About MARE
Over 2 billion people worldwide depend on marine resources for a substantial portion of their protein. Tens of thousands of jobs in fishing, recreation, and tourism depend on healthy ocean ecosystems.
Yet pollution, coastal development, overfishing, and new threats such as climate change and energy development are taking a deadly toll on the health of marine environments. Scientists estimate that 29% of currently fished species have already collapsed. Some have even predicted the global collapse of all fisheries by 2050.
Partnering with scientists, resource managers, and environmental organizations, MARE works to address this alarming situation. We provide technology and offshore operations expertise needed to obtain geo-referenced habitat and species data in deepwater environments. Our mission is to help protect and restore the ocean’s invaluable, yet highly threatened, resources.
- We conduct deepwater science and monitoring surveys.
- We perform R&D to decrease the cost of deepwater monitoring.
- We provide equipment repair, upgrade and training services for conservation organizations.
- We restore habitats by removing lost fishing gear and other debris from deepwater habitats.
- We perform underwater wave and wind power EIR surveys.
MARE was founded as a nonprofit, 501c3 organization in 2003. We’re proud of our accomplishments:
- Working with the Institute for Applied Marine Ecology we are gathering baseline fish and habitat data in California's North Central and South Coast MPAs.
- Each year from 2003 to 2009, we completed fish abundance surveys in the Channel Islands Marine Protected Areas working cooperatively with NOAA, the California Department of Fish and Game and The Nature Conservancy.
- Provided ROV services for site characterization surveys in some of the deeper, lesser known areas of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
- Working with the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, we proved that ROVs can be used to remove lost fishing gear.
- With funding from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, we developed remote fish sizing technologies.
- We are providing technology and operations expertise needed for a Nature Conservancy-led study of new, potentially more sustainable groundfish trawling practices.
- Working with The Nature Conservancy, we procured and outfitted a state-of-the-art ROV that provides new capacity for marine conservation efforts.
- Working with the California Department of Fish and Game, we conducted surveys in the Channel Islands to look for endangered White Abalone.
- In 2011, we began providing underwater EIR surveys for renewable energy installations.