One Ocean Expeditions is excited to announce that we have formalized our 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 our 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, One Ocean Expeditions provide over 120 days per year on our three vessels to select scientific organizations for scientific research. As our onboard science programs expand, we are enhancing our research facilities on board all vessels to provide dedicated space to support the search for ocean debris, microplastics and specimen samples. Our 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 One Ocean EXpeditions’ 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 studies of the environmental health of the world’s oceans.
Guests will now have more opportunity than ever to be involved with the ocean research taking place on our voyages! With the formalization of the OOE and Ocean Wise partnership, voluntary donations through the One Ocean Foundation will go towards supporting Ocean Wise and the global conservation of marine life.
NEW in 2019
For the first time ever One Ocean Expeditions will be implementing satellite-based video conferencing technology through Connected North, a ground-breaking program that delivers virtual education to schools located in remote communities across Canada. Alongside our long-term partner Ocean Wise who, with the realization of Cisco units on board OOE vessels, gives digital access to thousands of international students, mentors, teachers and other classrooms by way of virtual field trips and Ocean Literacy sessions with experts.
For more information on One Ocean Expeditions’ Ocean expanding science programs click here.
For more information on One Ocean Expeditions’ plastic wise philosophy click here.