Oceans Stories

Once home to a whaling station, Chile's Guafo Island now teems with biodiversity. It's a cetecean migratory hotspot and the site of a major conservation project for 10 Indigenous tribes and WWF.

In the Colombian town of Acandí, many local fishers are now promoting the well-being of wildlife and changing their fishing practices to minimize harm to the environment.

Off the coast of Chile's Guafo Island, divers are connected to a 450 foot hose as they sustainably harvest a leathery seaweed called luga. A plan is underway to protect these waters for the Indigenous communities that rely on its resources.

WWF focuses our ocean work to deliver both nature-positive seascapes—halting the decline of marine environments and regenerating target ecosystems and marine resources–and markets and finance work that engages business to contribute to a nature-positive future and innovative blue financing to deliver scalable, durable global oceans solutions.

Our oceans are hotter than ever—literally. So how are record-warm seas affecting wildlife and the people who depend on them?

Across the vast Pacific Ocean, sea turtles travel huge distances to find food, shelter, and suitable nesting beaches. To help protect these endangered sea turtles—and all that depends on their support—WWF works with people in Indonesia, Ecuador, and Fiji.

Wildtracks functions at a critical crossroads for the future of wildlife and healthy oceans in Belize: rehabilitating manatees and primates as well as supporting protected area strategies.

For more than a decade, the Sitka Sound Science Center’s Scientists in the School program has exposed students in every classroom at every grade level to a wide variety of scientific disciplines, using hands-on, engaging classroom and field experiences. 

Hol Chan—Mayan for “little channel”—is a prime example of how a well-operated marine reserve benefits both the environment and economy alike—and makes a convincing case for replicating the model elsewhere.

Despite improved policies to protect these animals in recent decades, whales increasingly face warmer waters and the impacts of global trade.

They slide across the ocean floor using thousands of tiny tubelike projections attached to their arms.

While marine protected areas are the most well-known pathway to protect marine life, experts are turning toward ‘other effective conservation measures' (OECMs) to work alongside marine protected areas as complementary pathways that protect our ocean ecosystems.

The US Environmental Protection Agency took a major step toward protecting one of the world’s most important wild salmon fisheries in Bristol Bay, Alaska, by essentially blocking a potentially catastrophic copper and gold mining project.

WWF and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Global Maritime Crime Program have launched a new partnership to advance innovative knowledge-sharing to protect the waters around Ecuador.

A 44,000-acre conservation easement will protect four of the world's most important rivers for salmon habitat.

Though the world faces two existential crises—a rapidly warming planet and declining biodiversity—and continues to battle a global pandemic, conservation still made major strides toward protecting wildlife, wild places, and people in 2022.

WWF wants to create healthy oceans that benefit the planet, people, prosperity, and peace. Advancing peace through ocean conservation is the focus of our newest program, Oceans Futures.

A historical decision by Alaska Native landowners, in conjunction with a landmark proposal by the EPA, could finally rip plans for a ruinous mine up from the roots and stop the project for good.

To protect our rapidly changing seas—and those who depend on them—we need to apply a bold way of thinking, one that tackles challenges in a systematic way and focuses on holistic improvements: place-based approaches.

Along the northern coast of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, communities, tourists, developers, and conservation groups like WWF are working together to protect and restore mangroves.

Meet the Matas and learn about the many interconnections that allow both coastal ecosystems and communities to thrive.

Seafood is one of the most frequently traded commodities on earth, so it’s essential that fishing is well-regulated around the world. But regulations must be complied with to be effective, and unfortunately, too much of the fish that comes to market is caught illegally.

Over the course of the last year, with support from hundreds of internal and external collaborators, a group of amazingly dedicated people at WWF developed and is launching our new ocean strategy.