Together We Can Make Oceans of Difference

This year, with more than 11 billion snow crabs disappearing from the sea floor, the Alaskan snow crab fishing season was canceled for the first time ever. In Florida, manatees are dying off by the hundreds due to starvation. 

Kimberly Ray, a marine biologist and the CEO and founder of Marine Conservation Network, sees similar things happening all over the world. 

“We all need to think about a different way of doing things because it’s not like it was hundreds of years ago when there was plenty of everything in the sea,” Ray says. “There are almost eight billion people in the world now and we need to find a better way. We need to preserve the ocean and what it provides for everybody.” 

This perilous situation is why Ray started Marine Conservation Network seven years ago. The Santa Barbara nonprofit’s mission is to support healthy oceans and marine life by bringing marine science to the public through education and advocacy programs. As a conservationist, she had noticed a disconnect between what scientists knew was happening in the oceans and what the public understood.

The Marine Conservation Network assists scientists and educates the public to create a movement for change through social media outreach and education, marine animal rescue efforts, and ocean monitoring. In coastal California, the network monitors whale strikes and sea kelp, assists with sea lion rescues, and coordinates with scientific organizations and aquariums to inform the public on critical issues. This year, the organization has expanded its presence to communities in Tampa, Florida – where manatees are threatened – as well as Sri Lanka, Canada, and Italy.  

Their rigorous Youth Ambassador program offers marine education and conservation courses, and helps with diving licenses and tuition for college to train the next generation of conservationists and environmental scientists. Alosha Samaraarachchi, an 11-year-old Youth Ambassador in Sri Lanka, has already written a published research paper, given a TEDx talk about ocean predators, and is on her way to becoming a marine scientist.  

“If we don’t start taking care of the ocean, being responsible and only taking what we need, we’re not going to have anything left,” Ray says. “There’s more than enough food and resources to provide for everyone on earth, if it is done in a responsible manner.”