservancy's main concern was to restore sustainable American fisheries and protect wildlife from human impact.

The group was formerly known as the Center for Marine Conservation, and was one of the few environmental or conservation organizations to take a neutral position on Florida's "Ban the Nets" amendment in 1994 that was passed with 72% of the vote.

The Ocean Conservancy is one of the few of the organizations that help protect wildlife in the ocean.

Coral Reef Protection Programs

The Ocean Conservancy is attempting to halt current and future reef damage in two key ways: through changing policy and by building resiliency. To save coral reefs, there needs to be a balance found between human activities and reef health. The first problem challenging this balance is global warming, which creates changes in the characteristics and quality of the water. The coral are very sensitive to these changes, and many times these changes result in disease and death of the reef. Therefore, the first challenge is to respond to this threat through the development of national and global policies to mitigate or alter damaging activities that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. The Ocean Conservancy is acting on this by attempting to inform the public of the problems plaguing reefs as well as other marine ecosystems through their website and a magazine that they publish. They also have a staff of senior scientists and policy experts who travel to Capitol Hill to share their expertise and to urge policymakers to encourage the implementation of policies regarding the mitigation, adaptation, and alternatives to damaging activities such as the use of carbon-based fuels.

To help build resiliency for the reefs, Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), sometimes called “undersea Yosemites,” have been designated through policies encouraged by The Ocean Conservancy. These MPAs are areas where endangered marine species can be placed so that they can continue undisturbed by human activities, allowing the individuals to thrive and their population to rebound in numbers. Within the areas of the MPAs, reefs are protected from sediment, trash, and pollution resulting from human activity. They are also “no take” zones, meaning that humans are not allowed to extract any resources out of these areas – including fish, oil, gas, or minerals. This can help restore the resiliency of many reefs, as there is evidence that when undisturbed coral reefs can recover on their own. The Ocean Conservancy’s plans for promoting reef protection therefore include a comprehensive plan incorporating three goals: encouraging the establishment of more (and more protective) MPAs, improving reef management, and calling for immediate action to mitigate the ecological effects of global warming .

The aftermath of the BP oil spill in 2010 produced a significant amount of damage to the coral reef systems present throughout the Gulf of Mexico. In response to the damage, The Ocean Conservancy developed a Gulf Restoration Program, led by senior conservation biologists and ecologists to try to help reverse the damage. Through this program, scientists were able to discover “deep sea” coral damage that was initially overlooked in the original projections of the costs of restoration. These deep sea corals have been in some cases developing for thousands of years, implying that they have a very slow growth rate and are especially vulnerable to disturbances such as oil spills. Taking this damage into account, the Gulf Restoration Program pressed for more (and more immediate) compensation from the liable parties (the oil company as well as the rig company) and the government to offset the additional costs of restoration. The program has used all of this funding to constantly and consistently monitor the damages as well as contribute to the restoration of the Gulf. There has been progress made on restoration in the past year, but the organization projects that full restoration of the Gulf to its former state will require decades of work.

Press

• 25 June 2007 United States Government Takes Important Step in Protecting Critically Endangered North Atlantic Right Whales in the Southeast
• 22 June 2007 NOAA Releases Report to Congress on the Status of U.S. Fisheries; Fish Stocks Remain Depleted Due to Overfishing
• 11 June 2007 Endangered Sea Turtles Receive Vital Protection
• 25 March 2007 New Study Shows that Catch Shares Can Help Achieve Sustainable American Fisheries

See also

• Sustainability
• Biodiversity
• Global warming
• Ecology
• Earth Science
• Natural environment
• Nature
• Conservation Movement