Celebrating the Ocean on Earth Day!
This year to celebrate Earth Day we donated to the Ocean Conservancy, which works tirelessly on its initiatives to promote healthy oceans. Some of the ways they do this is to confront ocean acidification, clearing up the Gulf of Mexico, creating sustainable fisheries, promoting trash-free seas, lobbying for protection of the arctic, and more.
The Ocean Conservancy aids in helping coral reefs around the world through addressing some of the stressors causing coral death, such as ocean acidification, overfishing, and pollution, to name a few. That's important work considering how important coral is to the ocean's ecosystem. Coral reefs take up less than 1% of the ocean floor but host about 25% of all ocean species. Think of them as underwater Rainforests. To learn more about coral, coral reefs, and how people are working to help them survive, visit the Wild Life Facts Sheet.
Smart Ocean Planning is an initiative of the Ocean Conservancy that focuses on getting countries and communities to communicate and work together to further mutually beneficial solutions for communities, industries, marine life, and the ocean bio-habitat itself.
The Ocean Conservancy's many efforts in ocean cleanups, their trash-free seas initiative, and encouraging sustainable fisheries aid in helping to protect the wildlife that call the ocean their home, such as the orca. The orca is also known as the killer whale, named for their stealth and ferocity as hunters. But did you know that there are different ecotypes, identified by different physical attributes, communication behaviors and 'dialects', as well as their diet (some eat only small fish, while others will also hunt seals, sharks, and whales much larger than them)? However, across all ecotypes, their pods are led by the females and across the board orcas are belong to a matriarchal society.
To donate or learn more about the Ocean Conservancy, visit: oceanconservancy.org