Shark Team One Corp

Endangered Whale Shark Conservation - specific threats we are addressing are ship strikes, injury from marine plastic pollution, fishing gear entanglement, inadequate marine reserves and overfishing. 1,600,570 people reached by conservation messaging, increased number of people taking action by 15,300. In this program we inspire families and children to become citizen scientists to help protect endangered species and create the future of conservation. We are also providing scientific study that has created increased protection for endangered whale sharks. Number of people engaged by community outreach programming is 384,890. Our "Heads Up Fins Up" Initiative seeks to curb impacts to whale sharks that are becoming severely injured or killed by ship strikes. This initiative is bridging the gap for enforcement in marine protected areas and asks corporate shipping and consumer goods companies to create less impact and follow established governmental and our conservation guidelines for reporting whale shark sightings, following zoning regulations and reducing speed through mapped whale shark aggregation areas. Our ichthyoplankton studies are first of their kind to involve local ecotourism operators and artisanal fishers in Mexico. Through our research, multiple government agencies have agreed to create marine protective corridors to protect the endangered sharks.

Ocean Ecosystem Protection - Promote marine protected areas as valuable tools for ecosystem protection. Conserve ocean areas for future generations by providing education, forums and research. Work with hundreds of stakeholders to create marine reserves. 20 endangered and 3 critically endangered species protected. Our "Underwater Florida - Windows to Hope" multimedia campaign works with community to identify linkages to reef health created by fish abundance, promotes conservation of spawning fish aggregations and highlights the importance of diverse habitats such as mangrove nurseries, coral reef fish assemblages, seagrass meadows and "blue water" pelagic regions. Stakeholders follow our current research and live field expeditions to learn and get firsthand knowledge which is being used for community local action strategy planning. This project has led to discoveries such as shark and goliath grouper nursery areas and discovery of resilient coral colonies on nearshore patch reefs which can be studied to find out why they have not been impacted by the issues and diseases that other Florida reef tract areas have suffered. Partnerships for this program include Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.