At Cocofloss, we don’t just love the ocean and its underwater wonders, we care about their future. So we’ve partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Network to ensure that $2 from each purchase of our Ocean Conservation Gift Set helps support three nonprofit organizations that are making a splash in ocean conservation: the Global Penguin Society, MarAlliance, and MareCet. Read on to dive into their work …
Global Penguin Society: Helping the World’s Coolest Birds Waddle On
The Global Penguin Society (GPS) is the first and only international organization dedicated solely to the conservation of the world’s 18 penguin species and their habitats. In 2018, GPS won both a National Geographic/Buffet Award for Leadership and Conservation and a gold award from the Whitley Fund for Nature — an award so respected that it’s also known by conservationists as the “Green Oscar.” You can learn more about its mission and the people driving it in the following inspiring video.
Ocean Critters Conserved
All 18 species of penguins, including the Emperor, King, Royal, Adelie, Macaroni, Gentoo, Galapagos, Magellanic, Humboldt, African, Snares, Fiordland, Little Blue, Yellow Eye, Erect Crested, Northern Rockhopper, Southern Rockhopper, and Chinstrap.
Seaworthy Projects
🐧 The work of GPS has already protected 32 million acres in marine and coastal areas and helped 2.4 million of our tuxedoed, flightless friends in the Southern Hemisphere.
🐧 Also thanks to GPS, more than 6,500 kids have learned about penguins in their natural habitats through talks, trips, and thousands of donated books about wildlife and conservation.
🐧 Every year, before penguins arrive from their annual winter migration, GPS leads about 100 teens to collect garbage and debris from the beach and nesting areas of colonies in Patagonia, Argentina.
Flippin’ Fun Penguin Facts
Tuxedoed Torpedoes: Penguins have flippers instead of wings. So while they must clumsily hobble their way across land, gentoo penguins can gracefully soar through water at up to 22 miles per hour. Emperor penguins can speedily dive down 1,500 feet for a fishy treat.
Parenting with Pride: Same-sex penguin couples are often star parents. Take Marama and Rocky, which have successfully nested eggs in London; Thelma and Louise and their baby chick in New Zealand; and Rio and Eduardo, winners of the “best dads” award at the San Francisco Zoo.
Penzilla: An ancient penguin species that lived some 60 million years ago reached a height of 6 foot 5 inches from beak tip to toes — taller than most humans.
Credit: Dr. Rachel Graham
MarAlliance: Tackling Marine Conservation in the Tropics
Based in Belize, MarAlliance focuses on understanding and conserving threatened marine species and their habitats, especially sharks and rays on the Mesoamerican reef. As MarAlliance founder Dr. Rachel Graham explains, “The canaries in the coal mine for how our reefs are actually doing are the large marine wildlife, like sharks and rays.”
Check out this quick video to see MarAlliance in action:
Ocean Critters Conserved
Sharks, rays, deep-sea fish, sea turtles, and many other animals living in tropical seas in the Americas, as well as in Micronesia and Cape Verde, Africa.
Seaworthy Projects
🐢 MarAlliance engages small-scale fishers to help track and tag sea turtles so they can better protect them from poaching.
🐢 Ongoing research and surveys by MarAlliance help identify a species’ diversity and abundance, growth rate, habitat, range, and vulnerability to overfishing. This information leads to conservation of key habitats that are specific to that species’ needs, while still allowing humans to thrive.
🐢 In support of women from Panama’s Kuna Yala Comarca region, MarAlliance helps sell beautiful mola face masks (of the Covid-19 variety) depicting focal marine species. Molas are needlepoint appliques traditionally made and worn on clothing by Kuna women.
🐢 MarAlliance encourages local communities to take part in conservation through several programs: The Children of the Sea program introduces kids to sharks and rays in the classroom and in the field; public events in Belize and beyond help change attitudes about big fish; and meetings between fishers and high-level decision-makers to help create broader understanding and drive conservation.
Turtlely Awesome Facts
Mock Turtle Tears: Sea turtles might appear to be crying, but they’re actually getting rid of excess salt through large glands by their eyes.
Take a Deep, Deep Breath: Sea turtles can hold their breath for 4 to 7 hours under water. To conserve oxygen, sea turtles’ heart rate can slow down to 9 minutes between beats.
Old Salts: Leatherback turtles once shared the planet with dinosaurs. They have existed in the same form for 100 million years.
Credit: MareCet
MareCet: Projects with a Porpoise
MareCet is the sole nonprofit NGO in Malaysia that is entirely dedicated to the research and conservation of Malaysian marine mammals, including dolphins, porpoises, whales, and dugongs. MareCet gathers scientific data, works to educate and support new local leaders in conservation, and helps draft policies that protect these amazing animals, while working hand-in-hand with local communities.
Ocean Critters Conserved
Marine mammals such as dolphins, porpoises, whales, and dugongs in Malaysia.
Seaworthy Projects
🐬 MareCet’s Langkawi Dolphin Research Project revealed that Langkawi’s waters may be one of the most prominent places within Southeast Asia to view the elusive finless porpoise and also large groups of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins. (Langkawi is also a vacation paradise!) In 2019, thanks in part to MareCet’s research, the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force named the waters around Langkawi and its adjacent mainland as part of the Satun-Langkawi Archipelago Important Marine Mammal Area.
🐬 MareCet’s comprehensive Dugong Research and Conservation (DRC) project identified an archipelago that’s possibly the last stronghold for the species in Peninsular Malaysia. In 2019, based on data MareCet contributed from their research, the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force recognized the waters in the region as an Important Marine Mammal Area.
🐬 Also in 2019, MareCet embarked on the very first research project in Malaysia that is dedicated to large whales. They found that the waters surrounding Pulau Payar and further offshore are an important feeding ground for Bryde’s whales, which use a hunting technique called bubble-net feeding (check out the video below!).
Fintastic Dolphin Facts
Smarties of the Sea: Dolphins speak a highly sophisticated language, use tools, and have complex cultures and societies.
“Long Time No See, ‘Click-Click-Chirp’”! Dolphins greet each other at sea with individual names they can remember for decades.
A Bit of Bubbly? Dolphins can blow nearly perfect rings of air under water, which they sometimes play with like toys.
🐧🐢🐬
Get your pearly whites blissfully bright with Cocofloss’s loofah-like weave and support the health of our seas with Cocofloss Ocean Conservation Sets. Will you help penguins, sea turtles, dolphins, or all three and more with a 6-Spool Set?
