Which is the best marine conservation group to join?

[capybara]

We divers naturally have a vested interest in the health of the oceans. I want the coral, fish, sharks, turtles, marine mammals to stick around so I can enjoy swimming with them! There are so many different organizations though (all with similar sounding names), that I don't know which one to join/donate money to. I want my donation to make a difference, not just line some administrator's pocket. Which organizations do you belong to and recommend, as far as doing the most to protect the oceans and their inhabitants?

 

[Cacia]

Save the Oceans, the Nature Conservancy, I like. I am involved in fund raising for Reefcheck. We lay transect lines and count indicator fish for a baseline and ongoing data reflecting the state of a given reef. The data all goes to United Nations and is used to make decisions about global warming, etc. I am more in the fund raising side, parties, events, etc. A big one coming up as a matter of fact....
REEF is another good (and fun) one, You basically tally fish on these waterproof preprinted "scorecards" specific to the area you dive. I enjoy doing those very much. Those little golf pencils work great.
Whatever interests you, it is great to get involved. You can check the financial statements on a lot of these groups to see where the money goes...
Definitely check out Mr. X on scubaboard. He always has some good ant-whaling petitions and suggestions (like boycotting Gorden's ).

Aloha

PS are those prairie dogs in your Avatar?? I took a lot of prairie dog photos at Geronimo's grave this summer!! So sorry, I am easily distracted, but I had never seen them before! they talk a lot!!

 

[Brandon]

I've always been a fan of Sea Shepherd

www.seashepherd.com

Course, they've probably been labeled as an international terrorist organization by now, they have this nasty habit of harassing the hell out of whaling vessels.

Their flagship is currently stuck in South Africa in a paperwork nightmare... seems they really pissed off the Japanese whaling fleet in Antartica...

Good for them though,

-Brandon.

 

[devolution365]

Find a charity, research it to make sure they support the things you believe in, then check with http://www.charitynavigator.org/ to see how much of your donation will go to their cause vs their administration.

I used to research and give to a few (sometimes different) charities every year, but I've become discouraged and haven't donated anything lately because it seems like whoever I give tosends me 3X what I gave them back to me over the next few years in "free gifts", address stickers, pens, solicitations, etc. >

 

[drbill]

Catherine... those are capybaras in her avatar!

Capybara... you two would have been amazed at the King Neptune's trip to Farnsworth Bank today. Underwater was fantastic, topside was thick fog and darned cold... but it was well worth it!

As for places to donate, you could always make a sizeable donation to "Dive Dry with Dr. Bill," say at least $1 million. However, if you are looking to donate lesser amounts, I'd recommend looking for local organizations that focus on the marine life in your region rather than the national and international organizations (not that either are bad, they just have a larger potential donor base and the local ones often go begging).

 

[DiveDiva_Ashley]

Be sure to check out www.reef.org. I would love to post more about this, but I'm afraid others wouldn't like to read all I have to say. I am very passionate about REEF. They are a modest ogranization doing a great, great thing. I will pm you with some additional information so it doesn't clog up this board )

 

[drbill]

Ashley... why not post more. Those that are interested will read what you say. Those that aren't... well, they don't count anyway, do they!

 

[ScubaTexan]

I contribute (when I can) to the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL). They do tremendous work in coral reef conservation.

http://www.coral.org