In July 2007, we granted Marine Conservation Institute $1.5 million to fund core business costs and to aid the lobbying of US Congress against bottom trawling.

Founded in 1996, Marine Conservation Institute works to encourage scientists who want to safeguard the oceans’ web of life. The Institute's mission is to advance the science of marine conservation biology and secure protection for ocean ecosystems. Marine Conservation Institute believes that marine ecosystem-based management is the way to protect, recover and sustainably use the living sea.

Marine Conservation Institute has an impressive list of accomplishments, not limited to having

• Made bottom trawling a global environmental issue
• Hosted two symposia on marine conservation biology
• Spurred President Clinton to issue Executive Order 13158 on Marine Protected Areas
• Secured the listing of the white abalone as an endangered species
• Played a key role in getting President Bush to establish the North-western Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument

Marine Conservation Institute has also published the first national assessment on the status of deep-sea corals and the world’s first textbook on marine conservation biology.