Our Marine Conservation: Arctic Ocean Initiative supports productive and biodiverse ecosystems and sustainable fisheries.
The Arctic Ocean acts as an air conditioner for the planet and supports iconic ecosystems and wildlife found nowhere else on the planet.
The extensive ice edges and spring and summer light create spectacular plankton blooms. This primary productivity is the foundation of a food web that includes deep-sea cold water corals and sponges, all of the world’s polar bears and narwhal, millions migratory birds from each of the world’s continents, over 200 species of fish, and ancient creatures like the Greenland shark, which can live to 300 years old and have inhabited these ice waters for over a million years. Securing a healthy and productive Arctic Ocean is an urgent and critical environmental imperative.
This largely intact seascape is incredibly productive and has supported Arctic peoples for millennia. However, the intensifying impacts of warming air and sea temperatures, ocean acidification, and sea ice loss, along with interest in expanded fishing, shipping and offshore development, create a global imperative to focus on the future of the Arctic Ocean.
With the steady diminishment of Arctic sea ice cover and the prediction for Arctic summers to be relatively ice-free for at least a month each year by mid-century, a new ocean basin of resources is becoming available for industrial exploitation for the first time in modern human history.
Despite these rapidly changing conditions, many Arctic countries are currently primed to advance conservation in their national waters and engage in international cooperation. The Arctic is an exceptional place and has historically benefited from productive and mutually beneficial cooperation among Arctic nations.
We aim to secure an abundant future for the Arctic Ocean so that it can continue to provide healthy habitats for Arctic species and support sustainable fisheries. The protection of essential habitat can support fish populations and ensure their ability to adapt and remain reliable sources for food security. The initiative is also designed to mitigate some of the biggest threats to Arctic waters.
The Arctic Ocean Initiative builds on more than 20 years of marine conservation grantmaking by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. For the past ten years, the foundation has advanced ocean habitat protection and science-based fisheries management in the U.S. and Canadian Arctic.
Learn More 
Message sent
Thank you for sharing.