Celebrating Ocean Victories of 2025

When reflecting on conversations with my Ocean Conservancy colleagues, the word that repeatedly comes to mind to describe this year for us is fortitude.

Collaboration and courage for our ocean have anchored our work despite disappointing walk-backs in climate policy, disastrous proposed cuts to NOAA and deeply unsettling research that shows just how costly plastics ingestion is for marine life.

And through these challenges, we continued to do what we’ve done through 26 Congresses, 10 Presidencies and almost 55 years: we worked in the United States and around the world to achieve impact for our ocean.

Thanks to ocean lovers like you, together we made some incredible strides this year in each of our three pillars—ending ocean plastics, protecting biodiversity and advancing climate solutions. All these victories are worth celebrating.

Ending ocean plastics

Ending ocean plastics

In September, Ocean Conservancy staff and supporters around the country and across the world gathered at coasts, rivers and lakes and beyond for the 40th annual International Coastal Cleanup®  (ICC). This milestone of removing 400 million pounds of debris would not be possible without the 19 million volunteers who shared their time to clean up a local waterway throughout the past four decades.

The Global Ghost Gear Initiative® (GGGI) celebrated 10 years of education and action to remove ghost gear from our ocean. This powerful, worldwide project has strong engagement with fishermen and marine experts to tackle the overwhelming amount of abandoned fishing gear that ends up in our waters, where it entangles and even kills ocean life. We’re seeing incredible results as more countries and communities work to reduce harmful deep-sea debris.

Both the ICC and GGGI initiatives are significant solutions to curbing the complex plastics pollution problem. This year, our science team, in partnership with our global academic collaborators, laid out just how vital it is that we continue these cleanup efforts.

Ocean Conservancy released a pioneering new report on the impact of plastic ingestion on marine animals. This groundbreaking report is the most complete mortality risk assessment on macroplastic ingestion in marine life ever conducted. It outlines the stark reality of plastic pollution: even a small amount of plastic can be deadly for our ocean animals. With this new research, Ocean Conservancy can continue to champion policies that eliminate this risk and preserve vital ocean species.

Protecting biodiversity

Protecting biodiversity

To ensure we can continue building strong relationships across political and regional divides, we rely on incredible leaders across our organization to represent Ocean Conservancy’s mission to the world. One of those leaders, Wáahlaal Gíidaak, Vice President of Arctic & Northern Waters, was chosen as a 2025 Forbes Sustainability Leader in September of this year at New York Climate Week.

Leaders like Wáahlaal Gíidaak are committed to protecting vital ocean ecosystems in partnership with the Indigenous peoples who have long stewarded and depended on these special places. One of those places is the Central Arctic Ocean, a 1.1 million square mile ecosystem around the North Pole. Thanks to Ocean Conservancy, nations previously adopted a groundbreaking moratorium on commercial fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean. Now, we are working to expand that protection to also ban shipping and deep-sea mining in this unique ecosystem.

Another vital place on Ocean Conservancy’s radar is the twilight zone. Formally known as the mesopelagic zone, this band of ocean 200 to 1,000 meters deep is home to the vast majority of ocean fish. These fish are vital to the food chain for commercially important species like tuna and play a vital role in locking away carbon that would otherwise fuel worsening climate change. As a crucial early step in protecting the twilight zone, Ocean Conservancy championed a motion at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that was adopted earlier this year.

Advancing climate solutions

Advancing climate solutions

As always, our interdisciplinary and multi-pronged approach to supporting the ocean is rooted in collaboration. At the global climate negotiations, Ocean Conservancy was at the table, ensuring that this was the year that the world finally embraced ocean solutions as essential tools for confronting the climate crisis.

The “Blue NDC Challenge” gained serious momentum: we are proud to have secured pledges from 17 countries to include ocean-based solutions to climate in their national climate plans. Our report—in collaboration with World Resources Institute and Ocean & Climate Platform—revealed that nine out of 10 island and coastal nations now include the ocean in these plans. We will continue to work with countries around the world to turn these commitments into action.

Building more support for the ocean than ever before

None of what we’ve achieved would be possible without ocean lovers like you. We are dedicated to engaging as many people as we can to join Team Ocean. One new way we’re doing that is through our Protect Where We Play (PWWP) initiative. We are overjoyed that less than a year from its launch, the Protect Where We Play Initiative won the Sports Positive Award for inspiring ocean action by collaborating with numerous athletes, artists, celebrities and fans.

As we wave goodbye to another year of impact and momentum building for a cleaner and healthier ocean, we are thankful for the support of ocean lovers like you. You make possible all the incredible victories we’ve achieved for our ocean, and there is still so much to do. We hope you will join us for another year of impact toward a healthier ocean and thriving planet, forever and for everyone. Consider making a gift to Ocean Conservancy—our work is not possible without you.