Japanese Activists' Voices Grow Louder

"Knowledge is power." (Design: Pilar Posada 2010)

Oceanic Defense's Coalition to Stop the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter, initiated in August 2009, has always had one mission and one goal.

Mission: Maintain international attention on dolphin killings while reaching-out to and working with the people of Japan. 

Goal: Stop the dolphin drive in Taiji, Japan.

As part of our mission, we reached out to like-minded, social-network-based, grass-roots organizations with Japanese contacts and influence. With Choices for Tomorrow (CFT), we formed a strong working partnership and found common ground with their core philosophy of "Cruelty Free Living and Animal Advocacy". During our campaign last year, they provided invaluable cultural guidance, translation, and leadership to not only Oceanic Defense but also to many other U.S. advocacy groups and activists working in Japan. 

This year they are co-sponsoring the Futo Petition to address the re-opening of the dolphin drive/hunt in that town after years of peace in those waters. Significantly, this petition is addressed directly to local town officials including Shizuoka Governor, Ito City Mayor, Chief of the Ito Fishing Cooperative, Chief of the Ito Fishing Cooperative Futo Office, Chairman of Ito City Tourist Association, Chief of Ito City Department of Tourism, Chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Ito Tourism.

The petitions goal was 1000 signatures but has exceeded 2000. Most importantly, however, many of those signatures are by citizens of Japan and many include heart-felt comments that resonant with the rest of the world. Here are a few of those comments (referenced anonymously out of respect for the signers):
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"While millions of people are starving in the world, in Japan we are dumping millions of tons of food. There is absolutely no need for such Japan to hunt wild mammals for food. From now on, we need culture to let wildlife live instead of killing. Please stop showing off shameful Japan to the world. Please make our culture to be called 'culture to respect life'."

"Please figure out how to ban all this slaughter and become a town known as a respectful tourism-mecca."

"It's not tradition nor culture. It's shameful act."

"Tradition that needs to be protected must be a good tradition. Bad one must be stopped.

"While you were not hunting till reopening this time, you must have had a way to earn living. So it is not like you'll have problem without dolphin hunting. It's not necessary at all! Personally Futo is the place that I got my diving license. I realize it is the popular place for marine sports. With this problem the good image will disappear. I am absolutely against the hunt."

"Cruel."

"It is really disgusting that you tell tourists how cute dolphins are and behind the scene you stab dolphins that could not sold to aquariums. It is the reality that Japan looks very strange to the world. I don't understand why you do it with all these negative impacts."

"I started to consider not to visit Shizuoka anymore"
 
"I love Futo for diving spots. But if you keep hunting, I will never ever visit there."

"I was shocked to know that Shizuoka as well is the place that dolphin hunting takes place. It is so unfortunate that my image of Shizuoka changed. The snow of Mount Fuji (symbol of Shizuoka) looks to me now red!"

"Frighteningly huge aquarium is under construction in China. Japanese corporation are supporting it. We need to think in case that the aquarium goes bankrupt, for marine animals. Dolphins are victim of money game, not a culture nor tradition and we need to stop."

"While making excuses using the words of tradition and culture, you sell off the wild dolphins to aquariums. You never give a thought about how short the dolphins’ life would be in aquariums with stress. It is as if slave traders. In Japan where food that could be fed to 30 millions people are dumped everyday, killing dolphins is not something to be allowed. Please stop the slaughter. I am shameful as a Japanese."

"With my empathy to the determined spirits of the petition sponsors, I am cooperating on this cause. I am absolutely against dolphin hunting." 

And our favorite...

"We won't stop until dolphin hunting will be banned nationwide."
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What can YOU do?

Please sign and share the Futo Petition. You can also call your local Japanese Consulate or Embassy and tell them that the world is watching and so are their concerned citizens; quote one of your fellow activists from Japan, above.

And, as always, "Educate. Activate." Share what you know with your community, schools, friends and family. Knowledge is power.

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Samantha Whitcraft
Director, Conservation Biology
Oceanic Defense

Masami Mizuguchi
Co-Founder
Choices for Tomorrow (CFT)
 

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About Oceanic Defense
We are an international non-profit organization with members in over 60 countries, spanning 6 continents with 1 mission; healthy aquatic ecosystems free from human abuse and neglect. Oceanic Defense teaches people to protect our oceans by acting responsibly as consumers and by making smart decisions in our daily lives. Whether we are buying groceries, commuting to work, planning a vacation or advocating within our own communities; each action we take or decision we make either helps or hurts our oceans. We empower people to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem and work together to protect our blue planet.

Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OceanicDefense
Visit our official website: www.oceanicdefense.org
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Wild dolphins shipped to China from Japan - "The Beijing Six"

Dolphin transport for aquarium-trade. (Photo: Elsa Nature Conservancy 1999)

BEIJING, China. Monday 20th September, 2010

Six dolphins have arrived in Beijing by air from Japan, Chinese state-run television reported Sunday. CCTV said the dolphins—two Pacific White-sided Dolphins and four Bottlenose Dolphins—have passed quarantine examination and been moved to the city’s ocean park to begin a 30-day period of isolation and inspection.

It said each dolphin arrived in a special water tank 3 meters [>10 ft] long  and 1 meter [3 1/4 ft] wide.

Japanese in some remote coastal fishing communities kill or capture hundreds and even thousands of dolphins from September until April each year. Most dolphins are killed for their meat, but much higher prices can be fetched by the selling of live dolphins to aquariums around the world for use in captive dolphin shows as well as for ‘‘swim-with-dolphins’’ programs.

Source: Japan Today

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ANALYSIS:
 
These dolphins are "blood dolphins" as described by Ric O'Barry, former dolphin-trainer turned activist  in the Animal Planet series of the same name. These are animals captured and sold by the same fishing/hunting industry that also slaughters their species. The transport and sale of these animals to a captive-entertainment facility in China financially supports the slaughter of coastal cetaceans in Japan and around the world.

Additionally, transport via truck and air from coastal Japan where these animals were likely captured and held to "the world's largest inland aquarium" in Beijing would take approximately 8-10 hour. This could incur massive stress on a newly-captured wild animal, especially a marine mammal.

Ultimately, these animals now face one of three destinies:

1. Entertainment-captivity at the Beijing Aquarium's 3000 seat Marine Theatre where, according to their webpage, these newly captured wild animals will be trained to perform "wonderful water ballet, the thrilling high altitude jumping, the pleasant singing voice and the original abstractionist-style drawing". These are unnatural behaviors having little to no educational value.

2. Sale or trade to another captive facility for entertainment-display, research, or lucrative swim-with-dolphin programs. They will be separated from animals and trainers they have come to know and incur further psychological and physiological stress, potentially reducing their life-expectancy in captivity. According to the Humane Society of the United States, a "spike in mortality occurs every time dolphins are transported. Each time they are confined and shipped from one place to another, it is as traumatic as if they were being newly captured from the wild. The experience of being removed from water and restrained is apparently so stressful to dolphins that they never find it routine." Note that this trail of blood dolphins is not limited to Asia. As just one example, Canada's Vancouver Aquarium partners directly with the Beijing Ocean Park.

3. Death from stress-induced infections is likely for these animals. In the U.S., the history of each individual marine mammal in captivity must be traced by the National Marine Fisheries Service and cataloged in the Marine Mammal Inventory. This allows marine conservation and animal advocacy groups to monitor the turn-over in animals and the mortality rate in captivity. However, in China, no such information is available. For example, in March 2003 six dolphins were shipped from Taiji to the Beijing Aquarium and in June of that same year a calf was born, for the first time at their facility. No public records are currently available regarding any of those animals. All of these dolphins' futures, alive or dead, may never be known.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

The most important action each of us can take is to never pay to visit any institution that houses captive marine mammals, unless they have a proven record and commitment to the three R's, rescue, rehabilitation and release as the sole reason for housing the animals.

Next, contact the following organizations with your concerns about "The Beijing Six": The Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums and World Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Finally, "Educate.Activate" within your community, school, and with your family and friends about this issue.

Analysis and research -
Samantha Whitcraft
Conservation Biologist 
Oceanic Defense

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About Oceanic Defense
We are an international non-profit organization with members in over 60 countries, spanning 6 continents with 1 mission; healthy aquatic ecosystems free from human abuse and neglect. Oceanic Defense teaches people to protect our oceans by acting responsibly as consumers and by making smart decisions in our daily lives. Whether we are buying groceries, commuting to work, planning a vacation or advocating within our own communities; each action we take or decision we make either helps or hurts our oceans. We empower people to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem and work together to protect our blue planet.

Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OceanicDefense
Visit our official website: www.oceanicdefense.org
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/OceanicDefense

Most Penguin Populations Continue to Decline -- What can YOU do?

You can help rescue penguins, everyday.

[One hundred and eighty] penguin biologists from [22 nations] around the world...warn that ten of the planet's eighteen penguin species have experienced further serious population declines. The effects of climate change, overfishing, chronic oil pollution, and predation by introduced mammals are among the major factors cited repeatedly by penguin scientists as contributing to these population drops. ...Thirteen penguin species are already classified as endangered or threatened. Some penguin species may face extinction in this century.

Penguins are found exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere with a single species on the Galapagos Islands at the Equator to four Antarctic penguin species that are most well known to the public, yet 13 other species also live in South America, southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and on the many sub-Antarctic islands. Throughout their ranges, nearly all of penguin species are in significant decline or under duress due to a host of common factors.

Climate Change

The effects of climate change on different penguin species has been the topic of many of the scientists's papers and presentations. Many penguin species are highly dependent on small schooling fish for food. These masses of anchovies, sardines and other small finfish are seasonally brought to many penguin habitats by cold water currents. In years with El Nino events in the Pacific, there has been a dramatic warming of sea surface temperatures which effectively blocked cold water currents coming up the western coast of South America. Consequently, Galapagos penguins and Humboldt penguins, which are found on the coasts of Peru and Chile, have suffered due to reduced food availability, which principally affects the survival of the young. Galapagos penguins stand a 30% probability of becoming extinct in this century and Humboldt penguins have been classified by the Peruvian government as endangered.

Earlier this year, African penguins, found in Namibia and South Africa, were reclassified internationally as endangered as many breeding colonies in the western part of their range have disappeared. Important food bearing cold water currents have shifted and are now routinely found much further offshore. The increased round-trip commuting distance for African penguins to obtain food has been devastating to their population.

Scientists are closely watching the potential effects on several Antarctic penguin species that are highly dependent on the presence of sea ice for breeding, foraging and molting. Emperor penguins, which were the subject of "March of the Penguins," could see major population declines by 2100, if they do not adapt, migrate and change the timing of their growth stages.

Adelie penguin colonies in the Antarctic's Ross Sea have coped for several years with two super-sized icebergs that have grounded there and created an enormous physical barrier. It has resulted in lower breeding rates and the migration of many animals out of the area.

Sea ice also creates an important nursey cover for juvenile krill which feed on ice algae. Krill is the primary fuel at the base the Antarctic food chain. Reduced sea ice cover has led to a dramtic decline in krill and will likely lead to a decline in many wildlife populations further up the food chain that relies on krill as its foundation food source.

The effects of climate change on penguins are very real. Many environmental conditions are changing and much less predictable. For penguins living in harsh conditions, the ability to properly time when to migrate, nest, mate and seek food are critical decisions often with a very small margin for error, both for both individual animals and entire species.

Overfishing and By-catch

As fishing efforts around the globe have multiplied several fold over the last few decades, penguins are now competing with people for enough food. The large scale harvesting of anchovy and sardine stocks have directly reduced the prey available to many penguin species including Macaroni and Chinstrap penguins in the South Atlantic. Combined with the effects of climate change on the locations of fish stocks, reduced food availability leads to higher starvation rates, increased vulnerability to disease and lower breeding success.

Thousands of penguins are also killed annually when caught in fixed fishing nets.

Chronic Oiling

Large scale oil spills make worldwide headlines, but chronic petroleum pollution has killed thousands of penguins particularly off the coasts of South America and South Africa. The most common sources are illegal operational dumping from ships, long term leaks from sunken ships and some land-based discharges. Better legislation and law enforcement efforts can yield positive results. The incidence of oiling of Magellanic penguins off the coast of Argentina has decline significantly in recent years due to increased public awareness and enforcement.

Introduced Mammalian Predators

Many penguin species evolved in extremely remote settings devoid of any mammal predators. Prior to the arrival of humans, New Zealand's only mammals were bats. Now, introduced weasels have had a large impact on the the small populations of Yellow-Eyed and Fiordland penguins. In Australia and Argentina, the arrival of foxes have had impacts while feral cats in the Galapagos have reduced penguin populations there.

What Can YOU do?

Dyan deNapoli, "the Penguin Lady", author of The Great Penguin Rescue and member of Oceanic Defense's Aquatic Army says, "Some of the primary threats to penguin populations are global warming, overfishing, fishing net entrapment, and chronic oiling. To save penguins, our oceans, and all of nature, we each need to take a good, hard look at our lifestyle and change any of our habits that contribute to these ongoing problems. It all begins in our own back yards. And it's also true that one person truly CAN make a difference. It all begins with one person with one idea who then shares it with others and brings them on board. Others, still, are then inspired by their shared passion and drive, and before you know it, you have a movement!" At Oceanic Defense we know that saving the ocean starts with each of US and the choices we make everyday in our lives -- in the grocery store, in our homes, and most importantly in our decision to be an activist or an in-activist for the oceans.

Together we can help penguin populations wherever we live. You can start by understanding your carbon footprint and working to lower it because that directly addresses the growing threat of global warming; you can start with simple travel and transportation calculations. Next, always know what you are eating, from land or sea, and what its environmental, ecological, and sociological impacts are. If you choose to eat seafood, use a reputable source to determine how sustainable it is so you can make good decisions. Most importantly, stay informed and share your knowledge with your friends, family, schools, and communities and social networks. Educate. Activate.

Source: ScienceDaily (Sept. 9, 2010) — http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2010/09/100906145115.htm

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About Oceanic Defense
We are an international non-profit organization with members in over 60 countries, spanning 6 continents with 1 mission; healthy aquatic ecosystems free from human abuse and neglect. Oceanic Defense educates people to protect our oceans by acting responsibly as consumers and by making smart decisions in our daily lives. Whether we are buying groceries, commuting to work, planning a vacation or advocating within our own communities and internationally; each action we take or decision we make either helps or hurts our oceans. We activate people to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem and work together to protect our blue planet. Educate. Activate.

Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OceanicDefense
Visit our official website: www.oceanicdefense.org
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/OceanicDefense

Shark attack survivors don't forget but do forgive...

Shark attack survivors outside the United Nations, NY/Photo: Diane Bondareff /AP

UNITED NATIONS – They have the scars and missing limbs that make it hard to forgive, but these victims are tougher than most. And now they want to save their attackers. They are shark attack survivors, a band of nine thrown together in an unlikely and ironic mission to conserve the very creatures that ripped their flesh, tore off their limbs and nearly took their lives.

They want nations to adopt a resolution that would require them to greatly improve how fish are managed, including shark species of which nearly a third are threatened with extinction or on the verge of being threatened.

"We do not have scientific management plans for how many sharks can be caught," Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group told reporters at the United Nations on Monday. "There are no limits."

Speaking with the attack survivors at a news conference held to draw attention to the world's dwindling shark population, Rand said the U.N. and its member nations must do more to resolve the problem.

"If a group like us can see the value in saving sharks, can't everyone?" asked Florida shark bite victim Debbie Salamone, 44, whose Achilles tendon was severed in a 2004 attack.

Salamone, a former journalist, joined the Washington-based nonprofit Pew Environment Group and recruited like-minded shark attack survivors to work for shark conversation.

The group gathered at U.N. headquarters Monday hoping to win new protections globally for the ocean's top predators.

"We do not have scientific management plans for how many sharks can be caught," Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group told reporters at the United Nations. "There are no limits."

Speaking with the attack survivors at a news conference held to draw attention to the world's dwindling shark population, Rand said the U.N. and its member nations must do more to resolve the problem.

Among the group's goals is to end the practice of shark finning, which kills an estimated 73 million sharks a year. Fishermen slice off shark fins, which sell for hundreds of dollars a pound for use in soup mostly in Asian markets, but dump the animal back in the water where it drowns or bleeds to death.

Because sharks are slow growing, late to mature and produce few young, they are unable to replenish their populations as quickly as they are caught, Rand said in an earlier interview. Shark attack survivors also have sought U.S. legislation to close what they view as loopholes in the country's shark finning ban.

The survivors, ages 21 to 55, say being in the wrong place at the wrong time needn't diminish their love for the ocean, where they enjoyed surfing, swimming and diving and knew the risks.

They now see greater risks to the sharks and are asking the U.N. to halt fishing of threatened and near-threatened shark species and adopt shark conservation plans to study and impose scientific limits on shark catches.

Former lifeguard Achmat Hassiem, 29, of Cape Town, South Africa, lost his foot when a shark attacked him during rescue practice four years ago and said he now believes certain things happen for a reason.

"My dream was to one day become a marine biologist and focus on helping and protecting Earth's aquatic life. To participate in this event is an honor," he said.

More than a decade ago, nations agreed to voluntarily produce shark management plans, but only about 40 of some 130 nations followed through. International trade restrictions are in place for only three shark species: basking, whale and white sharks.

"Do we have the right to drive any animal to the brink of extinction before any action is taken?" asked Navy diver Paul de Gelder, 33, of Sydney, Australia, who lost his right hand and right lower leg in an attack last year during anti-terrorism exercises.

"Regardless of what an animal does according to its base instincts of survival, it has its place in our world," he said. "We have an obligation to protect and maintain the natural balance of our delicate ecosystems."

Source: John Heilprin, Associated Press Writer – Mon Sep 13, 2010

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About Oceanic Defense
We are an international non-profit organization with members in over 60 countries, spanning 6 continents with 1 mission; healthy aquatic ecosystems free from human abuse and neglect. Oceanic Defense teaches people to protect our oceans by acting responsibly as consumers and by making smart decisions in our daily lives. Whether we are buying groceries, commuting to work, planning a vacation or advocating within our own communities; each action we take or decision we make either helps or hurts our oceans. We empower people to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem and work together to protect our blue planet.

Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OceanicDefense
Visit our official website: www.oceanicdefense.org
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/OceanicDefense

James Cameron to dive to bottom of Mariana Trench in western Pacific Ocean

HOLLYWOOD director James Cameron is preparing to dive to the deepest point of the oceans as part of his research for a sequel to Avatar, his 3D epic.

He has commissioned Australian engineers to build a deep sea submersible which can reach the bottom of the Mariana Trench - 10.9km (36,000ft) down in the western Pacific - after deciding to set the film in the turbulent waters of Pandora, an alien moon.

The vessel will be fitted with 3D cameras designed by Cameron so that he can take unprecedented footage of such depths and, if he wants to, fill it with digitally created monsters for Avatar 2.

The muddy, rocky Mariana Trench, which could swallow Mount Everest, has been visited by man only once.

In May 1960, a submersible called the Trieste took nearly five hours to descend to its floor. Its passengers, Jacques Piccard, a Swiss scientist, and Don Walsh, a US navy lieutenant, were able to spend 20 minutes at the bottom of the world.

In the cold and darkness, eating chocolate bars, they were joined by flounder, sole and shrimp, proving that some vertebrate life can exist at such extraordinary depths.

Although remote-controlled vessels have gone back to the Challenger Deep, a valley at the bottom of the trench, no humans have been so deep again. However, Cameron, who reportedly earned $350m from Avatar, has the money and passion to return.

His obsession with the waters that cover two-thirds of the world's surface has been manifested not only in his blockbuster Titanic and a spin-off documentary, but also in his 1989 film The Abyss.

Last month, Cameron spent his 56th birthday in a Russian deep sea submersible called the Mir-1, descending more than 5,000ft (1.5km) into Lake Baikal in Siberia, the deepest freshwater lake in the world.

Cameron told Russian journalists that he had come to the Siberian lake to draw attention to its pollution problems. He says his descent into the Mariana Trench would be a similar environmental mission.

"We are building a vehicle to do the dive," he said. "It's about half-completed in Australia." He hopes to start preparing for the dive later this year.

Australian scientists believed to be working for Cameron have visited the San Francisco headquarters of Hawkes Ocean Technologies, which has been building a submersible capable of settling at the bottom of the trench.

Cameron's new vessel is expected to be a two-seater, finned cylinder fitted with the latest 3D cameras and a heating system largely missing from the Trieste.

Some of his footage from the depths may end up in Avatar 2 - which is not expected to reach cinemas before 2014 - or possibly in two other deep-sea adventures that the director is considering turning into movies.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/james-cameron-to-dive-to-bottom-of-mariana-trench-in-western-pacific-ocean/story-e6frfmqr-1225919570635

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About Oceanic Defense
We are an international non-profit organization with members in over 60 countries, spanning 6 continents with 1 mission; healthy aquatic ecosystems free from human abuse and neglect. Oceanic Defense teaches people to protect our oceans by acting responsibly as consumers and by making smart decisions in our daily lives. Whether we are buying groceries, commuting to work, planning a vacation or advocating within our own communities; each action we take or decision we make either helps or hurts our oceans. We empower people to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem and work together to protect our blue planet.

Join us on Facebook:www.facebook.com/OceanicDefense
Visit our official website:www.oceanicdefense.org
Follow us on Twitter:www.twitter.com/OceanicDefense

Whale meat back on school lunch menus

Poster promoting whale meat, Taiji. (Photo: Mimi AuYeung, Oceanic Defense - Japan)

Poster Translation: "The number of whales is increasing. Whales eat too many fish. Each country has its own food culture. It's high in protein, low in calories."

Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010:  WAKAYAMA (Kyodo) Whale meat has been slowly put back on school lunch menus since around 2005, according to a recent survey released Saturday, as the meat is being made available at low prices in a bid to expand consumption. Of about 29,600 public elementary and junior high schools nationwide offering lunches for students, 5,355 schools, or 18 percent, responded they had served whale meat in their lunches at least once in fiscal 2009 through March 2010, according to the survey conducted from June to August this year.

The Institute of Cetacean Research, which carries out the government's whaling, provided whale meat to local municipalities for school lunches at one-third of the market price, which was ¥2,060 per kg in 2009.

Japan, which aims to resume commercial whaling, is hoping to increase consumption of whale meat as meat stocks of whales captured by the institute have piled up to around 4,000 tons. The annual amount of meat supplied domestically peaked at around 220,000 tons in 1962, but plunged sharply to around 1,000 tons in the 1990s after an international moratorium on commercial whaling was introduced in the 1980s. As a result, whale meat, which often appeared in school lunches in the 1970s, disappeared from menus.

In 2005, Japan increased the whale catch to 1,200 from 750 citing a rise in the populations of the species it hunts, pushing up the supply amount to 5,487 tons in 2006 and driving down the price to half the peak level. However, consumption remained sluggish. Against this backdrop, the institute and the Fisheries Agency have promoted the sale of whale meat to schools and medical institutions for their lunches at a bargain price.

Japan ceased commercial whaling in 1987, but continues its annual culling of whales under the guise of scientific research. Consequently, the meat is now marketed as a "byproduct" of whaling and the proceeds are used to cover the government's expenses. Taxpayers' money is also spent to cover shortfalls.

But anti-whaling countries and organizations have rapped Japan's hunting of whales for what it claims as research as a disguised form of commercial whaling.

"It is obvious that (Japan) continues whaling despite there being little demand," said Jun Hoshikawa, executive director of Greenpeace Japan, adding that the government is likely targeting schools because the general public is not buying whale meat.

Wakayama and Nagasaki prefectures, known for their whaling tradition, say they serve whale meat at local schools so their children can learn about the traditional food culture.


Source: Japan Times Online - http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100905a3.html

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About Oceanic Defense
We are an international, non-profit organization with members in over 60 countries, spanning 6 continents with 1 mission; healthy aquatic ecosystems free from human abuse and neglect. Oceanic Defense teaches and empowers people to protect our oceans by acting responsibly as consumers and by making smart decisions in our daily lives. Whether we are buying groceries, commuting to work, planning a vacation, or advocating within our own local, national, or international communities; each action we take or decision we make either helps or hurts our oceans. We empower people to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem and work together to protect our blue planet.

Join us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OceanicDefense
Visit our official website: www.oceanicdefense.org
Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/OceanicDefense