Milestones

OceanCare, as co-author of the report «Underwater Noise – the Neglected Threat to Marine Life», highlights the failure of EU Member States to implement the Marine Strategy Framework Guidelines.

OceanCare becomes part of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition and is granted observer status at the International Seabed Authority. OceanCare’s report, entitled «Deep-Sea Mining: A Noisy Affair», is the first analysis of the potential consequences of noise-generating activities that would result from the commercialisation of deep-sea mining and provides recommendations for action by decision makers.

OceanCare actively participates at two conferences that are laying important foundations for the future plastics treaty at the fifth UN Environment Assembly UNEA5.1 and at the Conference of Ministers at the WTO in Geneva. In a joint declaration, the ministers of over 120 countries support the creation of a global plastics treaty.

Animal & species conservation

OceanCare is granted observer status at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and can contribute its expertise on underwater noise, among other things, and provide input on the development of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) publishes an up-to-date assessment of the status of whale and dolphin species in the Mediterranean. Much of the data on which the assessments are based, comes from research projects that OceanCare has supported for many years.

In the report «Under Pressure», OceanCare provides an overview of the conservation status and overall situation of whales and dolphins in European waters and thus creates a basis for defining targeted protection measures.

Southwest of the island of Crete, the three-year pilot phase of the «SaveMoby» system to prevent ship collisions with whales is successfully completed. The goal is for the system to become mandatory where it is not possible to relocate shipping routes from important cetacean habitats.

In September, more than 1,400 Atlantic White-sided dolphins are killed on the Faroe Islands. A petition launched by OceanCare for the attention of the EU Commission and the EU member states is signed by 40,000 people, and contributes to the EU member states strongly criticising this hunting practice.

With the support of OceanCare, the organisation British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) opens a hospital for seal pups in England and helps stranded and injured marine animals in more than 3,200 interventions.

In Venezuela, 70 percent fewer whale sharks are being fished along the country’s central coast than four years ago. This is due to voluntary agreements that the organisation CIT, with the help of OceanCare, has reached with coastal fishermen and local government representatives.

Environmental education

On World Cleanup Day, 150 volunteers collect litter on and in Lake Zurich, including bicycles, a balcony railing, fishing nets, disposable plastic and over 20,000 cigarette butts, at an event co-organised by OceanCare.

An analysis prepared by OceanCare together with other environmental organisations, including BUND, Coalition Clean Baltic, IFAW and Seas at Risk, reveals how inadequately the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive is being implemented and how EU member states are failing to effectively reduce underwater noise.

At the UN Environment Programme’s online event «Act #ForNature Forum», OceanCare speaks about plastic pollution in the ocean and emphasises the need for a global plastic treaty.

Animal & species conservation

Supported by OceanCare, BEES analyses the harvesting of endangered marine wildlife in Benin and Togo, presents initial results at the conference of the parties to the Convention on Migratory Species in India and thereby lays the foundations for a conservation action plan in West Africa.

With the help of OceanCare, CIT rescues 18 whale sharks in Venezuela. Thanks to this cooperation, already 60 stranded whale sharks have survived since 2018.

OceanCare founds the Sea Turtle Rescue Alliance, a global network for the rescue and medical care of injured sea turtles.

Supported by OceanCare, the Spanish Save the Med Foundation retrieves 180 ghost nets from the sea around the Balearic Islands, thereby freeing 89 sea turtles.

Environmental education

On World Cleanup Day, volunteers collect over half a tonne of waste in the water and along the promenade at Lake Zurich.

The States bordering the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea commit to implementing the CMS Family Guidelines on Environmental Impact Assessments for marine noise-generating activities before licensing noise-intensive underwater activities. This resolution was prompted, among other reasons, by complaints initiated by OceanCare against some states in response to their seismic activities.

OceanCare becomes a partner organisation of the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan, which coordinates the Barcelona Convention for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea Against Pollution

OceanCare becomes a member of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative and works to reduce the threat of ghost nets to marine wildlife.

Animal & species conservation

Together with European scientists and research institutes, OceanCare begins to develop the «SaveMoby» warning system to save sperm whales in the eastern Mediterranean from ship collisions.

OceanCare and the Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) conduct a workshop on the impact of underwater noise on fish and invertebrates and its socio-economic consequences, and develop recommendations to be presented at the GFCM Conference of the Parties. GFCM decides to conduct a corresponding study.

Following pressure from OceanCare and partners, 90 beluga whales and twelve orcas captured in Russia and destined for Chinese theme parks are released back into the wild.

The Dolphinaria-Free Europe coalition, co-founded by OceanCare, stops plans for a dolphinarium in Budapest.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) raises the protection status of shortfin and longfin mako sharks on the recommendation of the Species Survival Network, in which OceanCare has been active since 1997.

Environmental education

The documentary «A Feather to kill» shows the dolphin hunt in Peru. The film receives a nomination for the Director’s Award at the International Ocean Film Festival in San Francisco.

The Swiss SonntagsZeitung votes Sigrid Lüber, founder and president of OceanCare, as Swiss Woman of the Year 2019.

The UN Environment Programme’s governing body grants OceanCare a transition from the «NGO Major Group» to the «Science & Technology Major Group», where the organisation’s voice carries more weight.

OceanCare publishes a meta-study on the impact of noise on fish and marine invertebrates.

Animal & species conservation

The Abidjan Aquatic Wildlife Partnership, co-founded by OceanCare, develops an action plan for West Africa to curb the harvest of endangered aquatic species.

At the IWC meeting in Brazil, OceanCare helps to ensure that the whaling moratorium is upheld and not further undermined by whaling countries.

The makers of the film «Whale like me», co-funded by OceanCare, win the trust of whalers in Japan and on the Faroe Islands with their dialogue-based work and appeal for a paradigm shift pertaining to the treatment of whales.

OceanCare and Dolphin Biology and Conservation launch a dolphin conservation project in the northern Adriatic which faces heavy fishing efforts.

OceanCare provides British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) with financial support to enable the purchase of transport trailers, stretchers and life jackets. The organisation is deployed 1,279 times to rescue whales, dolphins, seals and sea turtles.

Based on OceanCare’s recommendations, the tour operator Hotelplan Suisse removes dolphinariums and swimming programmes with dolphins from its entertainment programme offerings.

Environmental education

With the «strip us» petition, OceanCare calls on major Swiss wholesalers to strip organic fruit and vegetables of plastic. The Swiss wholesaler Coop promises to increase its plastic-free sales of these products.

In southern Italy, OceanCare collects a total of 500 kilogrammes of plastic and waste on 6,000 m2 of beach.

OceanCare and the Mallorcan organisation Asociación Ondine are developing a three-day educational module on plastic, targeting 2,088 students in 34 schools who did hands-on work on beaches collecting 101,815 plastic objects.

OceanCare succeeds in getting the UN to mention underwater noise, if not as a form of pollution, then at least as a stress factor, in its action plan for achieving its Sustainable Development Goal 14 «Life below Water».

Animal & species conservation

Die Abidjan Convention, OceanCare, the World Bank and the US AID Program for West Africa establish the Abidjan Aquatic Wildlife Partnership, to address the harvest of protected aquatic species.

The Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora introduces a permit requirement for the export of trophies of protected animals such as the polar bear at the urging of the Species Survival Network, in which OceanCare is an active stakeholder.

OceanCare releases a short film on YouTube about the illegal hunting of dolphins and sharks in Peru. More than half of the 218,000 views come from South America.

OceanCare und Dolphin Biology and Conservation complete research on dolphins in the Greek Gulf of Corinth and succeed in getting the World Conservation Organisation to designate the area as an important habitat for marine mammals.

At Cap Blanc in Mauritania, the population of the Mediterranean monk seal, protected by CBD-Habitat with the help of OceanCare, increases to 300 animals, reaching the level of 1997, when it was almost wiped out by an algae plague.

Environmental education

OceanCare’s edutainment video on plastic waste in the ocean is featured in an exhibition at the Hong Kong Science Museum, which is visited by up to 4,000 children every day.

OceanCare launches the «I Care» campaign against single-use plastic and records 1,975 individual pledges to reduce plastic consumption in the «Plastic Diet» campaign.

In cooperation with OceanCare, Gebr. Heinemann, a major distributor and duty free retailer in the travel market, reduces the distribution of disposable plastic bags in its shops by 70 percent.

The oil company Cairn Energy bows to the protests initiated by OceanCare and Alianza Mar Blava and abandons its plans for oil exploration in the Gulf of Valencia.

The US Navy, under pressure from NRDC, OceanCare and various other organisations, suspends sonar operations in the waters around Hawaii and off the coast of California for a period of three years.

OceanCare is involved in preparatory negotiations for the UN High Seas Treaty (BBNJ).

OceanCare becomes a partner organisation of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM), a regional agreement of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

OceanCare becomes a member of the international coalition Break Free from Plastic, which campaigns for a reduction of plastic along the entire lifecycle.

Animal & species conservation

OceanCare becomes a partner organisation of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (Bonn Convention/CMS).

In Ischia, 40 scientists compile data on the status of the common dolphin in the Mediterranean in a workshop funded by OceanCare, and call for the highest protection status for the dolphin species.

In Peru, three fishermen are charged with the illegal killing of dolphins as a result of a 2013 undercover research study sponsored by OceanCare. The Peruvian government has outlawed the harpoons being used to kill dolphins.

In Peru, a film team hired by OceanCare documents the illegal trade in shark fins and the sale of baby shark meat at local markets.

In Senegal, OceanCare and AWI are raising awareness of the threat to manatees with a poster displayed throughout the country, informing people that the killing of the animals is illegal.

Seventy airlines and transport companies voluntarily refrain from transporting shark fins following an appeal by OceanCare and its partner organisations.

Animal & species conservation

Together with its partner organisations, OceanCare succeeds in getting the World Zoo Association to ban the Japanese Association of Zoos and Aquariums until its members stop the practice of dolphin hunting.

In undercover research, and with the help of OceanCare, Mundo Azul documents the illegal hunting of dolphins and sharks in Peru. A short film is sent by OceanCare to all Peruvian embassies worldwide, as well as to Regional Fisheries Management Organisations and conservation agencies.

OceanCare is a co-founder of the Dolphinaria-Free Europe coalition, which immediately succeeds in blocking plans by Poland to build a dolphinarium, and the Greek Cypriot government to drop plans to lift a current ban on the import of whales and dolphins.

Environmental education

OceanCare’s brochure on plastic pollution in the sea is translated into Greek, thus making it available in seven languages, and it is now being used by organisations on three continents as part of environmental education.

OceanCare becomes a member of an EU working group given the task of implementing the Marine Strategy Framework Directive in European waters.

In response to OceanCare’s long-standing appeal, the International Whaling Commission is now allowing representatives of accredited non-governmental organisation to have their voices heard.

Animal & species conservation

OceanCare is working with partners to ensure that the noise-sensitive Cuvier’s beaked whale is granted the highest international protection status by the Member States of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species. The polar bears receive increased attention in Appendix II.

The Swiss government issues an import ban on seal products, which OceanCare and the Fondation Franz Weber had been campaigning for since 2008.

Environmental education

The edutainment video on plastic waste in the oceans is shown on Edelweiss Air flights.

OceanCare sensitises Swiss travel agencies to the criteria of respectful treatment of wildlife, which should be observed when putting together tourist packages.

Under the auspices of OceanCare, the Silent Oceans campaign to curb underwater noise is launched, and joined by 27 international partner organisations.

The ACCOBAMS signatory states adopt a resolution paving the way for environmental impact assessments to become mandatory in the agreement area prior to seismic exploration.

OceanCare launches an information campaign against marine litter and calls for minimising individual plastic consumerism.

The International Whaling Commission requires whaling countries to actively educate their populations regarding the health risks of consuming whale meat.

Following international protests, South Korea renounces the resumption of whale hunting.

The EU commits Greece to ban fishing with bag and trawl nets in the waters around Kalamos, in line with the action demanded by OceanCare and Tethys. As a result, isolated common dolphins and larger schools of fish have been observed once again around the Greek island.

A transparency debate initiated by OceanCare in the International Whaling Commission as early as 2001 results in stricter governance guidelines that make «motivational gifts», which previously influenced the voting behaviour of other states, impossible.

OceanCare submits 77,776 signatures to the Swiss Parliament protesting against dolphin imports into Switzerland and against the construction of new dolphinaria.

OceanCare presents the EU Ambassador in Bern with 60,500 signatures opposing dolphin imports into the EU and the construction of new dolphinaria.

OceanCare and the Fondation Franz Weber hand over 97,758 signatures to the Swiss government in protest against the import of and trade in seal products from Canada.

The UN General Assembly calls on the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to conduct a socio-economic study on the impact of noise on fish stocks and fisheries, in response to OceanCare´s initiative.

In accordance with the demands of the OCEAN2012 alliance, of which OceanCare is a member, illegal fishing activities in the European Union will now face punishments in the form of heavy fines.

Sensitised by OceanCare and Tethys, coastal fishermen from the island of Kalamos are calling on the Greek government to enforce current fishing laws. They are voluntarily increasing the mesh size of their nets and treating the fish with special care during the spawning season.

Experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are investigating the toxicity of whale and dolphin meat based on OceanCare´s studies.

The advocacy work of OceanCare, the Fondation Franz Weber and IFAW are paying off; The EU Parliament approves an embargo on seal products from Canada.

The health authorities of the Faroe Islands recommend avoiding the consumption of pilot whale meat because of its high toxic contamination levels.

As part of the Save Japan Dolphins Coalition, OceanCare is collaborating with US dolphin conservationist Ric O´Barry to end the Japanese hunting drive.

Following the intervention of OceanCare and partner organisations, the Dominican Republic renounces the import of twelve dolphins from Japanese hunting expeditions.

Together with its partners, OceanCare succeeds in protecting the whales off the coast of Chile.

OceanCare becomes a partner organisation to the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS).