Programs

Our programs are grounded in what we call responsible conservation. While we believe that conservationists (us included!) are trying to do good, our experience on the ground has shown that good intentions don’t always yield good results.

We’re optimists, we’re go getters and we’re hungry to make earth-shaking, groundbreaking change. Not just for sharks, but also for the people and places they depend on.  In order to do that, we need a holistic approach.

In all that we do, we consider not just the human and animal dimensions, but the important underlying social, economic, political, environmental and cultural contexts and the subsequent impacts of our work. We can’t have effective policies for a thriving planet without understanding them.

For example, we want to rewire the way we view conservation success in popular culture, starting with the policies that we work on. It’s important to us that our work inspires hope and that the public’s view of success doesn’t stop at the announcement of a new conservation policy. Because if we help to create policies to protect sharks and benefit, or minimize impacts on, local communities, wouldn’t we want to know if the sharks are actually being protected and how the communities are doing? We want to understand what success looks like up front and work until we get there.  And if we can’t, then we will work to understand and explain why we haven’t achieved the measurable results we aimed for.

We recognize that there are often a number of factors limiting success, such as insufficient funds, time, a lack of political will and capacity to carry out the plan. We’ve been there, we get it and we know those issues aren’t going away. However, we know that if we start with a plan that is inclusive, measureable, inspiring and achievable, then we are certain we can contribute positively to the ecological, social, economic and political changes we seek— and that keeps the fires burning in our bellies.

We’re committed to sharing the stories of all the phases of our research, outreach and policy work with you—the good, the bad and the ugly.

We know we aren’t perfect and we think it’s important to be honest about it. We’ll explain when we feel we’ve succeeded and when we haven’t. We’ll work to break down complexities of marine conservation into digestible chunks—we don’t want to bore you to pieces after all.  Most importantly, we’re in this to make a difference. And we’re excited to bring you along for the ride because we believe that together, we can achieve lasting conservation success, responsibly.