Small-scale fisher Neily Kavanagh and his daughter, Muireann, stand in front of their fishing boat.
Ocean Council
Susan Rockefeller, Founder
Kelly Hallman, Vice Chair
Dede McMahon, Vice Chair
Anonymous
Samantha Bass
Violaine and John Bernbach
Rick Burnes
Vin Cipolla
Barbara Cohn
Ann Colley
Edward Dolman
Kay and Frank Fernandez
Carolyn and Chris Groobey
J. Stephen and Angela Kilcullen
Ann Luskey
Peter Neumeier
Carl and Janet Nolet
Ellie Phipps Price
David Rockefeller, Jr.
Andrew Sabin
Elias Sacal
Regina K. and John Scully
Maria Jose Peréz Simón
Sutton Stracke
Mia M. Thompson
David Treadway, Ph.D.
Edgar and Sue Wachenheim, III
Valaree Wahler
David Max Williamson
Raoul Witteveen
Leslie Zemeckis
Editorial Staff
Editor
Sarah Holcomb
Designer
Alan Po
Deputy Director of Communications
Gillian Spolarich
Creative Director
Patrick Mustain
Oceana Magazine is published by Oceana Inc. For questions or comments about this publication, please call our membership department at +1.202.833.3900 or write to Oceana’s Member Services at 1025 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036 USA.
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Oceana Staff
James F. Simon Chief Executive Officer
Kathryn Matthews, Ph.D. Chief Scientist and Senior Vice President
Liesbeth van der Meer, DVM Senior Vice President
Daniel Olivares Senior Vice President
Joshua Laughren Senior Vice President
Matthew Littlejohn Senior Vice President, Strategic Initiatives
Christopher Sharkey Chief Financial Officer
Janelle Chanona Vice President, Belize
Dustin Cranor Vice President, Global Marketing and Communications
Nancy Golden Vice President, Global Development
Beth Lowell Vice President, United States
Pascale Moehrle Executive Director and Vice President, Europe
Flip through this issue of Oceana Magazine, and you’ll glimpse what is possible when changemakers around the world join together to protect and restore the oceans. At Oceana, we know that any meaningful progress — whether conserving ocean habitat or reducing plastic pollution — requires an entire ecosystem of support. And I’m excited to introduce you to a handful of Oceana’s incredible allies in our first magazine of 2025.
First: small-scale and artisanal fishers. Oceana has achieved hundreds of victories for the oceans, many of which would not have been possible without the leadership of local fishers. Fishing communities possess deep knowledge about their waters — and a strong personal interest in keeping the oceans abundant for generations to come. On page 16, you’ll meet Neily and Muireann Kavanagh, the father-daughter fishing duo featured on our cover. Oceana has joined the Kavanaghs and others to call on Ireland’s government, as well as Members of the European Parliament, to protect small-scale fishers’ livelihoods by allocating fishing opportunities more fairly. The first step to addressing inequity is listening to those who are most impacted.
Last year, Oceana’s team in the United Kingdom sat down with smallscale fishers and coastal business owners to hear about the challenges they face and what’s needed to solve them. Oceana published this information in a fresh, deeply researched roadmap that advises the U.K. government on how to bring fisheries back from the brink of overexploitation. We hope these individuals’ stories and photos, featured in “A Living for the Many” (page 10) will inspire you.
Across the world, fishing communities are mobilizing to protect their livelihoods. Look no further than the Juan Fernández Archipelago off the coast of Chile, home to a close-knit lobster fishing community passionate about defending its waters from industrial vessels. Lending our legal, scientific, and campaigning expertise to the cause, Oceana has built lasting relationships with fishers in Juan Fernández. Most recently, we collaborated on a plan to manage the archipelago’s abundant waters in accordance with fishers’ longheld, sustainable practices. Turn to page 18 to learn more about this special island community and how responsible fishing and conservation go hand-in-hand.
Oceana also works with many other allies, such as our valuable corporate partners, who help us embark on important scientific expeditions and campaigns. On the page just after this one, you’ll read about the largest marine protected area in the Gulf of Mexico, created in September thanks to Oceana’s campaigning and support from our corporate partner, Blancpain. Oceana and Blancpain’s expeditions to these waters allowed
our scientists to capture photos (like our parting shot on page 28) and biological data illustrating the beauty and significance of this vast site. Our partners provide the pivotal support needed to win policy victories.
Our Supporter Spotlight (page 27) features yet another group of allies: grassroots supporters. A high school in the U.S. state of Colorado raised $28,000 in a single week to power Oceana’s campaigns. These young people join the ranks of Oceana’s millions of Wavemakers who are contributing their voices, creativity, and financial support to ensure healthy oceans for current and future generations.
And of course, there’s you, our extraordinary donors! I am grateful to each of you for your steadfast support and for your desire to remain involved and informed on the issues facing our oceans and coastal communities. As many environmental conservation organizations face tough challenges in our current moment, we rely on committed donors and partners to keep making progress no matter which way the tide turns. As our leader of campaigns in the United States Beth Lowell reminds us on page 8, “Oceana is needed now more than ever.” With your backing, we can continue pushing for a world where the oceans — and humanity — thrive.
With deep appreciation,
CEO Oceana
For the Win
Oceana and its allies achieved seven new victories to help protect and restore the world’s oceans
Mexico creates largest protected area in the Gulf of Mexico
In September 2024, Mexico created the Southern Gulf of Mexico Reefs National Park off the coast of Campeche and Yucatán. Covering more than 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) of ocean, it is the largest marine protected area in the Gulf of Mexico and has the highest level of conservation protection in the country. Offshore oil and gas drilling, as well as deep-sea mining, will now be off limits. The new Southern Gulf of Mexico Reefs National Park connects two existing parks — Alacranes Reef National Park and the Bajos del Norte National Park. Together, the three marine protected areas create a biological conservation corridor that will protect thousands of marine species, including leatherback sea turtles, whale sharks, and elkhorn coral. The protected areas will also benefit small-scale fishers by creating a refuge for fish to reproduce, increasing fishers’ catch. The new marine protected area became reality thanks to Oceana’s scientific expeditions and collaboration with Mexico’s government and small-scale fishers.
More Victories Around the World
Chile approves historic Juan Fernández management plan
In September 2024, Chile approved a management plan for the “Mar de Juan Fernández” multi-use marine protected area, a biodiverse location with many rare marine species found nowhere else in the world. This plan strengthens sustainable local development and ensures the continued responsible fishing of the famous Juan Fernández lobster. Read more on page 18.
Philippines installs tracking systems on 90% of commercial fishing vessels
In December 2024, the Philippines’ Fisheries Bureau announced that vessel monitoring systems have been installed on 90% of the country’s commercial fishing fleet, helping to deter illegal fishing.
The new Southern Gulf of Mexico Reefs National Park covers more than 40,000 square kilometers off the coast of Campeche and Yucatán.
United States’ coastlines permanently protected from new offshore drilling
In January 2025, President Biden permanently protected more than 625 million acres of United States federal waters, including the East Coast, West Coast, eastern Gulf of Mexico, and areas off Alaska’s Bering Sea, from new offshore oil and gas drilling. After President Trump signed an executive order attempting to roll back these protections, Oceana and its partners filed a lawsuit in February 2025 to defend them.
United Kingdom commits to no new oil and gas drilling
In July 2024, the current United Kingdom government was elected on and adopted a new policy of no new oil and gas licensing throughout the country.
Oceana successfully campaigned to protect over 625 million acres of U.S. federal waters from offshore oil and gas drilling — including these waters off Florida’s coast — and is now campaigning to defend these protections.
EU reduces bottom trawling in the Western Mediterranean
In the European Union, new 2025 fishing measures will reduce destructive bottom trawling in the Western Mediterranean. The new measures decrease trawling days by 66% in Spanish and French waters (Gulf of Lion), and by 38% in Italian and French waters (surrounding Corsica).
Amazon removes plastic air pillows from delivery packaging globally
In October 2024, Amazon announced it has removed all plastic air pillows from its delivery packaging used at its global fulfillment centers. Made of plastic film, these air pillows can be deadly to large marine animals.
News & Notes
Oceana report shines a light on Brazil’s plastic pollution
In October 2024, Oceana released “Fragments of Destruction: The Impacts of Plastic on Brazil’s Marine Biodiversity,” a report featuring new data on microplastics in fish, birds, turtles, and marine mammals. Every year, Brazil disposes approximately 1.3 million tonnes of waste into the ocean (equivalent to the weight of 1.3 million small cars), which accounts for about 8% of all plastic that reaches the seas globally. Plastic pollution was also found in Amazonian streams, where researchers discovered plastic in 98% of the fish they examined. Oceana’s research highlights how marine animals, after ingesting plastic, experience malnutrition, decreased immunity, and even death. An economic assessment commissioned by Oceana and WWF-Brazil shows that the gradual elimination of single-use plastic items can drastically reduce environmental pollution while strengthening the country’s economy.
Coca-Cola backs out of reusable packaging commitments
In early December 2024, after United Nations plastic treaty negotiations concluded without consensus, the Coca-Cola Company released a statement effectively ending its goals to use more reusable packaging and less single-use plastic. Instead, the company announced it will seek to, by 2035, have its single-use plastic bottles include 30 to 35% recycled content and to “help ensure” the collection of more bottles and cans. “The company’s
new and weak recyclingrelated pledges won’t make a dent in its overall plastic use,” said Matt Littlejohn, Oceana’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives. “As the top plastic polluter in the world, Coca-Cola has a responsibility to take real ownership over the waste and pollution it creates.”
Coca-Cola’s now-abandoned goals had aimed to sell at least a quarter of its beverages in reusable containers by 2030 and reduce the company’s virgin plastic use by 3 million metric tons from 2020 to 2025.
A white heron walks on a Brazilian beach littered with plastic pollution.
While Coca-Cola sells its beverages in reusable bottles in some markets, the company has backed down from its global goal to increase reusable packaging.
In November 2024, international football star Robert Lewandowski joined Oceana in a call to protect and restore the oceans. The Polish athlete is known as one of the best strikers of all time, with over 600 senior career goals. As an ocean lover who lives by the Mediterranean, Lewandowski shared what the sea means to him in an Oceana video, encouraging fans to join Oceana’s mission to restore the health of the oceans. “The ocean may be your way of life, the place where you relax, or the source of the food you eat, but we all depend on it,” said Lewandowski. “If we want to pass a healthy ocean on to future generations, we need to act now, together, to protect it.”
Oceana and ClientEarth take Spain to court for bottom trawling in protected areas
In October 2024, Oceana and ClientEarth filed a legal action against the Spanish government after bottom trawling — a destructive fishing method that damages ocean habitats — was uncovered in many marine protected areas (MPAs) in Spain. Notorious for its negative environmental impact, bottom trawling violates national and EU conservation laws, which forbid destructive human activities in MPAs. The Spanish government, however, continues to allow this fishing method in MPAs in its Atlantic and Mediterranean waters. Michael Sealey, Oceana’s Senior Policy Advisor in Europe, said, “The European Commission set the objective of banning bottom trawling in MPAs by 2030, but progress is too slow. We have no other choice but to use judicial powers to enforce EU law and protect what needs to be protected.”
A pile of trawl fishing nets found along Spain’s coast.
International football star Robert Lewandowski appears in an Oceana video, advocating to restore the health of the oceans.
restore the oceans
Beth Lowell, Oceana’s Vice President for the United States, has campaigned for conservation for nearly 30 years. She has also testified before Congress and shared her expertise on national news platforms. From calling out dangerous policies, to celebrating victories, to collaborating with unlikely allies, Lowell and her team use a range of strategic tactics to meet the challenges of the moment.
Q&A with Beth Lowell: Campaigning in challenging times
Preparing for a second Trump administration in the United States, Oceana’s Beth Lowell reflects on past lessons and future plans.
In polarized times, how do you bring people together to protect and restore the oceans?
BL: Thankfully, protecting the oceans isn’t a divisive issue. In every public survey we’ve conducted, we’ve found that Americans across the political spectrum support protecting our oceans, coasts, and wildlife. No matter the political party, it’s about finding common ground in protecting a shared resource, one that we all love and rely on.
The oceans are also an important economic driver in the United States — supporting jobs and fishing communities, tourism, recreation, and other businesses. Without healthy oceans and clean coasts, all of this is at risk.
During previous administrations, Oceana successfully stopped the expansion of offshore drilling to new areas off the U.S. coast. How did you work with coastal communities to make that happen?
BL: Oil spills have devastating economic impacts for industries including fishing and seafood, tourism, recreation, real estate, and more. We saw these impacts firsthand following the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in 2010.
We knew that stopping new offshore drilling would require the local voices of those who have the most to lose. So, we connected with local communities, elected officials, and business owners, among others. We educated them about the threats that drilling and oil spills pose on their communities and economies. And we helped build alliances of businesses along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf of Mexico that support protecting our coasts. These local voices helped show decision-makers — their elected representatives — that more offshore drilling would not only impact ocean wildlife, beaches, and our coastlines, but also severely impact the economic engine of coastal communities. This groundswell of opposition was hard to ignore.
During the first Trump administration, Oceana built bipartisan support to protect key environmental laws that were under attack. How will you take action if faced with similar threats again?
BL: Oceana and our allies successfully protected several critical laws during the previous Trump administration, such as the Endangered Species Act, the main U.S. law that protects threatened and endangered wildlife. We also
defended the Marine Mammal Protection Act — a key law that protects marine mammals from undue harm in U.S. waters — and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which oversees ocean fisheries in U.S. federal waters.
We did this first by educating the public about the importance of these laws and threats they were facing under the administration and in Congress. We organized people in the most-affected regions so elected officials were hearing directly from their constituents, including fishers and business owners who have seen the benefits of these laws firsthand, and we rallied Oceana supporters around the country to fight back. We plan to do the same over the next four years.
Oceana’s strategic approach targets specific decision-makers to make policy change. Bringing together grassroots organizing with science, policy advocacy, legal expertise, and communications is how we deliver real change to protect and restore the oceans. No matter who’s in power!
What’s the next step in Oceana’s campaigns against plastic pollution?
BL: We’ve won more than 30 victories to reduce single-use plastic pollution in eight countries, including the United States. In 2025, we will continue to build on this momentum. In the U.S., we will focus primarily on plastic foam, as in the foam containers used for takeout, or fast food beverage cups. This type of plastic is especially problematic. It’s rarely
recycled, and it breaks up into tiny pieces that makes it harder to clean up on our beaches and in our waters. It may even cause cancer. Phasing out plastic foam is a commonsense solution for our oceans and our health. Twelve states have already banned plastic foam food containers. Now it’s time for a national ban.
North Atlantic right whales continue to be killed by ship strikes and entanglements off the East Coast of the U.S. and Canada. What changes are needed to protect them?
BL: There are only about 370 North Atlantic right whales left. They are on the brink of extinction. But we know what is killing them — the two biggest threats to their survival are getting entangled in fishing ropes and lines and getting run over by speeding ships. We also know what can save them: New fishing technology and gear changes can reduce the risk of fishing gear killing right whales while also keeping fishers on the water. And slowing ships down to 10 knots when the whales are present can reduce the risk of death between 80-90%. Yet neither of these policies are in place. We need leaders in the U.S. and Canada to enact these protections now. If not, we could see the first large whale species go extinct in the Atlantic Ocean in centuries.
In just a few words, tell us why Oceana’s campaigns in the U.S. matter.
BL: Oceana is needed now more than ever. We must be the safety net for our oceans in the face of increasing threats and setbacks to the progress we’ve made in recent years. We need to protect ocean wildlife and their habitats. We need to end overfishing and support responsible fisheries management. We need to combat illegal fishing and seafood fraud. We need to fight plastic pollution and offshore drilling. We have our work cut out for us, but thankfully, we’re not going at it alone. From our dedicated supporters, to our allies in communities from coast to coast, we will continue to win important victories for the oceans.
Any parting thoughts?
BL: Oceana isn’t afraid of a challenge. We’ve worked under administrations of all ideologies. We’ve faced difficulties in several of the countries where we campaign, including the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, and right here in the United States. And yet, we have continued to make policy change and find common ground, including with unlikely allies. We know it won’t be easy. Every voice will be critical, and we hope you will continue to join us as we campaign to protect the world’s oceans.
Oceana is needed now more than ever. We must be the safety net for our oceans in the face of increasing threats and setbacks to the progress we’ve made in recent years.
A Living for the Many
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, small-scale fishers describe changing seas and the fight for their future
by Sarah Holcomb
The sun is setting on the United Kingdom’s promise to end overfishing. Seven years ago, the U.K. government pledged a new era of “gold standard” fisheries management, yet small-scale fishers continue to find fewer fish in the sea. Now fishers, along with environmental advocates, are raising their voices for change.
Half of the U.K.’s top 10 commercial fish stocks were either overfished or in a critical state as of 2023. Scientists say the government set catch limits too high, and many small-scale fishers agree. They point out how current fishing limits let large industrial fishers off the hook, while smallscale fishers face the toughest
restrictions. “Fishing should provide a living for the many, rather than a fortune for the few,” says retired small-scale fisher Jerry Percy.
Published in November 2024, Oceana’s latest report in the U.K. insists that a better future is possible. “Mission Regeneration: A Roadmap to End Overfishing and Restore Life to U.K. Seas” lays out specific policy recommendations and features the voices of individuals who rely on the oceans across the U.K. Its call to action: Support those who fish in harmony with nature, while holding destructive parts of the industry to account.
We are really at the edge of this precipice — in fact, I think we’ve fallen over it, to be honest. So anything that happens needs to be radical and revolutionary.
– Jerry Percy, retired small-scale fisher
Small-scale fishers navigate their boats near the Isle of Skye in Scotland.
Three decades ago, Caroline Bennett founded London’s first rotating sushi restaurant, inspired by Japan’s conveyerbelt phenomenon. Business was soaring. But despite her efforts to ethically source the fish on her menus, service was far from sustainable. “With sushi, you need 20-odd species on your menu at any one time,” she explains — a feat that usually requires foreign or industrially-caught fish. Bennett decided it was time for change.
Today Bennett lives in Plymouth, England, working to make sustainable seafood more accessible with her business, Sole of Discretion. Buying directly from local fishers, she purchases fresh fish at a fair price — including small fish like pouting and whiting that most buyers reject. Then she markets it to people and businesses eager for eco-friendly, socially responsible options.
Right: Caroline Bennett speaks with local small-scale fishers in Plymouth, England about the day’s catch.
Photographs taken for Oceana by Mat Arney.
Due in part to overfishing, the price of local fish has skyrocketed in the U.K. “Seventy percent of the fish is sold overseas,” says Bennett. Industrial vessels, largely from outside the U.K., come as close as six nautical miles off the shore and catch vast volumes of fish, she says. “They are making a significant impact on our fishers’ ability to fish here.”
Left: A fish processor filets the day’s catch, which will be sold to Bennett’s eco-conscious customers.
Bally Philp
Scotland
When Bally Philp looks at old photos of his fisherman father with his boat, it’s the fish he finds most striking. His father stands knee deep in cod — large cod, by today’s standards. “Cod like that would make the front page of newspapers now,” Philp says. “And that change happened in just one generation.”
A representative of the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation, Philp has seen firsthand how overfishing affects Scottish fishing families, including his own. “The small-scale fishers are under a lot of pressure everywhere, mostly from industrial fishers and poor fisheries management,” says Philp. This also puts the ocean ecosystem under pressure. Sustainable fishing, he points out, is “only viable in a healthy, productive ecosystem.”
Fish don’t belong to anybody, Philp says, “but if we had to allocate them to someone, it would be the public. Fish are a common resource to manage in the interest of humanity.” Our first objective, he says, should be to listen to scientific advice — and fish accordingly.
Photographs taken for Oceana by Katerina Barvirova.
Above: Bally Philp fishes for shellfish and scallops off the Isle of Skye. Below: Philp’s catch includes shrimp (left). He collaborates with a Ph.D. student to collect data on fishing methods (right).
Muireann Kavanagh
and her
Neily and Muireann Kavanagh
Ireland
Muireann Kavanagh has already made a name for herself at 15 years old. A fisher from the Irish island of Arranmore, she isn’t afraid to speak out about the challenges facing families like hers — and a generation of young fishers.
A top challenge they face relates to how the government allocates the amount of fish that can be fished every year. Generally, each fisher receives a quota that is proportional to past catches: the more a fisher has caught in the past, the more they can catch in the future. But this system ignores how the fish are caught, if the gear is sustainable, and whether the fishing activity contributes to jobs in the local community.
Kavanagh argues that fishers who use lower-impact gear such as fishing lines and crab pots — like the Kavanaghs — should “have a bit more quota than they already have.” “I feel that fishing communities in Ireland are not getting fair treatment,” she says.
(left)
father, Neily Kavanagh (right) are fishers from the Irish island of Arranmore. They use low-impact fishing methods like hook-and-line and crab pots.
“I was born just 200 meters up the beach, and have lived here for fifty-something years,” Muireann’s father, Neily Kavanagh, gestures up the coastline. “Industrial boats take more and more from us. Our boats are tied up most of the year.”
Eighty-five percent of fishers in Ireland operate on a smaller scale,
fishing inshore waters with boats less than 12 meters (39 feet) long. Despite this vast majority, they can only fish 5% of the herring quota, and 1% of the mackerel quota — the rest belongs to the big boats, he says. “I want the government to fight in our corner, start allocating quotas fairly, and let our boats fish.”
The fisheries and trade agreement between the U.K. and the European Union will be up for renegotiation next year. “Oceana is calling on the U.K. Government and the European Union to end overfishing, restore our seas to life, and support lower-impact fishers,” says Amy Hammond, Oceana’s lead fisheries campaigner in the U.K. “There is no time to waste.”
Photographs taken for Oceana by Claudia Pool.
The People’s Plan
How fishers in Juan Fernández are protecting lobsters and livelihoods
by Sarah Holcomb
A series of volcanic islands rise in the Pacific like a handful of skipped rocks off Chile’s coast. Once a pitstop for pirates and the rumored home of buried treasure, today the remote Juan Fernández Archipelago hosts 1,000 residents — and at least 15 times as many rock lobsters.
Islanders have fished the spiny, orange Juan Fernández rock lobster for generations. Decades before “sustainability” reached buzzword status, the fishers put limits in place to protect the prized lobsters from overfishing. Elsewhere, growing fishing fleets have depleted fish populations; meanwhile, fishing in Juan Fernández has barely changed. Some believe there are just as many lobsters living among the archipelago’s rocky seamounts
and bubblegum-pink anemones as ever before.
Today, the Juan Fernández rock lobster singlehandedly supports most of the islands’ economy. And as industrial fishing spreads globally, even to remote waters, local fishers know their livelihoods could soon be at risk. It’s time to protect their local waters before it’s too late.
Past, present, future
Fisher Daniel Gonzalez and a crew hoist a huge, handmade wooden box from the waters. It’s a trap, brimming with dozens of crawling lobsters. Each of the archipelago’s approximately 150 fishing families
has their own fishing ground, called a marca. These dedicated sites dot the nearshore waters surrounding the archipelago’s three islands — Robinson Crusoe, Santa Clara, and Alejandro Selkirk — and the chain of underwater seamounts that make up the archipelago. Marcas are secret, never shared with outsiders.
As an added layer of security, fishing rights cannot be bought or sold. The only way to obtain lobster fishing rights is to inherit them. For islanders like Gonzalez, who grew up running along the islands’ docks and swimming its coves, becoming a fisher felt like “destiny.” Today, Gonzalez enjoys the freedom and independence of running his own fishing business. In fact, just about every aspect of the islands’ economy is owned by local families. But that was not always the case.
A century ago, companies in mainland Chile held a tight grip on the lobster industry and life on the islands. These companies controlled what supplies went in and out, and owned everything from the local general store to the fishing boats. Tired of their labor being exploited, fishers in Juan Fernández began to build their own boats under the cover of night. They gradually gained their independence in the 1960s and 70s, and the Juan Fernández Fisherman’s Cooperative was born. Today, the islands’ economy is entirely in the people’s hands, and fishers export the vast majority of their lobster to China, where one tail can fetch $20.
The Fernandezian community has pioneered many ways of protecting the lobster population. Starting 90 years ago, the islanders stopped catching egg-carrying female
Fishers in Juan Fernández use traditional wood traps to catch lobster.
lobsters to ensure the population stayed healthy. Gonzalez explains that fishers only catch lobster above a minimum size, by which point the lobster should be grown enough to have already reproduced at least five times, producing around 3 million eggs. They also close the fishing season from May 15 to Sept. 30 each year.
“We are always aware that where we are doing the fishing taxes the ecosystem,” says Gonzalez. After relying on lobster for the last 100 years, the community is counting on the next 100 years, too.
While the Juan Fernández rock lobster fishery has remained strong due to these limits, the archipelago witnessed a different fishery crash in the 1990s. Bottom trawlers intensively fished the orange roughy, a slow-growing, deep-sea fish species, driving it to nearly disappear.
To keep the rock lobster from meeting the roughy’s fate, the people of Juan Fernández sought to legally protect their surrounding waters. Small protected no-take areas already existed in waters around Robinson Crusoe island. Now, the islanders wanted to establish larger protected areas for local fishing grounds close to shore. The Fernandezian community partnered with Oceana to campaign for a new protected area that would allow both fishers and lobsters to thrive.
The campaign was successful: In 2016, Chile’s government announced the “Mar de Juan Fernández” Multiple-Use Marine Coastal Protected Area, which was expanded in 2018 to cover 24,000 square kilometers (over 9,200 square miles) of protected ocean, plus a large-scale marine park. Admittedly a mouthful, the name’s technicalities hint at what
makes this protected area special: it is multi-purpose, allowing both sustainable fishing and the continued safeguarding of the marine life living in this biodiverse habitat. In Juan Fernández, it’s clear that the two go hand-in-hand.
Tea for your thoughts
There was one problem with the new protected area. Without an official management plan on the books, it would merely become a “paper park” — protected in theory, but lacking the teeth needed to protect it in practice. Thus began an extensive collaboration between the local community, the Chilean government, scientists, and Oceana to establish a governance model.
In 2021, Dr. Liesbeth van der Meer, Oceana’s leader in Chile, called someone she thought could
The Juan Fernández rock lobster is only found in areas surrounding its namesake archipelago.
help: Dr. Ignacio Petit, a marine researcher who had worked in Juan Fernández while completing his undergraduate thesis. After learning about the management plan, Petit eagerly joined the effort with Oceana.
The management plan proved to be a complex group project. A research organization called the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Management of Oceanic Islands (ESMOI) drafted the preliminary version of the plan, in collaboration with the Juan Fernández community and Chile’s government. Then Petit, along with his Oceana colleagues, spent months working with individual community members to incorporate their ideas. “What kinds of fishing should be allowed?” he’d ask, “and where?”
Much of the existing management would remain the same, continuing the fishers’ traditional sustainable practices. But the community decided they wanted some parts of the nearshore waters to require higher standards, with only certain fishing gear permitted.
With a 200-page draft in hand, the final phase began: ensuring everyone was on board. Over the next six months, a local team of women, led and coordinated by local resident Scheila Recabarren, visited people the way neighbors often do in Juan Fernández: over a cup of tea.
Neighbors hosted tea times with surrounding households — a chance to catch up with one another and to discuss the new plan. Oceana’s team attended many of these teas to chat with a dozen community members at a time. When they weren’t enjoying refreshments, the team knocked on nearly every door on the islands — ultimately reaching 89% of the archipelago’s residents. They
It’s been scientifically proven that when communities are part of management plans, protected areas are better managed.
–
Dr. Liesbeth van der Meer, Oceana Senior Vice President
also held workshops, meetings, and activities like trivia, recalls Recabarren.
It’s always difficult to reach consensus with hundreds of people, Petit points out. There were a few naysayers, but the process otherwise went smoothly.
“People really wanted these protections,” Petit says. The new management plan boasts the highest community involvement of any in Chile’s history.
“It’s been scientifically proven that when communities are part of management plans, protected areas are better managed,” van der Meer emphasizes.
Still, a new challenge threatened to snag progress. The Juan Fernández community needed to elect representatives to oversee the plan as part of a Local Management Council. Unlucky timing meant
this election fell too close to a political election and therefore was prohibited by Chilean law. They improvised a solution: “We worked with a legal consultant to create a community organization. Anyone who wished to be included could join the organization and help choose a board of leaders,” Sofía Ramirez, Oceana’s Director of Operations in Chile, explains.
The members approved a diverse group of representatives from the community, as well as tourism and fishing stakeholders from each of the three islands — including Daniel Gonzalez. Part of the Local Governance Council, these individuals voice concerns on behalf of the people and work directly with government officials to ensure everyone is represented.
In September 2024, they met around a table to officially sign off on the long-awaited plan.
The Juan Fernández Archipelago is home to dozens of species found nowhere else in the world. Diving in these abundant waters is like “seeing the ocean as it used to be,” says Ramirez. “You’re so surrounded by fish, you have to fan them out of the way.” Hundreds of fur seals, dolphins, and whales swim through these waters. It’s hard to imagine a more fitting location to be honored with the first fishery management plan approved under Chile’s newly minted law, the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service (SBAP in Spanish).
The day the plan received its final signatures was a blur. One day last September, Ramirez, who had been working to coordinate the sign-off for months, heard on short notice that the Minister of Environment — along with the other needed representatives from public agencies — could fly in the next day. She rushed to pull an event
together. Less than 24 hours later, local and national leaders were smiling for photos with the signed plan, backgrounded by the island’s jagged cliffs and glossy Pacific waters.
Due to its long history in Juan Fernández, Oceana has built trust among community members, says Ramirez. “We work behind the scenes, collaborating with and accompanying the community. They are deeply dedicated to protecting the future of these waters and their rich fishing tradition.”
“I hope that traditional practices will continue to be carried out in a sustainable manner and new activities will be carried out with respect for our environment,” emphasizes Recabarren. “My greatest wish is that we achieve a balance between the protection of our marine ecosystems and the well-being of our community, always thinking of future generations.”
Oceana/Pablo Acuña
Members of the Local Management Council, Juan Fernández community, and Chilean government pose with the Juan Fernández flag after the management plan is officially signed.
Ask a Scientist
Dr. Kimberly Warner Senior Scientist
Dr. Kimberly Warner is a Senior Scientist at Oceana. Since 2005, she has researched and developed the scientific basis for Oceana’s successful campaigns on contaminated seafood and seafood fraud in the United States, and most recently, Oceana’s international campaign on ocean plastic pollution.
What are microplastics — and should we worry about them?
When we think about plastic pollution in the ocean, we might picture plastic bottles and bags strewn across beaches, floating atop waves, or endangering marine wildlife. But there is also a more insidious side of plastic pollution: the less visible microplastic particles now found throughout the ocean and just about everywhere on Earth.
What are microplastics? As the name suggests, these are smaller bits of plastic, just five millimeters or less in size, or about the width of a pencil eraser. Microplastics can also be much smaller — down to one micron (even smaller than a blood cell), which is hard, if not impossible, to see. If plastic particles are even smaller than one micron, they are called nanoplastics. These nanoplastics
are much harder to research with the tools available to scientists today, but they’re likely even more common than microplastics.
Scientists think of microplastics as an array of contaminants because there is tremendous variety in the sizes, shapes, colors, types of plastics, and the chemicals used to make them. Microplastics include rigid and flexible fragments, small spheres, fibers, flakes, and foams. Some types of microplastics come from things we might not think of as “plastic,” like tires, paint, and synthetic clothing.
Most of the microplastics in the ocean come from larger plastics, such as bags or bottles breaking up. Sunlight, heat, and friction all work to break up larger plastic items into smaller pieces. The tension placed
Microplastics can come in the form of small plastic pellets, as well as in many other, less obvious forms — from synthetic clothing fibers to shreds from ropes and tires.
on plastic fishing ropes sheds their plastic fibers, and something similar happens when we wash and wear synthetic clothes. Tires slowly wear down and shed plastic bits as we drive down the road. When paint is blasted or worn off ships, houses, and roadways, this also produces microplastic flakes and fragments. Many plastic objects shed these tiny particles into the environment, affecting the organisms around them.
Some microplastics are intentionally produced in these small sizes. They include glitter, confetti, and the tiny microbeads added to personal care products, like toothpaste and cosmetics, and found in cleaning products. All of these products can end up in waterways and ultimately the ocean. Other intentionally produced microplastics include preproduction plastic pellets, churned out of factories and shipped all over the world to become plastic products.
These pellets are routinely spilled and lost along transport routes, polluting waterways and oceans. A particularly bad spill occurred off the coast of Sri Lanka in 2021, when a cargo ship caught on fire and partially sank, spilling nearly 1,700 metric tons of pellets — killing many marine animals who mistook the pellets for food. Sadly, pellet spills are an unregulated problem worldwide, one that Oceana is seeking to regulate.
While the problems microplastics pose are new to many of us, they have existed for at least half a century. As early as 1972, scientists collected plastic pellets off the northeast coast of the United States and found that baby fish and worms had already eaten them. We have since learned that many toxic contaminants found in water
Because not all plastic floats, microplastics are found throughout ocean depths, even accumulating in the deepest trenches.
are attracted to and bind with microplastics. And this toxic load adds to the thousands of chemicals, many of them hazardous, that are deliberately added to plastics and end up in microplastics. These chemicals can leach off microplastics when consumed by humans and wildlife — and animals from at least 1,300 species have already consumed them.
The term “microplastic” did not exist in the scientific literature until 2004. By then, the amount of microplastics collected by scientists had quadrupled over 30 years’ time. The most recent estimate is that 171 trillion microplastics are floating in the ocean. Because not all plastic floats, microplastics are found throughout ocean depths, even accumulating in the deepest trenches.
The amount of research on microplastics has exploded over the last decade, and we now know that these plastic bits are everywhere: on land, in freshwater, melting out of glaciers, in our food, circulating in our air and clouds, and inside our bodies, too. They are even exhaled in dolphin breath.
Scientists are concerned about what microplastics could be doing to natural cycles on Earth and the risks they pose to wildlife and people. Microplastics have been found in both human babies and newborn turtles. The amount of microplastics will continue to grow as the huge amount of plastic in use today breaks up over time, but we must stem the tide on the global plastic pollution crisis. The time to act is now.
Scientists are concerned about what microplastics could be doing to natural cycles on Earth and the risks they pose to wildlife and people.
Cargo from the X-Press Pearl, including toxic chemicals and plastic pellets, spilled into the ocean and onto Sri Lanka’s Pamunugama beach after a fire destroyed the vessel in 2021.
Oceana’s victories over the last year
With the help of its allies, Oceana has won 22 victories in the last 12 months
United States’ coastlines permanently protected from new offshore drilling
Philippines installs tracking systems on 90% of commercial fishing vessels
EU reduces destructive bottom trawling in the Western Mediterranean
Amazon removes plastic air pillows from delivery packaging globally
Mexico creates Southern Gulf of Mexico Reefs National Park, largest protected area in the Gulf of Mexico
Chile approves management plan for Juan Fernández Marine Protected Area
The United Kingdom commits to no new oil and gas drilling
U.S. state of California bans thick single-use plastic grocery bags
United States to eliminate single-use plastics across the federal government
New England cod nursery protected from proposed scallop dredging
U.S. state of Florida bans balloon releases, protects marine life
Canada protects 93% of underwater mountains off British Columbia with support from First Nations
European Union adopts nature restoration law, including new protections for marine habitats
Amazon eliminates plastic air pillows in North America
Brazil establishes science-based catch limits for lobster
Oceana wins lawsuit, court requires rebuilding of collapsed U.S. Pacific sardine fishery
New law in U.S. state of Oregon safeguards marine reserves and protected areas
U.S. state of California funds ropeless fishing gear to save whales and turtles from entanglements
New law in Peru criminalizes illegal construction of fishing vessels
U.S. state of California protects endangered whales by reducing harmful fishing gear and delaying Dungeness crab season
New law in Chile will protect kelp forests and 50 other seafloor species
Mexico creates Bajos del Norte National Park, new protected area in Gulf of Mexico
Supporter Spotlight
Catherine and Mia: Making waves for the oceans
Every year, students at Heritage High School in Littleton, Colorado organize a “Make a Difference” week packed with fundraising efforts. They wear costumes to class. They face off against their teachers in students-versus-staff sporting events. The senior students even sing, dance, and juggle during their annual talent show, all to raise funds for a cause they believe in.
In 2024, for the first time, the student body decided to put these efforts toward ocean conservation. Their organization of choice: Oceana.
The decision was made via a nomination and voting process. “We voted for Oceana because climate change and pollution in the oceans have been very prominent in the news as the student body has grown up,” says Catherine, a student co-chair for the 2024 Make a Difference week. “I think this has made a lot of people want to take action and help.”
Despite living in the land-locked U.S. state of Colorado, students were willing to fundraise for a cause that doesn’t directly “affect their community,” student cochair Mia points out. “This was an exciting pick because it is very different from the causes we have chosen in previous years.”
We voted for Oceana because climate change and pollution in the oceans have been very prominent in the news as the student body has grown up... I think this has made a lot of people want to take action and help.
The week’s events included an assembly to raise awareness about the plight of the oceans. Each day, students also dressed according to a theme, like starfish-inspired “celebrity dress-up day” and waveinspired “twin day.” Both Catherine and Mia say their favorite part was preparing for the Senior Showdown talent show, when students bonded during late-night rehearsals.
By the end of the week, the students had raised over $28,000 to support Oceana’s campaigns in the United States and around the world. These campaigns include fighting plastic pollution, protecting endangered species and ocean habitat, and supporting small-scale fishers’ livelihoods.
Many factors, including climate change and habitat loss, are putting the oceans at risk, says Mia. “These factors are amplified by the lack of effort put in by many world leaders to prevent or even slow these issues. We can work on many different scales to protect our oceans — whether that’s on the level of government, business, or as individuals.”
“Donating to Oceana helps the oceans and creates a large-scale impact,” adds Catherine.
Interested in hosting your own Oceana fundraiser or learning about other ways to give?
Please visit Oceana.org/WaysToGive.
Mia (left) and Catherine (right), juniors at Heritage High School in the U.S. state of Colorado, helped organize a week-long fundraiser to support Oceana’s campaigns.
A garibaldi fish swims among the reefs surrounding Southern California’s Channel Islands. Oceana and Blancpain conducted their second expedition to this area in September 2024.
