THE OCEAN COLLECTIVE SUMMIT
The Ocean Collective Summit (TOCS) is a programme initiated by The SeaKeepers in cooperation with Fabien Cousteau; the Founder of The Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Centre and Proteus Ocean Group; and famed for his work as an Aquanaut, Oceanographic Explorer and Environmental Advocate.
TOCS aims to bring a focus on the ocean and its intricate connections to life and all the inhabitants of our planet, Earth. Through its annual conference, TOCS will gather thought leaders to educate, raise awareness and inspire action to be taken and work collectively towards a more sustainable future.
Bringing About Change – The ocean plays a crucial role in a number of aspects, inclusive of the distribution of marine ecosystem diversity, provision of marine resources, the chemical, physical and biological processes that occur with the ocean, and ocean-atmosphere interactions. Needless to say, there are countless benefits we can gain from the ocean.
However, in this day and age, there are many issues that accompany these benefits. The ocean is currently highly impacted by industrial pollutants, waste, fishing, climate change and other activities. These issues have already caused half the world’s coral reefs to be lost since 1950, with the phytoplankton (a major contributor to the production of oxygen) population having decreased by 40% within the same period and kelp forests declining by 2% every passing year. In turn these have led to serious chain reactions on the marine ecosystems, affecting food supplies, increasing marine heatwaves, damaging livelihoods, economies and many more.
Therefore, we are gathering like-minded and interested individuals together to address the aforementioned issues. This summit will provide an avenue for discussion and insight gaining in order to make progress with research and projects that could mitigate and/or improve the current state of the oceanic environment whilst further educating the future generations on the importance of protecting and restoring our ocean and its resources.
THE INTERNATIONAL SEAKEEPERS SOCIETY
The International SeaKeepers Society is an organization that unites the yachting community with scientific and educational communities to facilitate programming for conservation. They support marine science and conservation by utilizing member yachts as platforms for oceanographic research, educational outreach, and marine conservation.
These efforts eliminate vessel costs and allow scientists and educators to maximize funding towards research and education. Additionally, community engagement programs are hosted in order to promote conservation awareness and unite local participants in beach and dive cleanups.
THE INTERNATIONAL SEAKEEPERS SOCIETY, ASIA
In Singapore, SeaKeepers Asia has a core focus in science and conservation, and they implement this via Education & Outreach programs, Citizen Science projects and Creating Awareness in the Community.
The Educational Outreach Programs are targeted at youth, where the program provides learning experiences in the form of sharing knowledge about marine wildlife, instrument deployments, plastic pollution, sustainability practices, and more at schools and subsequently inviting students aboard the yachts to participate in marine-based lessons with experts from various fields of science.
Citizen science projects offer vessel owners the chance to be involved in smaller-scale marine
research initiatives with ongoing programme partners. In such expeditions, scientists are not
required to be aboard and vessel owners can take part in projects such as the Seabed 2030 Project , a global Citizen Science Initiative to map 80% of the world’s oceans by 2030. At the same time, SeaKeepers also works with universities, marine institutions, NGOs and experts in the marine science and oceanography fields to promote and facilitate projects such as reef restoration.
SeaKeepers Asia also actively partners and are involved in scientific seminars, educational and community events, beach and underwater cleanups, and yachting industry functions.
FABIEN COUSTEAU OCEAN LEARNING CENTER
Founded in 2016, the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center (FCOCL) is a nonprofit organization established to empower local communities to champion ocean conservation in ways most meaningful to them.
Conducting programs such as Beach Clean-ups, Mangrove, Sea Turtle and Coral Reef Restorations, the FCOCL is dedicated to protecting and preserving our planet’s waters, coastal areas and marine habitats via knowledge, programming and innovative technologies as well as collaborating with partners to develop educational initiatives, conservation efforts and marine research products.