... or we can just do it.

Inspired by a number of events in 1997 and 1998, the OCEANGUARD SOCIETY has been formed to act as a type of watchdog over our oceans.   It will also be the first non profit organization to initiate and fund a major environmental programme utilising the Internet.

1997:   The International Year of the Coral Reef

It was ironic that in the INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE CORAL REEF, at a time when the world's coral reefs were in a state of serious degradation, that the Great Barrier Reef lost its greatest champion. On October 2 1997 Dr. Robert Endean, a world authority on marine toxins, in particular the Crown-of-thorns starfish, died on Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef.  A fitting place for a scientist who devoted his life to preserving it. (See ECO-WARRIOR)

1998:   The International Year of the Oceans

The United Nations designated 1998 as the YEAR OF THE OCEANS.  It was designed to bring awareness to the citizens of the world as to the saddening deterioration of our oceans and the life it supports.  It also encouraged environmental programmes that addressed ocean problems.   

In 1998, sea temperatures soared around the world to their highest level in 400 years.  This caused unprecedented coral bleaching in most ecosystems, the worst damage occurring in the Maldives and on the Great Barrier Reef. At the same time the Reef was also entering the "danger" time-zone of the third starfish plague - when juvenile starfish are ready to "outbreak".

Also in 1998, a new book was released, "WHAT IS NATURAL?  CORAL REEF CRISIS" (Oxford University Press), in which eminent Historian of Science, Jan Sapp argues that the Crown-of-thorns Starfish plagues that have decimated coral reefs around the world since the 1960's, was the FIRST CONTINUOUS GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE. For the coral reefs, that issue was a crisis.  Yet in 1998, with our coral ecosystems still recovering from the destruction caused by two earlier starfish plagues, a third plague is already building in intensity. (See NEWSLETTER: "What is Natural? Coral Reef Crisis")

 So, in the UN designated YEAR OF THE OCEANS, a crisis remains beneath our oceans.  Over thirty years after it started.

The question now is, if one of the  "first global environmental issues" can't be controlled after thirty years, and it directly effects the welfare of our oceans, how can other environmental issues that endanger our oceans be addressed with any hope of succeeding - like global warming?

The sum of the above events, resulted in the formation of OCEANGUARD.

By Joining OCEANGUARD, it is you who can make that difference.