Tonight marks the opening reception for the San Francisco Ocean Film Festival, an event dedicated to celebrating our oceans’ wonders. NRDC is proud that one of our new films – Ocean Oases – will kick off the second day of the festival.
Ocean Oases shares remarkable underwater footage of the undersea canyons and seamounts off the U.S. Atlantic coast that are home to an extraordinary universe of life, from a living seafloor of vibrant and rare coldwater corals, anemones and sponges, to an array of fish and marine mammal species, including the endangered sperm whale. Relatively undisturbed for thousands of years, these special places are now in danger of irreversible damage from advanced fishing technologies and oil and gas exploration. Ocean explorer Philippe Cousteau narrates this short video about the urgent need to protect these precious and mysterious places.
I encourage you to attend the festival and see some of the amazing films from around the world discussing our oceans and the challenges they face. If you’re unable to attend, you can also view Ocean Oases here:
Please also take a minute to help protect these amazing places. The National Ocean Council has just released its Draft National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan – a blueprint for how our federal agencies will coordinate their work to tackle the major threats facing our oceans, such as ocean acidification, habitat loss, water quality and pollution. The plan represents a huge step forward in ocean protection, but it still could be strengthened and improved. Before the March 28th comment deadline, help us urge the National Ocean Council to finalize a robust ocean action plan that protects, maintains and restores our oceans' health.