Behavior Change for Ocean Conservation

We’re moving beyond ‘raising awareness’ with a science-based focus on ocean-friendly behavior change

Behavior Change For Healthier Oceans

The world's oceans are in crisis. 89% of wild fisheries are fished to their full capacity or overfished. Climate change is causing widespread coral reef bleaching, resulting in the loss of half of all coral reefs since 1980. And millions of tons of plastic waste are harming sea life and causing systemic problems.

All these ocean threats share a root cause: human behavior. Our everyday choices—from the seafood we eat to the plastic packaging we use and the ways we consume energy—as well as the businesses and politicians we support, directly impact ocean health.

At Oceanic Society, we recognize that human behavior is both the cause and the solution to the escalating ocean crisis. Despite society being more aware of ocean conservation issues than ever, the health of our oceans continues to deteriorate.

In collaboration with partners worldwide, Oceanic Society uses behavior change science to build and empower a community of people who act as ocean stewards and support local conservation efforts.

Bridging the Gap

Through our Behavior Change program, we work with leading behavioral experts and organizations to understand the fundamentals of human behavior and discover how we can apply that knowledge to improve ocean health. We have developed, tested, and scaled science-based behavior change techniques across all our programs.

We are working to bridge the gap between ocean awareness and pro-ocean behavior in three key ways:

Connecting people to the ocean through travel, and leveraging impactful experiences to motivate personal actions that benefit ocean health. Learn more about our work to empower travelers as ocean stewards >>.
Building behavior change capacity within the conservation community by developing and sharing strategies and tools that effectively drive and measure behavior change. Learn more about our behavior change capacity-building work >>
Tackling key ocean threats through science-based campaigns that drive action for ocean health. Learn more about our Global Ocean Cleanup campaign >>

These strategies collectively aim to "move the needle" in ways that measurably improve ocean health and reduce human-induced threats to the oceans over time.

Our Initiatives

Global Ocean Cleanup

Team BEACH

Through our travel programs we facilitated 2,112 volunteer hours for ocean research and conservation, including by the volunteers seen here with a leatherback turtle in Trinidad. © Ashleigh Bandimere

Impactful Nature Travel

Everyone has a role to play.

Unprecedented actions are needed to ensure that threatened ocean species and habitats continue to thrive in the decades to come. Oceanic Society is working to drive engagement and activate behavior change in four key areas: plastic pollution, sustainable seafood, climate change, and sustainable travel, with the goal of protecting threatened ocean species and habitats and ensuring overall ocean health. Get involved now by joining our community!