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

A sandy grey bird with orange and yellow bands stands on a rocky beach.

Article

Protecting Piping Plovers: How Conservationists Shield These Shorebirds From a Trio of Extinction Threats

Purple and blue thumbnail of ocean plants of some sort.

Video

Impacts of Marine Debris

Phoenix swimming with her calf.

Slideshow

Baleen: From Whales to People

Henry the Fish is made completely out of colorful plastic that washed up on Oregon beaches.

Slideshow

Washed Ashore: From Beach Trash to Ocean Art

the foamy surface of the ocean

Article

Five Methods for Tracking the Ocean's Motion

A variety of organisms make their home on this tropical coral reef in Indonesia.

Article

Live from the Field: Bali, Indonesia

A pair of sea butterflies float in the Arctic ocean.

Article

Searching for the Ocean Acidification Signal

Illustration of an offshore oil rig.

Timeline

What Are Fossil Fuels?

Fish swimming in waters of Bay Islands, Honduras

Article

Improving Grades for the Mesoamerican Reef

Mark Dodd, a wildlife biologist from Georgia's Department of Natural Resources, surveying oiled sargassum seaweed in the Gulf of Mexico after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010.

Article

The Oil Spill, Two Years Later

A wildlife biologist surveys oiled algae

Article

Breaking Down the Myths and Misconceptions About the Gulf Oil Spill

An underwater photo of coral recovering from a bleaching event.

Article

A Pleasant Surprise: The Recovery of Bleached Panamanian Corals