National Fisheries Conservation Center

Focused primarily on ocean acidification (OA), the Global Ocean Health program is a program of the National Fisheries Conservation Center. The program’s mission is to protect seafood supplies, coastal communities and marine ecosystems from ocean acidification and related impacts by enabling people and businesses that depend on these resources to confront the causes and consequences of this devastating, pollution-induced threat.

Our strategy is based on a simple axiom: Those who earn a living from healthy seas can exert a powerful influence for policies to protect them. We do not lobby. Instead, we help resource-dependent people acquire the skill and knowledge to shape stronger policy themselves. As advocates for stronger science, adaptation measures, and pollution controls, fishermen and seafood growers command attention, often on both sides of the political aisle. They bring “on-the-water credibility” and economic relevance to the table.

Few seafood producers or other resource stakeholders have the technical or policy skills to grapple effectively with acidification on their own. To help them confront this challenge, we provide scientific and strategic support. We organize training, technical and policy guidance, and sometimes funding to enable them to reliably document impacts of acidification and to become sure-footed champions of their own cause.