One Ocean Expeditions (OOE) recently announced that it has formalized its partnership with not-for-profit organization Ocean Wise. After nearly a decade of creating exceptional travel experiences together, OOE and Ocean Wise have signed a five-year partnership agreement with the intent of expanding their joint educational programs around the world on select OOE voyages.
Ocean Wise is a global ocean conservation organization focused on protecting and restoring our world’s oceans. Building on the roots of the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, which started as a community-based not-for-profit organization, Ocean Wise aims to inspire people in every corner of the planet to participate in creating healthy oceans. Through engagement, education, direct action and research, Ocean Wise is working towards a future where our oceans will once again thrive.
As the industry leader in supporting nationally accredited science programs alongside tourism, OOE provides over 120 days per year on its three vessels to select scientific organizations for scientific research. As its onboard science programs expand, OOE is enhancing its research facilities on board all vessels to provide dedicated space to support the search for ocean debris, microplastics and specimen samples. OOE’s guests are able to engage directly with scientists and participate in the research that they are conducting.
“The Arctic is changing at an incredible rate,” said John Nightingale, President and CEO of Ocean Wise. “The entire region regularly has record-low monthly sea ice conditions, and Arctic air temperatures continue to rise at double the rate of the global temperature increase. We have been working to understand the impact of these changes on the Arctic Ocean ecosystem, wildlife, and communities for several decades. Our partnership with One Ocean Expeditions, utilizing their ships and support, allows us to further expand our focus on the Arctic. Our researchers, biologists and divers now have even more access to conduct research and explore much more of the Arctic.”
One Ocean Expeditions’ General Manager, Catherine Lawton, stated that “Ocean health and conservation is as much a part of our company’s DNA as education and travel programming. We firmly believe there is only one ocean, and we need to protect it.” Lawton also noted that the formalization of OOE’s partnership with Ocean Wise would be a major step towards integrating and enhancing OOE’s ocean research capabilities with its one-of-a-kind, customized itineraries.
Among other areas of cooperation Ocean Wise has started to train OOE shipboard staff to be facilitators in microplastic sampling, significantly enhancing the scale of the research study. For the first time ever this Antarctic season, Ocean Wise was able to sample water below the convergence, 60 degrees south on an OOE voyage. The results from this plastics analysis will feed directly into scientific study of the environmental health of the world’s oceans.
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