Conservation | Smithsonian Ocean

A baby sea turtle on a sandy beach.

Swimmers brave the waters in the shadow of a coal-fired power plant. Coal plants like this one emit CO2 into our atmosphere which is warming the planet and altering the chemistry of the ocean.

Climate Change Overview

How is climate change impacting the oceans? This overview dives into everything to know.

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Featured Content

A right whale breaches, lifting its huge body out of the water.

Overview

North Atlantic Right Whale

Three gray fish swim in front of a large coral head.

Overview

Cabo Pulmo Protected Area

a spear fisher with a speared tropical fish

Overview

Sustainable Fishing

A shell placed in seawater with increased acidity slowly dissolves over 45 days.

Overview

Ocean Acidification

An oil drilling platform in oil-free water two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Overview

Gulf Oil Spill

Conservation Articles

Positioned in front of a natural oil seep, this video camera is capturing images of the black oil bubbling up from beneath the sea floor. A light mounted to the frame helps see what is happening in the dark on the sea floor.

Article

How Oil Feeds the Deep Sea

Coastal mangroves along the edge of the ocean.

Audio

Mangroves: One Species at a Time

A tornado of sardines swirls around diver and photographer Erwin Poliakoff in the Philippines.

Article

Why the Littlest Fish Matter a Whole Lot

Three Killer whales (Orca) swim along side researchers.

Article

Listening for Clues About Sonar’s Effects on Marine Mammals

An orange crab sits on a mollusc

Article

Surprising Squat Lobster Discovery from the Sky

A photo of a solitary European green crab on a sandy substrate.

Article

A green crab’s super power: eating through its gills

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on March 24, 1989 when an oil tanker grounded on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound. It spilled almost 11 million gallons of crude oil, which reached 1,300 miles of coastline. The spill's remote location, accessib

Article

Five Questions for Richard Carson, Natural Resource Economist

Students share a microscope to get a closer look at plankton samples from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Article

A Current Event in the Classroom: Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

The Block Island wind farm is the first operational offshore wind farm in the United States. It consists of five wind turbines which powered up in December 2016 and were connected to the mainland energy grid in May 2017.

Article

An Ocean of Energy: Bringing Offshore Wind to America

A screenshot from the video of a restaurant scene.

Video

The No-Seafood Grill 2050

a bright yellow and orange colored reef with fish swimming

Article

The Ocean’s Hidden Language: How Sound Shapes the Sea

The grasses and animals living in marshes help to filter water and stabilize shorelines, along with providing habitat for a variety of mammals, fish, shellfish and amphibians and a haven for migratory waterfowl.

Article

How Hurricanes Shape Wetlands in Southern Louisiana