AfriOceans Conservation Alliance
From top to bottom: Maxine's release, photo Geoff Spiby; Teaching children for Marine Week, photo Lesley Rochat; Rethink the Shark mobile billboard parked at a busy beach, photo Jeff Ayliffe; Shark Encounter signage I produced which is postioned at all Cape Town beaches and beyond, photo: Lesley Rochat
Dee's release, photo Bilbo Baggens; AOCA Shark Protest to raise awareness, photo Richard; Oureach for kidz in partnership with Shark Lady in Gansbaai, photo Jeff Ayliffe; Maxine's release, photo Geoff Spiby GIVEN MY GROWNING CONCERN for the ocean environment I founded AfriOceans Conservation Alliance (AOCA) in 2003, a registered non-profit organisation, governed by a highly respected board of directors: Dr Leonard Compagno, Dr Malcolm Smale, Prof Charles Griffiths, Horst Kleinschmidt, and myself. AOCA seeks to align and partner with organisations, scientists and environmentalists that subscribe to policies that promote sustainable marine conservation. AOCA develops education, awareness and scientific research projects; it encourages government and corporate policies and practices that provide meaningful marine conservation, and calls upon all people, particularly the young, to aspire to the long-term conservation of the oceans off the African continent.
AOCA has achieved considerable success during a very short space of time through the Save Our Seas Foundation Maxine, Science, Education and Awareness Programme (SOSF M-Sea). This unique shark conservation campaign, which ran for 5 years, is an AOCA intiative, in collaboration with the Two Oceans Aquarium, and was sponsored by the Save Our Seas Foundation. The SOSF M-Sea Programme involved the satellite tagging and releasing of captive sharks from the Aquarium, as well as the tagging of wild ragged tooth sharks. This was supported by an aggressive multi-media education and awareness campaign that reached millions of people worldwide.
While the Save Our Seas Shark Centre has become the platform from which I drive all education and awareness initiatives, AOCA remains primarily the platform from which we actively lobby for improved protection for sharks and South Africa's marine environment. To find out more about AOCA go to www.aoca.org.za