Ocean Keepers
LIKE A REAL-WORLD version of The Avengers or Justice League, an international group of unlikely activists, some of them billionaires, have banded together to save our imperiled seas, which, by all accounts, are deteriorating at an increasingly alarming pace. Calling themselves the Philanthropic Ocean Research Vessel Operators – at least until they come up with a catchier name – they’re not waiting for governments to take action. Instead, they have applied their business know-how to studying the seas and devising conservation projects to combat the ravages of climate change, over-fishing and the wholesale dumping of plastic.
Wendy and Eric Schmidt, Kjell Inge Røkke, Andrew and Nicola Forrest, Victor Vescovo and Agnès Troublé are among those who have formed the loose coalition, comprised mainly of privately funded institutions, to bring a more coordinated approach to ocean research.
Their efforts, described in the coming pages, vary, with Vescovo and the Schmidt Ocean Institute each mapping vast underwater territories and Troublé’s Tara Ocean Foundation concentrating on DNA sequencing of plankton and bacteria in the microbiome. The Forrests’ Minderoo Foundation has begun an incentive campaign to reduce production of new plastic, and Røkke’s REV Ocean plans to take a more diplomatic role, bringing together world leaders and competing interests (for example, commercial fisheries versus marine biologists) aboard its 183m research explorer yacht to create consensus on the best ways to restore the seas’ health.
“We’re a small number of people who understand the huge costs and are willing to pay,” says Romain Troublé, CEO of Tara, who says his group has invested about US$100 million in research