Home>> Focus Areas >> Research, Conservation, and Restoration
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The world’s oceans are of critical importance to the sustainability of mankind and numerous ecological systems. The oceans cover nearly 71% of the surface of the earth (an area of about 371 million square kilometers!) and have an average depth of about 3,730 m (12,230 ft), and a total volume of about 1,347,000,000 cu km (322,280,000 cu mi). The oceans provide what was once thought of as a limitless supply of seafood, as well as sources of building materials, oil, methane gas and minerals, transportation and shipping, employment, recreation, biomedicals, water and other goods and services. Interactions between the atmosphere, oceans and the seafloor are complex and incompletely understood. However, processes within the ocean drive the climate on land and weather, through transfer of water and heat, and they play important roles in nutrient and waste cycling and absorption of harmful carbon dioxide (CO2). Nearly half of all known species occur in the oceans, many of which generate the oxygen we breathe. The natural hazards we face on land, such as hurricanes and tropical storms, tsunamis and earthquakes, originate in the oceans.
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Red Sea bannerfish and firecoral
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Changes in oceanographic conditions, such as in temperature and current patterns, can influence food production, cause drought in areas far removed from the oceans and other disasters, and ultimately affect their ability to mitigate climate change.
Given the extreme importance of the oceans, research and restoration activities that improve our understanding of the oceans and the ecosystems they support, which can also enhance conservation of these ecosystems, form the essence of our mission. The Living Oceans Foundation supports and implements research and restoration projects that provide information and tools necessary to address the global challenge of preserving and protecting the world’s oceans.
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Red Sea fishermen
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One of the major areas of focus of the Living Oceans Foundation is coral reef research. Although coral reef ecosystems occupy less than one quarter of one percent of the marine environment, they are home to more than 25% of all known marine fish species. They are often referred to as the rainforests of the sea because of the abundant species that are critical to coral reef ecosystems (known as biodiversity) and that coral reef ecosystems are highly productive, thus extremely important to mankind. Unfortunately, coral reefs worldwide are undergoing a rapid decline due to increasing threats from both natural and anthropogenic stressors. Some of the most severe human impacts are associated with overfishing, pollution, coastal uses, and climate change. Consecutively, these are compounding the severity of natural stressors, such as coral diseases and bleaching, outbreaks of coral-eating predators, and physical damage associated with tropical storms.
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Research conducted by the Living Oceans Foundation involves a multidisciplinary approach that takes into account the complexity of coral reef ecosystems, linkages between species, associated habitats and human uses, and their dynamic nature. Our efforts are designed to enhance management and conservation by identifying factors and processes that help maintain healthy coral reef ecosystems. This is achieved through a balance between the maintenance of critical ecological functions and the many different types of human uses and demands placed on those resources. We conduct research using a spatially-based approach that emphasizes mapping and habitat characterization as an important baseline to target management actions, along with an assessment of the species composition, health, threats and resilience indicators of the associated ecosystems.
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M/Y Golden Shadow
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The Living Oceans Foundation has many unique capabilities including state of the art tools to enhance data acquisition, fully functional GIS capabilities, and access to the M/Y Golden Shadow, a fully equipped research vessel capable of accessing remote sites. We also partner with world-renowned coral reef researchers and centers of excellence around the world to implement our research projects and develop useful products and tools that can assist managers in addressing threats to reefs while enhancing coastal zone and resource management.
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