The Moore Foundation’s Marine Conservation Initiative has supported ocean conservation in the United States and Canada since 2004. Over the past sixteen years, the foundation’s grants have emphasized marine habitat protection and science-based fisheries management, including substantial work in ocean planning and fisheries management reform in specific geographies. Reauthorized by the foundation’s board of trustees in 2017, the initiative currently funds conservation work in North America’s Arctic seas and British Columbia, as well as enabling conditions in the United States and Canada.
From 2004 through 2020, Marine Conservation Initiative grants supported a variety of projects on the U.S. West Coast. This work included implementation of California’s Marine Life Protection Act, transition of the U.S West Coast groundfish fleet to catch shares with reporting accountability and science-based management, building blocks for coast-wide comprehensive ocean planning, reduction of ship strikes and entanglement of whales, and science-based offshore wind energy facility siting and management.
In 2019, we commissioned a study to assess the opportunities and challenges of marine conservation on the U.S. West Coast. Dr. David Secord conducted the study in late 2019 and early 2020 and focused on U.S. waters from three to 200 nautical miles offshore – the West Coast marine waters subject to federal jurisdiction. These parameters reflect our primary grantmaking scope, not the full extent of existing West Coast conservation opportunities. Dr. Secord’s study revealed notable ecological and social differences across the region as well as substantial conservation potential, and we are pleased to share his analysis.
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