SOS Newsletter November 1995

Here are some of the outreach and educational projects we sponsor:

I. "Ocean Pulse" (Middle School Coral Reef Project)

Our most recent project is a coral reef study by middle school students on Kauai. Our vision is to establish a global network of informed and empowered "reef keepers" to insure the well-being of coral reefs worldwide for future generations. The "Ocean Pulse" coral reef project engages students in observing and documenting the condition of reefs next to their communities. We hope to start similar projects in Florida and Australia. The results and findings of each group will be shared over the Internet . We feel that it is important for the various islands of the world to gather data about their local reefs and to connect them through the Internet. The "Ocean Pulse" coral reef project at schools and on the Internet educates participants about coral reef ecology.

II. Oceans '96 (International Clean Ocean Conference)

Everyone is welcome to attend the 1st Annual Clean Ocean Conference in Kauai during June of 1996. We will celebrate Ocean Day for the second year in a row, while having fun, and an educational experience. Our group is going to generate programs for working together and leaving a legacy of clean oceans for the children.

III. "Ocean Planet" to tour U.S.

The Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. has an exhibit named "Ocean Planet." Over one million people have visited the exhibit and it will begin traveling to many cities around the country. Imagine if we could channel just a fraction of the millions that will see this exhibit into doing something to protect the marine environment in their local communities! We want to open these lines of communication so that we can all take part in making each stop of the Ocean Planet exhibit a success.

IV. SOS on the "World Wide Web"

Our web site is located at http://hookomo.aloha.net/~sos/sos.html and http://204.182.49.10/sos.html. This home page has links to all previous SOS newsletters, information about our directors and officers, project descriptions, and numerous articles about the unconscionable French nuclear blasts on Moruroa Atoll in the South Pacific. Feel free to e-mail your comments to sos@aloha.net.

V. Ocean Day, June 10, 1995

Ocean Day was first declared at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. Save Our Seas sponsored the first known celebration of Ocean Day in the United States in June of 1995. Hawaii's Governor Benjamin Cayetano, followed by each of the County mayors, issued a proclamation supporting Ocean Day throughout the state.

On Kauai, Ocean Day was observed at Anini Beach Park and the neighboring coral reef. Keynote speaker James E. T. Maragos, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Program on Environment, East-West Center, personally walked the reef and pointed out corals and other sea life. Many school age children were present. Maragos did an extensive reef study on Kauai in 1981. He is extremely knowledgeable about the local reefs of Kauai and the world. Many people were interested in the changes Dr. Maragos had observed in the reef over the last 15 years.

VI. "One World Ocean"

Our hope is for a boat to carry the coral reef program (Ocean Pulse) to remote islands around the world, and connect them to the Internet in the process. We plan to establish a long distance learning and data transfer network between remote areas of the world.

We are looking for people that have experience writing grants. If you are interested please contact us immediately. We need your help. Mahalo.

Save Our Seas is a proactive organization, and strives to improve ocean conditions through education, communication, and principle centered thinking. Our group is getting people to work together for a better tomorrow. We envision Hawaii as a world center for ocean awareness on the ocean planet.