Supported non-profits
Oceanic Preservation Society
Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) is a non-profit organization that creates film, photography and media, inspiring people to save the oceans. Founded in 2005 by renowned photographer and avid diver Louie Psihoyos, OPS is headquartered in Boulder, CO, conveniently between two oceans. OPS's first film, The Cove, has won dozens of awards around the world, including the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2009, and inspired over a million people to action. OPS hopes to educate and raise awareness about the following issues: mass species extinction, ocean acidification, mercury in seafood, underwater noise pollution, whaling, marine mammals in captivity, and the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan.
Orca Network
Orca Network is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization registered in Washington State, dedicated to raising awareness about the whales of the Pacific Northwest, and the importance of providing them healthy and safe habitats. A community is emerging that is increasingly attuned to the orca population, that cares about and tries to understand the needs of the resident and transient orcas that inhabit the Salish Sea. Orca Network and Howard Garrett are heavily involved with the "Free Lolita" campaign. Lolita is currently being held captive at the Miami Seaquarium where she has been forced to perform tricks for the past 44 years. She was kidnapped from Penn Cove and efforts are underway to reunite her back with her family who still swims in the Salish Sea today.
Orca Research Trust
Born in New Zealand, Dr Visser remains the only researcher specializing in orca in New Zealand waters.
Her research officially began in 1992 when she embarked on her life-long dream to study the orca. Since then she has worked with orca not only around New Zealand, but also in the waters of Antarctica, Argentina and Papua New Guinea. While traveling aboard eco-tourism ships or on private expeditions, she has also contributed to orca research projects in the Kamchatka region of Russia; Washington, Alaska and British Colombia off North America as well as Iceland (where she worked with the team releasing “Keiko” the star of the Free Willy movies). Her work has appeared in various magazines and on numerous documentaries made for TV. She has written two children’s books as well as an autobiography “Swimming with Orca” which was a finalist in the 2005 NZ Montana Book Awards. Dr Visser’s research does not receive Government or University funding, but is run through the non-profit, Orca Research Trust, a New Zealand registered Charity. Dedicated to protecting the orca, Dr Visser believes in making science ‘consumable’ for the general public and as such she is often seen out in the community giving talks about these incredible apex predators.
Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project
Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project is a movement that was founded on Earth Day 1970 with the aim to stop dolphin slaughter and exploitation around the world. This work has been chronicled in such films as A Fall from Freedom, the oscar winning documentary The Cove, and in the Animal Planet mini-series Blood Dolphin$. They are the longest running and leading organization created solely for the protection of dolphins. Ric O'Barry has pioneered the readaption and release of captive dolphins into the wild around the globe.
Oceanic Preservation Society
Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS) is a non-profit organization that creates film, photography and media, inspiring people to save the oceans. Founded in 2005 by renowned photographer and avid diver Louie Psihoyos, OPS is headquartered in Boulder, CO, conveniently between two oceans. OPS's first film, The Cove, has won dozens of awards around the world, including the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2009, and inspired over a million people to action. OPS hopes to educate and raise awareness about the following issues: mass species extinction, ocean acidification, mercury in seafood, underwater noise pollution, whaling, marine mammals in captivity, and the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan.
Orca Network
Orca Network is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization registered in Washington State, dedicated to raising awareness about the whales of the Pacific Northwest, and the importance of providing them healthy and safe habitats. A community is emerging that is increasingly attuned to the orca population, that cares about and tries to understand the needs of the resident and transient orcas that inhabit the Salish Sea. Orca Network and Howard Garrett are heavily involved with the "Free Lolita" campaign. Lolita is currently being held captive at the Miami Seaquarium where she has been forced to perform tricks for the past 44 years. She was kidnapped from Penn Cove and efforts are underway to reunite her back with her family who still swims in the Salish Sea today.
Orca Research Trust
Born in New Zealand, Dr Visser remains the only researcher specializing in orca in New Zealand waters.
Her research officially began in 1992 when she embarked on her life-long dream to study the orca. Since then she has worked with orca not only around New Zealand, but also in the waters of Antarctica, Argentina and Papua New Guinea. While traveling aboard eco-tourism ships or on private expeditions, she has also contributed to orca research projects in the Kamchatka region of Russia; Washington, Alaska and British Colombia off North America as well as Iceland (where she worked with the team releasing “Keiko” the star of the Free Willy movies). Her work has appeared in various magazines and on numerous documentaries made for TV. She has written two children’s books as well as an autobiography “Swimming with Orca” which was a finalist in the 2005 NZ Montana Book Awards. Dr Visser’s research does not receive Government or University funding, but is run through the non-profit, Orca Research Trust, a New Zealand registered Charity. Dedicated to protecting the orca, Dr Visser believes in making science ‘consumable’ for the general public and as such she is often seen out in the community giving talks about these incredible apex predators.
Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project
Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project is a movement that was founded on Earth Day 1970 with the aim to stop dolphin slaughter and exploitation around the world. This work has been chronicled in such films as A Fall from Freedom, the oscar winning documentary The Cove, and in the Animal Planet mini-series Blood Dolphin$. They are the longest running and leading organization created solely for the protection of dolphins. Ric O'Barry has pioneered the readaption and release of captive dolphins into the wild around the globe.