MISSION: “To generate consciousness and encourage stewardship of natural ecosystems while continuing with other charitable educational activities associated with this purpose.”
HQ: Malibu, California
YEAR STARTED: 2003
CONNECT: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
PROJECT: After spending years in the environmental media industry, Georgienne Bradley wanted to make a change.

“It felt like we were working hard to enlighten people about the oceans, but we were not getting anywhere. Oceans do not recognize national borders, so to best protect them, we need to go as far upstream as possible,” she says. “We needed to talk with decision-makers on the national and international level. Oceans are facing exponentially increasing challenges, we need to battle these issues on a global scale.”

And so, Sea Save Foundation was formed.

The organization’s focus is currently three-pronged, with campaigns revolving around shark finning, ocean plastics, and species protection under CITES. Right now, they’re pushing for a bill to be passed in the U.S. Senate that would ban the possession, purchasing, and selling of shark fins in the United States. HR 737, the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act of 2019, has passed in the House of Representatives and is now waiting to be scheduled for a Senate vote.

“It was introduced as a bipartisan bill, so political noise should not derail this critical effort,” Bradley says. “It should just be about stopping an unsustainable practice.”

Sea Save focuses on science and economics to drive support for action rather than emotion. Simply put, shark finning is unsustainable and will cause irreparable harm if it continues, Bradley says.

“Even if you don’t care at all about sharks, you should still care about finning,” she says. “It will cause the collapse of fisheries, which will lead to economic devastation. We use this kind of science and logic to convince international decision-makers to make sustainable changes.”

Their second campaign tackles ocean plastics. In addition to environmental impacts, Sea Save is looking at how increased plastic consumption has adverse health effects on humans, such as possible links to breast-cancer diagnoses.

“They break down into macromolecules that can mimic estrogen,” Bradley says. “We are just beginning to uncover what that could mean to human physiology.”

Sea Save aims to combat this both at the governmental and individual levels.

“We’re all ingesting increasing amounts of plastic through seafood, salt, tap water, and even air,” Bradley says. “We need to stop the production of single-use plastic. We need to re-train by developing new habits or reverting to old habits used before we were spoiled by living in a disposable society.”

Next year, 2020, will be the 10th year that Sea Save has been involved in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. CITES is an international treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. Every three years, a meeting is held to vote on which species will be added to the treaty, and interstitial years are spent deliberating on which proposals will be presented during voting years.

In the past, Sea Save has been involved in protecting species like mako sharks, mobula rays and manta rays. Bradley has been selected to complete a CITES Master’s program this upcoming spring to learn about the CITES infrastructure, which will help Sea Save become even more influential on an international scale.

“Being an insider and understanding how changes occur within CITES, and how we can instigate that change, well, it’s a game-changer,” she says.

GET INVOLVED

1. Donate
The best way to help further Sea Save’s mission is to donate. The organization is mostly volunteer-based and team members work virtually to minimize overhead and carbon footprint. This means you can feel confident knowing that virtually all funds donated go directly to protecting endangered species, fighting shark finning and reducing the demand for single-use plastics.

2. Volunteer
If you want to leverage your skills to make a significant impact on your favorite environment, you can sign up to volunteer with Sea Save. “We look for people who have specialized skills,” Bradley says. Whether you’re a writer, physician, accountant, or any profession in between, Sea Save can find a role for you. And, you can be involved no matter where you’re located. The Sea Save team convenes virtually, relying on tools like video conferencing and screen sharing so that anyone can volunteer around the world.

3. Stay Informed
“One of the biggest problems facing ocean conservation is that people are apathetic,” Bradley says. “They're not informed about the issues.” To help combat this, Sea Save puts out a free “Week in Review” newsletter and blog that chronicles the week’s top ocean-related stories.“If people can just spend a little extra time each day reading the news, and learning how to vet what is true, then they become stronger ambassadors for our cause,” she says.

To sign up for Week in Review, visit seasave.org/week-in-review