World Oceans Day – Healthy Oceans, Healthy Planet

WorldOceansDay2015Today, June 8th, we join the United Nations General Assembly to celebrate World Oceans Day and recognize that “our rainwater, drinking water, weather, climate coastlines, much of our food, and even the oxygen in the air we breathe, are all ultimately provided and regulated by the sea.” [1. http://www.un.org/en/events/oceansday/background.shtml]. It also gives us a chance to shine a spotlight on the amazing work of a few of the projects in our portfolio that focus on conserving and protecting our marine ecosystems across the world.

Olazul is reinventing the aquarium trade in Indonesia to protect reefs, repurposing fisheries waste to relieve pressure on wild fish on Mexico’s Baja peninsula, and restoring our oceans for future generations.

Ocean Outcomes works hand-in-hand with commercial fishermen to improve high risk fisheries with key initiatives underway in Russia (one of the world’s top ten producers of wild fish) and in Japan, which is home to the largest seafood market in the world, yet is not home to any publicly recognized Fishery Improvement Projects.

cChange (formerly SeaWeb Asia Pacific), with offices in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, works in the background to foster  community-owned social media campaigns that create immediate and sustainable change.  Check out the super successful West Maui Kumuwai and 4Fiji campaigns!

These are just a few of the projects that we support that are focused on conserving our oceans.  Learn more about our other ocean-focused projects: CeDePesca, LMMA, MarViva Foundation, and the Conservation and Community Investment Forum.