NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY FOUNDATION

The Foundation strives to be a leading voice for U.S. protected waters by working with communities to inspire conservation and expansion of these special places for a healthy ocean. We seek to conserve species and the places they call home, and preserve America’s maritime and cultural resources. The Foundation's goals include;

• Increase long-term private and public investment in U.S. protected waters.
• Champion and build awareness of U.S. protected waters, especially national marine sanctuaries and marine national monuments.
• Advance stewardship of our ocean, coasts, and Great Lakes through partnership development and public engagement in conservation, science, and education programs.

Whether it's saving whales, cleaning up marine debris, supporting communities' advocacy or inspiring the next generation of ocean stewards, our work starts with great ideas and affects change.

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is the only national non-profit that directly works with the National Marine Sanctuary System as a whole, and its individual sanctuaries and monuments, to ensure a healthy and thriving future for the ocean and Great Lakes. Our work focuses on on-the-ground conservation results through: (1) species and habitat protection; (2) sound science for management; (3) community stewardship and engagement; and, (4) public education. The Foundation is a nonpartisan credible voice for marine and Great Lakes protected areas at the national level with the ability to deliver on-the-water conservation results through local chapters and by engaging citizens, non-profits, and businesses in stewardship to support conservation work in sanctuaries. We use science, legal and policy expertise to inform our programs. We foster innovative projects that are solution-oriented, scalable, and transferable beyond an individual sanctuary’s boundaries, and develop strategic partnerships that promote the conservation and recovery of species and their habitats.

The Foundation hosts Capitol Hill Ocean Week to bring together a wide range of voices on the most important policy issues, and to build a constituency for our ocean and Great Lakes. Through partnerships and sponsorships, we are able to offer “open source” programming that brings together hundreds of people from diverse backgrounds to engage in the discussion and formulation of new ideas.

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation supports critical research efforts to expand our understanding of ocean and Great Lakes ecosystems – and the threats affecting them. Science and exploration expeditions uncover shipwrecks and characterize biological resources, and monitoring cruises assess the health of marine and Great Lakes resources and ecosystems. The Foundation sponsors restoration efforts to repair and protect vulnerable marine species and habitats, include delicate coral reefs and iconic whale species.

The Foundation works to connect communities with the sanctuaries in which we live, work, and play. To increase public awareness and to promote natural and cultural resource protection and stewardship, the Foundation sponsors outreach, education, and citizen science activities that directly involve communities in marine conservation efforts.

The Foundation manages over 50 programs in 13 sanctuaries and 2 marine monuments focused on:
o Wildlife Conservation, Habitat Protection, and Maritime Heritage
o Science, Technology, and Exploration
o Community Stewardship and Engagement
o Education

The Foundation is also the host of nationally recognized Capitol Hill Ocean Week, a unique open-access conference that brings together thousands of participants in the creation and discussion of ocean, coastal, and watershed policies.

The U.S. National Marine Sanctuary System spans more than 620,000 square miles and touches every corner of U.S. waters–from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, our work is expansive and growing. In 2020/2021 two new sites were given sanctuary status and a number of new sites are being considered for designation.

Through the Goal: Clean Seas initiative in 2020, the Foundation funded eight different Blue Star Dive Operators to conduct debris removal dives in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Over 28 dives, volunteers collected 4,642 pounds of debris and 9,339 feet of rope and fishing line. Dive shops reported having to go to deeper reefs to locate marine debris at sites, an indicator of the program’s success after three years of work. In 2021, the Foundation will add new dive operators to the program thanks to a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

The Foundation expanded the Goal: Clean Seas program to Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, working with local spiny lobster fishermen and tourism operators to remove debris from remote beaches on Santa Cruz Island. Over the course of three collection events, 34 volunteer participants spent 350 hours clearing 8,360 pounds of debris from the shoreline, benefiting the marine wildlife and ecosystems of the Channel Islands.

Overall, in 2020 the Foundation supported the removal of 13,002 pounds of debris from 12,000 square meters of underwater area and 2.5 miles of shoreline in national marine sanctuaries through the Goal: Clean Seas program. In both the Florida Keys and the Channel Islands, support from the Goal: Clean Seas program served as a financial support by replacing a portion of lost tourist income for tourism industry operators that have seen their businesses hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the 2019-20 school year, Ocean Guardian school programs reached 10,733 students and 382 teachers in 55 schools across the country, including 31 schools designated as Title 1. These programs teach compassion for living organisms, important scientific concepts, appreciation of team work and civic engagement, and inspire ocean stewardship.

The Foundation will continue to build on these efforts and others, including partnering with dozens of partners to restore the iconic coral reefs of the Florida Keys; working with the State of CA and the fishing community to test new types of gear in order to prevent whales and other wildlife from being entangled in fishing line; and supporting conservation, outreach, research, and scientific activities that will address the issues of climate change and environmental justice.