Milestones

At the fifth round of negotiations for a global plastics treaty in Korea, provisions to prevent marine pollution from abandoned fishing gear were reintroduced into the draft agreement. This came after OceanCare and its partners had repeatedly appealed to effectively curb this dangerous form of plastic pollution.

In 2024, OceanCare began to engage in the debate on marine geoengineering and was granted consultative status on the London Protocol, which plays a key role in regulating increasing intentions to manipulate the oceans.

The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) commissioned OceanCare to lead the working group on the reduction of underwater noise caused by shipping.

OceanCare participated in the development of recommendations by the European Union on how EU member states can ensure that limits for underwater noise in their waters are complied with.

OceanCare launched the Because Our Planet Is Blue campaign to persuade governments to consistently protect the oceans in the run-up to the UN Ocean Conference 2025. The six-point action plan was presented at the UN pre-conference in Costa Rica and effectively disseminated with a broad-based campaign.

In February, 33 Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) were designated in northern European waters that need to be protected. OceanCare was involved in this project and supported it financially.

Animal & species conservation

In October, OceanCare published a comprehensive scientific study on the global impacts of bottom trawling ("The Trawl Supremacy") and called on EU member states to completely eliminate the harmful practice in marine protected areas by 2030. The study is being presented to relevant bodies and has been featured in over 290 media reports, including Die Zeit, Der Spiegel and The Guardian.

Since 2024, the north-western Mediterranean has been recognised by the International Maritime Organisation as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA). The aim is to reduce collisions between ships and endangered fin whales and sperm whales. A comprehensive analysis by OceanCare and Quiet Oceans revealed, among other things, that this would require 80 per cent of merchant ships and ferries to slow down in the PSSA.

In July, OceanCare and partners organised a conference at the Spanish Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) in Madrid and demonstrated how a speed limit of 10 knots and a Traffic Separation System (TSS) that steers ships away from sensitive whale habitats can significantly reduce the risk of fatal collisions between ships and whales.

At the Our Oceans Conference in Athens in April, the use of the SaveMoby whale warning system was defined as one of Greece's 20 commitments to marine conservation. In June, OceanCare, The Green Tank, the Greek Ministry of the Environment and Energy (MEEN) and the Greek Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency (NECCA) signed a memorandum of understanding to install the system in the Kythira Strait south of the Peloponnese, where shipping routes cannot be moved out of a sperm whale habitat.

On the initiative of an NGO coalition led by OceanCare, Arcadia was the first Greek shipping company to move its shipping routes out of the sperm whales' core habitat in the Hellenic Trench. Previously, MSC, CMA CGM, DFDS and EURONAV had already relocated their shipping routes or ordered speed reductions.

The Greek government has announced that part of the sperm whale habitat in the Hellenic Trench will be placed under protection in accordance with the demands of the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and OceanCare.

A resolution to strengthen the whaling moratorium was adopted at the meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Peru. Prior to this, OceanCare had co-published a report on the relevance of the whaling ban and the central role of the IWC in international whale protection.

A study by British animal welfare expert and veterinarian Alick Simmons, supported by OceanCare, confirms the extreme brutality of the pilot whale and dolphin hunt on the Faroe Islands. It was published in Frontiers in Marine Science and adds weight to the call for an end to the hunt.

The Sea Turtle Rescue Alliance (STRA), co-founded by OceanCare, united 69 organisations and specialists with 26 rescue centres at the end of the year. New centres have been added in Gambia, Malaysia, Portugal and Turkey. In Banda Aceh, STRA and the universities of Syiah Kuala and Zurich organised a veterinary training course on the care of sea turtles for 24 students.

The Olive Ridley Project (ORP), supported by OceanCare, opened three new rehabilitation centres for injured sea turtles in the Maldives and trained veterinarians from Indonesia, India, Kenya, Colombia, England and Spain in the medical care of these animals.

Alnitak freed over 400 turtles from ghost nets in the south-western Mediterranean and brought them to rescue centres. OceanCare research volunteers took part in the operations.

In December, at the instigation of the Ionian Dolphin Project (IDP) supported by OceanCare, Greek authorities established a 200-metre exclusion zone for fishing and tourist boats around an uninhabited island in the central Ionian Sea, which is particularly important for the endangered monk seals.

The seal hospital of British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) in Cornwall, England, supported by OceanCare, cared for 116 grey seal pups in the winter half-year 2023/2024, and 39 seals were admitted by November of the following season.

The LPA Calais rescue centre supported by OceanCare cared for 36 grey seals and 20 harbour seals in northern France. The case of Idéfix, a premature harbour seal pup that was found orphaned in May and released into the sea as a strong seal in September, was remarkable.

Environmental education

In June, OceanCare organised a cleanup on the shores of Lake Zurich. With the support of Google Zurich, waveup, the SwissRaw rowing team and the city of Zurich, around 60 volunteers collected more than 1 tonne of rubbish on land and in the water.

The Save The Med Foundation's Dos Manos school programme, which is supported by OceanCare, inspires young people in Mallorca to counteract plastic pollution. In 2024, 1,114 pupils took part in the programme.

OceanCare held presentations and workshops at the Diplomatic School of Spain in Madrid, ETH Zurich, the International School of Geneva, the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and the University of Lausanne. Experts from the organisation accompanied 68 pupils and students working on their final apprenticeship, matura, diploma, bachelor's and master's theses.

OceanCare was present in the media in 66 countries. The majority of reports appeared in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (849 articles), followed by Spain (107 articles) and the USA (90 articles). Among others, Der Spiegel, FAZ, NZZ, Die Welt and Süddeutsche Zeitung as well as El País, La Vanguardia, The New York Times, BBC, Reuters, The Guardian and Associated Press reported on OceanCare’s projects.

In the "Plastic Matters" report, OceanCare presents facts on the high level of plastic consumption and plastic pollution in Switzerland. An analysis of existing laws shows that the production, use and disposal of plastics in Switzerland needs to be more strictly regulated through existing laws. A petition calls on the Federal Council to do so.

At the meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the north-western Mediterranean is designated as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) because the risk of ship collisions is especially high here. OceanCare had previously recommended and scientifically underpinned this step.

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS/Bonn Convention) publishes the technical report prepared by OceanCare expert, Dr Lindy Weilgart, which shows how the commercial shipping, oil and gas and wind energy industries can reduce and avoid underwater noise.

OceanCare is accredited to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

As part of the initiative supported by OceanCare to identify Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs), 33 new IMMAs have been identified. This means that a total of 72 per cent of the global marine area has been surveyed and 242 IMMAs with a total area of 33.3 million km² have been mapped.

The Spanish organisation Alnitak, supported by OceanCare, collects 40 cubic metres of marine litter in the western Mediterranean and stops illegal driftnet fishing activities in Moroccan waters.

Animal & species conservation

Greece finally ratifies the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS), thereby committing itself to the implementation of conservation measures and recognising what OceanCare, IFAW, Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute and WWF Greece have been emphasising for a long time: there is a high risk of ship collisions with sperm whales in the Hellenic Trench.

According to scientific recommendations from a coalition of NGOs led by OceanCare, more and more shipping companies take voluntary measures to prevent whales from ship collisions: Stolt-Nielsen will slow down in the north-west Mediterranean and avoid a blue whale area south of Sri Lanka; Armateurs de France calls on its members to change routes and reduce speed in the Hellenic Trench and near Sri Lanka; CMA CGM and DFDS instruct their captains to avoid sperm whale habitats in the Hellenic Trench.

In Senegal, West African states are finalising an action plan against harvest of protected marine animals in the Gulf of Guinea based on scientific data from BEES and OceanCare. The action plan will be submitted to the CMS Parties for adoption in 2024.

In the scientific report "Unravelling the truth: Whale killing in the Faroe Islands", OceanCare and partner organisations refute the claims of Faroese whalers that they kill whales and dolphins humanely, that the hunting practice is sustainable and that it is a local tradition.

The Sea Turtle Rescue Alliance, co-founded by OceanCare, consists of 57 organisations and professionals with a total of 21 rescue centres. New centres are added in Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Mayotte.

OceanCare supports the CBD-Habitat organisation in protecting the last large monk seal colony, which is found on Mauritania's Cap Blanc. In 2023, 162 offences of the regulations of the protected area along the "Costa de las Focas" are penalised. This is significantly fewer than in 2022 (382 offences) and 2021 (585 offences), which shows that protective measures are taking effect.

OceanCare supports the work of the head vet at British Divers Marine Life Rescue's seal hospital in Cornwall, England. In the winter half-year 2022/23, 66 seal pups are treated as inpatients. By the end of November 2023, a further 61 seal pups were in care.

Environmental education

In Zurich/Switzerland, OceanCare collects around 1.4 tonnes of waste on World Cleanup Day in a cleanup eventorganised with partners. This includes 31,500 cigarette butts, each of which contains up to 7,000 chemicals, some of which are toxic, and can pollute around 1,000 litres of water. In German-speaking countries, OceanCare uses filler adverts, which are printed free of charge by the media, to draw attention to littering.

On Mallorca, OceanCare supports the Save the Med Foundation: almost 1,300 schoolchildren clean up beaches as part of the "Dos Manos" school programme, 57 school teams take part as "Changemakers" in a competition for ideas on how to reduce single-use plastic and raise awareness of the plastic problem.

The Follow-Up Committee of the Agreement on the Conservation of Cetaceans of the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Contiguous Atlantic Area (ACCOBAMS) upholds four formal complaints by OceanCare regarding poor implementation of the conservation plan for the common dolphin, failure to conduct an environmental impact assessment prior to seismic activities, and shortcomings in the implementation of binding measures to protect whales and dolphins from active sonar military manoeuvres. The committee calls on the ACCOBAMS parties to reliably implement applicable resolutions and guidelines.

As part of the implementation of its Marine Strategy Framework Directive, the EU set limits for noise emissions in European waters, in keeping with a proposal made by the European Commission and the EU’s technical working group on underwater noise, in which OceanCare is involved.

At the second UN Ocean Conference, OceanCare organises side events and provides expert knowledge on underwater noise pollution, shipping and the relevance of a plastics treaty to achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Life Below Water). The event on plastic pollution is opened by Ecuador's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In the plenary hall, OceanCare reads out a plea co-signed by numerous partner organisations to curb underwater noise.

Animal & species conservation

At the suggestion of OceanCare and its partners, the world's largest shipping company, the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), decides to bypass the habitat of the Eastern Mediterranean’s last remaining and endangered sperm whale population in the Hellenic Trench, and to shift its shipping route off Sri Lanka out of the blue whale habitat. Various shipping associations, including the German Shipowners' Association (VDR) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), are following suit and recommending that their members also avoid these important habitats.

France, Italy, Monaco and Spain submit a proposal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to designate the North-Western Mediterranean, where vulnerable fin whales and sperm whales live, as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA). OceanCare had previously pushed hard for such an initiative. The IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee agrees to the proposal. It is to be formally adopted in July 2023.

OceanCare's scientific partners describe the SaveWhales whale-warning system in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. The technology, whose development OceanCare facilitated, will initially be implemented in heavily trafficked Greek waters where shipping routes cannot be relocated.

With help from OceanCare, the Spanish organisation Alnitak frees sea turtles that had become entangled in ghost nets in the Western Mediterranean and retrieves over 40 cubic metres of the hazardous flotsam from the sea.

For the first time in years, not a single whale shark is stranded in Venezuela. One of the reasons being that the organisation CIT, with the support of OceanCare, has effected changing the locations of fishing nets. CIT is helping the Venezuelan Attorney General's Office to shut down two illegal shark-fin-processing factories.

In England, the animal rescuers of British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMRL) are deployed almost 3,000 times to rapidly assist marine animals in distress. In the Cornwall Seal Hospital, built with the help from OceanCare, over a hundred seals are treated and cared for as inpatients.

OceanCare hands over a petition with almost 44,000 signatures against the hunting of whales and dolphins in the Faroe Islands to the EU representative in Bern.

The Sea Turtle Rescue Alliance (STRA), co-founded by OceanCare, is being further developed and is registered as a non-profit organisation in the UK. The alliance comprises 52 members with a total of 16 rescue centres.

Environmental education

OceanCare has a strong media presence, with over 1,300 media articles in 46 countries, including almost 500 articles in international media – from Australia to Malaysia and from Venezuela to South Africa.

In an action co-organised by OceanCare on World Cleanup Day, around 100 people retrieve almost a tonne of waste and over 16,000 cigarette butts along Zurich’s lake promenade and in Lake Zurich. A video on cigarette littering goes viral on Instagram.

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).