SMALL GRANTS FOR

BIG OCEAN OPPORTUNITIES

SMALL GRANTS FOR

BIG OCEAN OPPORTUNITIES

Los Cabos Coastkeeper: Flora and Fauna Protection Area, Los Cabos

The region around Cabo San Lucas’ Flora and Fauna Protection Area, one of Mexico’s most iconic national protected areas, has experienced an astounding boom in real estate development, tourism, and population since the 1990’s. First established in 1974, the Protection…

Earth Law Center: Legal Protection for Whale & Dolphin Sanctuary

Earth Law Center’s (ELC) primary aim of this project is to protect the biodiversity and ocean health in the Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary of Uruguay’s EEZ. Our goal is to prevent the threats to this ecosystem by establishing a legal…

Mision Tiburon: Conservation of the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

The Scalloped hammerhead shark, Sphyrna lewini, is classified as endangered by IUCN Red List. The aim of the project is to improve the conservation of the S. lewini population in the Eastern Tropical Pacific by means of protecting th Golfo…

Sea Shepherd Legal: Fighting Against IUU Fishing in Peru

Sea Shepherd Legal (SSL) protects marine wildlife and habitats through the training of government officials, particularly in countries like Peru where ocean ecosystem exploitation is rampant and responsive government capacity is inadequate. This grant will enable SSL to build on its…

Reef Doctor: Artificial Reef Establishment

The livelihood of 200,000 inhabitants is threatened by declining fishery yields and degraded marine habitats in the Bay of Ranobe, Southwest Madagascar. Reef Doctor proposes to install artificial reefs to provide alternative habitats for marine lives, bolster local fishing yields,…

Marine Megafauna Foundation: Genomic tools for Yellowfin Tuna

The yellowfin tuna, Thunnus albacares, is among the most traded tuna species. This species is close to being cataloged as a threatened species according to IUCN (2011). Understanding the status of the population of yellowfin tuna in a part of…

Chicago Zoological Society: Assessment of Fur Seals and Sea Lions

The Chicago Zoological Society will develop new community engagement initiatives centered around the Punta San Juan marine reserve in Peru, home to endangered Peruvian South American fur seals, South American sea lions, and Humboldt penguins. Activities including monthly family reserve…

Island Reach: Developing the MPA Network in Makelula, Vanuatu

Ni-Vanuatu people depend on coastal fisheries for their livelihood and food security. The six villages of Southwest Bay, Malekula — Tenstik, Lembenwen, Wintua, Lorlo, Lapo, Lawa — have long followed the traditional marine conservation practice of Tabu areas, or periodically…

MarViva: Public Policy of the High Seas in the CRD

MarViva’s grant on building awareness towards establishment of public policy for the conservation of the High Seas in the Costa Rica Dome (CRD) goal to help protect the invaluable biodiversity and ecosystem services. Through multisectoral marine spatial planning involving Central American…

Association for Animal Protection and Inventory: 1st MPAs in Bosnia

Previous studies done by the Association for Animal Inventory and Protection revealed the presence of four species of skates and rays (some of them are considered as rare in the Adriatic) within the waters of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with abundant populations and…

Ocean Alliance: SnotBot, Drones for Whale Research

SnotBot is a program that uses drones to study whales used by Ocean Alliance Inc. SnotBot can collect a wide variety of independently valuable data streams including biological samples, non-invasively, efficiently, and affordably. It will empower research/conservation stakeholders globally to…

VEPA: Conservation

Monitoring and Assessment

in Tonga

This marine conservation project, Program Development for Conservation Monitoring and Assessment of Zooplankton, Cryptobenthic Fishes, Coral Growth and Recruitment in Vava’u Archipelago, Tonga, is a collaboration between the Tongan Government Ministry of Fisheries (MoF), the Vava’u...

AIDA: Protecting Magellanes Environment from Salmon Aquaculture

Chile is the second largest producer of salmon in the world. Following the collapse of the salmon fishery in the Lagos region, Chile’s government is promoting salmon aquaculture in the pristine waters of the Magallanes Peninsula. Potential environmental impacts are…

Organization for the Conservation of Cetaceans: Marine Sanctuary

OCC (Organisation for the Conservation of Cetaceans) is a small non-government organisation in Uruguay, South America, which focuses on marine conservation. In the last decade, OCC-Uruguay has identified the major threats to marine conservation along Uruguay’s Atlantic coast, and worked…

Bahamas National Trust: Sustainability of the Queen Conch Fishery

The annual Conchservation Campaign report provides detailed information on the Campaign’s progress towards achieving the Campaign’s objectives. Conchservation aims to improve sustainability of the Bahamian Queen Conch fishery. Several elements of the Campaign align with the ROC subtheme...

Earthjustice: Stop the USA’s Largest Factory-Farm Aquaculture Project

Earthjustice will research the legal options to counter the proposed Rose Canyon Fisheries off the coast of San Diego, which would be the world’s largest aquaculture factory-farm. The project’s own proponents acknowledge that it will likely lead to “oxygen depletion…

University of Miami: Hurricane Mathew Impacts on The Bahamas

Young Marine Explorers (YME), a Bahamian marine conservation organization based on New Providence will work with Coastal Ecology Lab (UM-CEL) at the University of Miami to document the impacts of Hurricane Matthew on coastal and marine resources. YME works…

EcoViva: Coastal Resources Management in El Salvador’s Mangroves

The most extensive remaining mangrove forest in Central America is located in the Bay of Jiquilisco in the Lower Lempa region of El Salvador. At 632 square kilometers, the Bay of Jiquilisco is El Salvador’s largest wetlands complex and protected…

IPNLF: Mapping the Roles of Women in the Maldives Tuna Fishery

This research by the International Pole and Line Foundation is intended to map the roles of women in tuna supply chains in the Maldives; and work to develop and test indicators that can represent the gender dimension of these fisheries in…

Wild Me: Wildbook-Computer Vision for Dolphins

Wild Me specializes in data management and computer vision solutions to modernize wildlife research, especially where citizen science can be integrated to increase data collection and improve curation. We seek to advance the mark-recapture monitoring of select dolphin populations by…

University of Cape Town: ABALOBI – Small-Scale Fisheries

The ABALOBI initiative is an open, transdisciplinary and social learning endeavor, bringing together various stakeholders, with traditional fishers taking center stage. It is a participatory action project with a strong community development interface. ABALOBI, as a free mobile app and program,…

Provita: The Venezuelan Coral Reef Monitoring Network

Coral reefs are highly biodiverse ecosystems with the largest number of species per unit area in the oceans. There is striking evidence showing that coral reef health has been declining in response to climate change at unprecedented rates, particularly in…

IUCN: Debt for Adaptation Swap Expansion

Expansion of the debt for adaptation swap to targeted indebted Small Island Developing States presents an opportunity to use an innovative mechanism to finance implementation of marine spatial plans and increase the resilience of island nations most susceptible to the…

Seacology: Drafting a Management Plan for an MPA in Chile

This project will provide resources and expertise for the communities of Koldita and Luikura to develop a critical management plan for a new 12,630 acre marine protected area adjacent to Koldita Island, Chile. In exchange for Seacology funding experts to…

Sea Shepherd: Vaquita Protection and Removal of Illegal Fishing Gear

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society concluded Operation Milangro II on May 3rd 2016, its campaign to fight the looming extinction of the vaquita porpoise, the most endangered marine mammal in the world. With and estimate of less than 60 surviving vaquita,…

University of Western Australia: Port Coogee Artificial Reef Surveys

The project will collect baseline data on fish, invertebrate, macroalgae and seagrass communities, before installation of an artificial reef at Port Coogee, Western Australia. By conducting surveys at the reef installation site and at suitable nearby control sites, the study…

CCRD: Improve the Fisheries Protected Areas in Vietnam

This project provides participatory training on improvement and adaptation of 23 community fisheries protected areas (FPAs) newly established in Tam Giang lagoon as parts of fisheries co-management. It involves Fisheries Associations (FAs) who manage FPAs and relevant stakeholders in a…

MARE: Performance of MPAs in Portugal

Portugal has one of the largest marine jurisdictions in Europe being viewed as a major player in ocean conservation. Yet, although several MPAs have been established, their performance hasn’t been evaluated. The recent race to designate very large MPAs in…

Pacific Wild Alliance: Herring Recovery in British Columbia

As a staple spring food and a valuable product for trade and export, Pacific Herring (Clupea pallasi ) Roe plays a critical cultural and economic role for a number of First Nation communities on the coast of British Columbia. After…

CUNY Brooklyn College: Population Collapse and Coastal Warming

Ria Formosa was once home to the largest population of CITES-protected seahorses in the world, but recent surveys suggest a decline of almost 95% over the past decade, a dramatic population collapse attributed to a combination of habitat loss and…