The Alaska Oceans Program is an independent program of the Alaska Conservation Foundation dedicated to the conservation and management of Alaska`s important and valuable marine resources.



The Alaska Oceans Program:



* Fosters the functions of an Alaska Oceans Network, which is a forum for convening ocean and marine related nonprofit organizations to share information, encourage objective science, and educate the public.

* Supports efforts to capitalize on and expand our fishery management plan Environmental Impact Study victories [the Programmatic SEIS].

* Supports efforts to protect important North Pacific Ocean habitat by prohibiting destructive bottom trawling.

* Supports efforts to watchdog the Marine Stewardship Council’s extant and pending certifications in the North Pacific.



We are participants of the Alaska Oceans Network, who share a mutual concern about the deterioration of the North Pacific marine environment and the adverse impacts of this deterioration on biodiversity, the subsistence and cultural needs of Alaska Natives, and sustainable community-based fisheries. We believe in the fundamental importance of maintaining a healthy and diverse marine ecosystem. A healthy marine ecosystem is central to sustaining subsistence way of life and stable coastal communities.



Alaska Oceans Program also participates in Marine Stewardship Council proceedings on a variety of levels to ensure that conservation concerns are represented to the MSC certifiers who are assessing fisheries or who have already certified fisheries off of Alaska.