General Info:
The Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation's mission is to inspire passion in people to conserve the marine environment, through education and research in New England. We are based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with a small office on Pleasant Street in downtown Portsmouth. Blue Ocean Society was founded by two whale watch naturalists, Jen ( Hafner ) Kennedy and Dianna Schulte, who were frustrated with the lack of translation of open ocean research into information that could be used by the public. We strive to learn more about the Gulf of Maine, and particularly an important habitat called Jeffreys Ledge, and then bring our research to the public through a variety of outreach programs. We hope by sharing information with the public and resource managers, more people will be inspired to learn more about the marine environment and help protect it. We research local marine life, particularly endangered marine mammals, through data collection aboard local whale watch vessels. We also collect data on marine pollution aboard vessels and during our beach cleanups. This data is available to the public and for schools to be used in classroom projects. We collaborate with other organizations and institutions in sharing data and conducting research projects, including Allied Whale at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies in in Provincetown MA, the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH and Merrimack College in in Andover MA We are actively involved in marine conservation through our beach cleanup, Adopt-a-Beach programs, and coordination of the New Hampshire Coastal Cleanup. Each year, we conduct over 200 cleanups in New Hampshire and Maine with the help of volunteers. Other conservation initiatives include conducting educational programs and beach cleanups, hosting internships and volunteer opportunities, keeping our members informed about threats to the Gulf of Maine and its marine life and gaining data on endangered species that will help us work toward their protection.