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Benioff Ocean Initiative

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Benioff Ocean Initiative The Benioff Ocean Initiative, based at University of California Santa Barbara’s Marine Science Institute, is an applied science organization that merges science and technology to improve ocean health. The initiative publicly crowds-sources environmental ocean issues to create actionable solutions.[1] The Initiative’s team of scientific experts take on new project ideas every 1-2 years, working to solve a variety of environmental problems across the globe.[2] Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce, and his wife Lynne Benioff founded the Initiative by donating $10 million to the UCSB in 2015, after Dr. Douglas McCauley’s research with the UCSB Marine Science Institute on the declining health of sea life made headlines.[2] Since then, the organization has made significant investment and progress in solving ocean problems ranging from plastic pollution to whale-ship collisions.

Projects[edit]

Whale Safe

The Benioff Ocean Initiative and collaborators launched the flagship project Whale Safe, a mapping and analysis tool that displays near real-time whale and ship data in the Santa Barbara Channel in 2020, with the goal of helping to prevent fatal ship collisions with endangered whales. It integrates acoustic and visual whale detections with model predictions to provide mariners with near real-time data on whale presence near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California.[3][4] In addition to sharing whale data, Whale Safe has a reporting system that summarizes data to determine which vessels and companies best abide by voluntary speed recommendations that are implemented by NOAA to protect endangered whales.[5][6]

Shark Eye

The Benioff Ocean Initiative’s Shark Eye project uses drones and artificial intelligence to track sharks in coastal waters with the goal of sharing information on shark presence with local communities. The project involves a drone that travels along a programmed path above the water, detecting sharks and sending text alerts to those who have subscribed.[7]

Clean Currents Coalition

The Benioff Ocean Initiative’s flagship project The Clean Currents Coalition (CCC), initiated in 2020, is a global network of nine river clean-up projects that was set to last for three years. This is a collaborative effort involving individual place-based interventions that use scientific and technological solutions to address plastic pollution in waterways around the planet.[8] Besides piloting different technologies to capture plastics, the partner organizations in each country are empowering local communities to tackle plastic pollution.[8] The project is funded through an investment of $11 million between 2020 and 2023 as part of a partnership between The Coca-Cola Foundation and the Benioff Ocean Initiative.[9] The current project locations and lead organizations include the following:[8]

Other Projects

Other projects listed on their website include their Deep Sea Mining Watch project, their Spotting Giant Sea Bass project, Marine Parks, and Ocean Extinctions.

References[edit]

  1. Cava, Marco della. "Benioff's new philanthropic mission: the oceans". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Shukla, Priya. "The Benioff Ocean Initiative: How Corporations Can Lead On Ocean Science". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  3. "Changing lanes: Preventing collisions with Whale Safe". Oceanographic. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  4. Shukla, Priya. "This New AI Technology Could Prevent Ships From Colliding With Whales". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  5. Facebook; Twitter; options, Show more sharing; Facebook; Twitter; LinkedIn; Email; URLCopied!, Copy Link; Print (2017-01-14). "This forecasting tool aims to keep ships and blue whales from colliding". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  6. Fox, Alex. "Innovative New Whale Detection System Aims to Prevent Ships From Striking Animals". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  7. Snow, Jackie (2020-11-20). "When Sharks Turned Up at Their Beach, They Called in Drones". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 "8 amazing solutions to stop plastic flowing into the world's oceans". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2021-08-13.
  9. www.bloomberg.com https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2020-01-15/benioff-ocean-initiative-and-the-coca-cola-foundation-announce-11-million-in-funding-to-clean-up-rivers-and-stem-flow-of-waste. Retrieved 2021-08-13. Missing or empty |title= (help)


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