Oceana Inc.

“Board members, susan rockefeller and david rockefeller, jr., have a family relationship. Board members herbert m. Bedolfe, iii and sara lowell both serve as employees and officers of the marisla foundation. Herbert serves as the executive director and sara serves as the secretary/marine program director.”

“Information for the federal form 990 comes largely from oceana's independently audited financial statements, which consolidates oceana's activities across national boundaries. The accounting department collects this and other information needed for the federal form 990, which is reviewed and presented in draft form by a tax accounting firm. After approval by senior management, the final draft of the 990 is presented to the board for review before it is submitted to the internal revenue service.”

“Every year, oceana's officers, directors, and key employees fill out a disclosure report asking them to disclose any family or business relationships they may have with other oceana officers, directors, or key employees, as well as any financial conflicts of interest they may have. In addition, oceana's conflict of interest policy requires any director or officer who is an interested person with respect to a transaction or arrangement under consideration by the corporation to promptly disclose to the board of directors or the board's designate the existence and nature of his or her financial interest in the transaction or arrangement. Conflicts of interest reporting: any actual or potential conflict of interest must be disclosed to the ceo; president and general counsel; cfo; or senior director of human resources, the executive committee member in charge of the country office or department; or the office administrator for the country office. This includes actual or potential conflicts involving business or financial interest, family relationships, or sexual/romantic relationships. The cfo will determine whether any steps must be taken to avoid an appearance or existence of a conflict of interest or the creation of an environment that others in the workplace might reasonably find to be unprofessional or inappropriate. Such steps, depending on the nature of the conflict of interest, might include, but are not limited to, divestiture of adverse interests, recusal from certain decisions, transfer of one of the employees to another department (if a position is available), changing the manager for one of the employees, or, when other options are not feasible, the termination of employment of one of the employees. Employees who wish to provide services to or for the benefit of any entity outside oceana must disclose such proposed activity to oceana, which will make appropriate determinations in accordance with the organization's global code of ethics. Family relationships (nepotism): oceana will not allow a supervisor/subordinate relationship to exist between family relatives. Sexual/romantic relationships: romantic relationships between employees that constitute an actual or reasonably-perceived conflict of interest are prohibited. Form 990, part vi, section b, line 13 whistleblowing and reporting violations: oceana needs and expects the support and cooperation of its employees to enforce its policies. Employees who have experienced, observed, or learned about conduct they believe is contrary to oceana's polices or code of ethics must report such violations (or potential or suspected violations). Oceana provides two ways to report violations. First, violations may be reported through a reporting system that oceana has set up through an online website or by calling the phone number listed for each country on that website. The site is confidential, easy to use, and always available. Employees have the option to disclose their identity or make a report anonymously; however, disclosing identity is strongly encouraged to enable oceana to conduct a thorough investigation, especially in the case of a policy that protects individuals (for example, concerning sexual harassment or discrimination). Any report that implicates the ceo; president and general counsel; or cfo will be forwarded by the third party administrator of the website to the chair, vice chair and treasurer of oceana's board of directors. Second, violations may be reported to the appropriate staff person, as follows. The violation must be reported to the ceo; president and general counsel; cfo; or senior director of human resources, if the violation involves one of the following issues: -sexual or other harassment -unlawful discrimination -financial misconduct or misreporting -bribery or corruption -retaliation for reporting any violation if the violation involves any other issue, the report must be made to any of the following: ceo; president and general counsel; cfo; or glob”

“Oceana's process for determining compensation of its ceo, officers, and key employees is as follows: annually, oceana provides the board directors with data from multiple sources on comparable salaries and benefits in other nonprofit organizations, especially but not limited to those in the conservation field, for oceana's ceo. The board reviews and discusses the compensation data as well as the ceo's achievements for the prior year as well as his proposed goals for the next year before taking a decision on any adjustments to the ceo compensation of benefits. Oceana provides the finance and audit committee of the board directors with data from multiple sources on comparable salaries and benefits in other nonprofit organizations, especially but not limited to those in the conservation field, for oceana's officers, top management, and key employees ("the executive team", or "ec"). The committee discusses each of the ec member's achievements for the prior year as well as her/his proposed goals for the next year. The committee reviews these data to determine if the compensation is reasonable and that oceana has not engaged in an excess benefit transaction with any individual in a position to substantially influence the organization's affairs. The board of directors and audit and finance committee discussions are documented in the minutes of the respective bodies. Oceana regularly conducts compensation reviews, most recently in september 2021.”

“Oceana posts annual reports, its audited financial statements, and the public disclosure copy of its irs form 990 on its website, www.oceana.org. It also shares relevant information with independent watchdog organizations such as guidestar, charity navigator and the better business bureau to allow these organizations independent assessment of oceana's accountability and transparency. Oceana's articles of incorporation and by-laws are available on oceana's website and to members of the public upon written request. Oceana's articles of incorporation, as well as a certificate of good standing, are also independently available through the department of consumer and regulatory affairs for the district of columbia (where oceana, inc. Is incorporated), though there is a fee for this service.”

“Oceana was founded in 2001 by an international group of foundations. Despite repeated scientific reports of widespread fishery collapse caused by overfishing, the founders discovered that leading environmental foundations spent less than half of one percent of their resources on ocean conservation. Healthy oceans contribute significantly to feeding a growing world population and to mitigating the effects of climate change, yet no international organization was working exclusively to protect and restore abundant ocean fisheries. Oceana's founders envisioned an organization dedicated solely to achieving significant improvements in ocean management policies through a science-based approach, using carefully chosen national campaigns with fixed deadlines and measurable goals. Today, oceana has grown from an ambitious start-up to an international organization with a record of results on four continents. Together with our allies, we have won nearly 200 significant policy victories and protected more than 10 million square kilometers of ocean habitat. Oceana supports science-driven ocean management in the most productive parts of the world's oceans, with teams working in countries which control about a third of the world's wild ocean fisheries (by catch): the united states, the european union (eu), the united kingdom, belize, brazil, canada, chile, mexico, peru and the philippines. Oceana's campaigns carry out four key strategies: - stop overfishing through science-based fishery management, and by deterring illegal fishing; - protect habitat and the ecosystems that depend on their health, - expand transparency of fishing activity and government decision-making processes, and - limit pollution, by stopping the expansion of offshore oil drilling and reducing the production of single-use plastics. Oceana's campaigns have demonstrated the effectiveness of these strategies for restoring oceans. With sound policies in place, ocean ecosystems recover, often rapidly, and abundant fisheries return, even exceeding former levels. A fully productive ocean can provide a meal a day for a billion people, forever. Together with our allies, we are saving the oceans to feed the world.”

“Oceana canada in 2021, oceana inc. Provided charitable contributions and in-kind support to oceana canada, an independent nonprofit organization incorporated under canadian law. With our support, oceana canada achieved the following victories: rebuild canada's fisheries the delayed rebuilding plans for the depleted fisheries of atlantic mackerel and northern cod were released at the very end of 2020 and failed to meet acceptable rebuilding plan standards. Throughout 2021 we have pushed to increase both the quality and quantity of plans completed this year through our technical contributions at fishery advisory meetings, through continued media attention, and through high-level advocacy. We advocated for and achieved a significant improvement in transparency and accountability with the publication of a government webpage with dfo's annual work plans and annual reports on deliverables achieved. Limit single-use plastics in may 2021, the canadian government officially listed plastic-manufactured items under the canadian environmental protection act's (cepa) schedule 1, the law's list of toxic substances. This listing is a critical step towards addressing canada's plastic pollution crisis, as this now gives the federal government authority to regulate plastic products and keep them out of incinerators, landfills, and the environment. In late 2020, the government issued proposed rules to ban six single-use plastic items (bags, stirs, sticks, six-pack rings, cutlery, straws and food service ware) by the end of 2021 as part of a larger government initiative to achieve the goal of zero plastic waste by 2030. Listing plastic-manufactured items under cepa's schedule 1 moves the country one step closer to achieving this goal. Oceana canada applauded this decision by the canadian government, but we are also working with the minister of environment and climate change to expand the ban list beyond the six items. Oceana polling data suggested that 95 percent of canadians are concerned about the impact plastic pollution has on our oceans and 86 percent support a ban on single-use plastics. A coalition representing canada's largest virgin plastic producers challenged this decision in federal court after the aforementioned listing, and this is where the campaign stood at the end of 2021. Chile habitat protection la higuera: our campaign to achieve the designation of an mpa in la higuera suffered a setback in april 2021, when the environmental court of chile ruled in favor of the proposed dominga mining and port project (slated to be developed in la higuera). We appealed this decision before the supreme court, which previously ruled in our favor. We have intensively publicized our position on the issue we had over 25 tv interviews and 35 radio appearances, and rapidly activated our social media outreach. #noadominga (say no to dominga) became the trending topic in chile for 3 days with over 400k tweets, and we reached over 2 million interactions on facebook and instagram. Katalalixar: our campaign to protect a pristine area of patagonia advanced when chile's protected area service (conaf) formally requested that the regional authorities begin the process of designating katalalixar as an mpa. Because of covid-19 and the remoteness and isolation of katalalixar, however, we have not been able to meet with the kawsqar, the local indigenous community, to present our final proposal and receive their approval. Therefore, the deadline for this campaign has been moved to 2022. End overfishing and rebuild stocks anchovies: our campaign to protect anchovies was boosted by a supreme court decision that enforces a ban on industrial fishing from the five-mile coastal zone in two regions in northern chile, including in the tarapac region where pisagua is located. Such a ban on industrial fishing in these areas of pisagua will be confirmed and made even more difficult to undo by the mpa that we are seeking to protect anchovy habitat in pisagua. Having won the s”

“Europe illegal fishing in march 2021, the plenary of the european parliament (ep) voted to require vms for all eu fishing vessels; remove a member state veto on information sharing that was in breach of eu transparency laws; and require member states to publish information annually on the number and type of inspections performed, infringements found, and their follow up. The ep also voted to require all eu fishing vessels to report catches electronically, and clarified that benefitting from or supporting iuu fishing, including through the provision of services, is an offense under the control regulation. This landmark achievement was the direct result of oceana's success in february, when the fisheries committee voted in favor of those same measures. The high level of support for these ambitious proposals within pech, one of the most conservative committees of the ep, was critical for ensuring victory in the plenary vote. We achieved key milestones toward our goal to get the general fisheries commission for the mediterranean (gfcm) to strengthen its list of authorized vessels and the international commission for the conservation of atlantic tunas (iccat) to require its members to sanction their citizens if they support iuu fishing. In may, the eu officially announced that it plans to propose a formal recommendation to strengthen the authorized vessel list (avl) for adoption at the gfcm annual meeting. To strengthen our argument on the need to update the avl, oceana published and presented a report to the gfcm in which we exposed two italian vessels that apparently trawled illegally in a protected area. In june, the eu made a proposal in response to advocacy from oceana to strengthen measures against nationals involved in iuu fishing. Members of iccat expressed their support for the proposal. A leading global business information provider to the maritime sector agreed to include officially reported information on iuu fishing activity in their extensive databases of vessel information. The provider will include information on fishing and shipping companies as well as other sectors, including businesses, that provide these companies with services. These platforms are subscribed to by over 27,000 users, including marine equipment and insurance companies; ship owners, brokers, builders and managers; and port services and security, for a multitude of purposes, including assessing and minimizing risk exposure. These businesses will now be able to easily check whether queried vessels have been formally identified by government authorities for their involvement in iuu fishing an activity that is devastatingly harmful to the marine environment and is often linked to other maritime crimes. To achieve wider adoption by service providers of actions that effectively address iuu fishing, oceana joined two major financial sector initiatives focused on promoting marine sustainability in business: the un sustainable blue economy finance initiative and the ocean risk and resilience action alliance (orraa). Fish recovery and sustainable management in january, oceana publicly released its uk fisheries audit, coinciding with the start of eu-uk negotiations on 2021 catch limits. The audit which aimed to link its findings to the need for strong sustainability commitments in the uk's fisheries statements painted a disturbing picture of the state of uk fish stocks. It showed that only 36% of the 104 audited stocks were known to be healthy in terms of stock size and only 38% sustainably exploited. Of the top 10 most economically important fish stocks for the uk, six are overfished or have a stock biomass at a critical level. The six are: north sea cod, north sea herring, southern north sea crab, eastern english channel scallops, north east atlantic blue whiting and north sea whiting. Further, there is insufficient data to define reference points for north sea anglerfish. Therefore, only three of the top 10 stocks upon which the uk fishing industry relie”

“Mexico transparency and traceability oceana persuaded the mexican national fisheries authority to release the mexican vms data to the government's public website on a monthly basis. In addition, gfw has agreed to regularly upload that data to its platform. This brings us very close to reaching our ultimate goal of getting the fisheries authority to share its vms data of mexican fishing vessels in near-real-time directly with gfw to allow for increased and timely monitoring of potential illegal fishing in mexico's ocean waters. The fisheries authority agreed to this more regular transfer of data after oceana demonstrated to them the need for and importance of transparency into the mexican industrial fleet. Having the raw vms data uploaded to gfw will make it available for analysis by other researchers, ngos and even government institutions. This past year, oceana also helped push the government to complete a near-final draft of a first-ever seafood traceability rule, which includes recommendations developed by oceana to prevent species substitution for seafood sold in mexico. Fisheries rebuilding we have engaged two more fishers' communities, in tabasco and tamaulipas (both bordering the gulf of mxico), as part of our plan to build support from fishers for a national law compelling the government to rebuild fisheries. We have now engaged the leaders from eight such fisher communities, including in sinaloa, sonora, baja california sur (northwest); yucatan (southeast); and veracruz (gulf of mexico). Protect habitat starting on august 9, 2021, and despite the challenges of covid-19, we conducted our first scientific expedition at sea in mexico. The purpose of our expedition was to obtain information on the alacranes reef's health and gather assets to assist us in winning further protections for this marine area. We also aim to better understand the role of alacranes reef in support of coastal communities and small-scale fishers. The expedition included a group of scientists, scuba divers, videographers, and oceana staff. We began documenting alacranes reef and bajos del norte. The team collected evidence needed to protect the largest coral reef structure in the gulf of mexico. The expedition's results will be finalized in 2022, and we have already started working with mexican authorities and stakeholders. After the press conference that announced the expedition, we met with federal authorities including the secretary of environment and national commission of natural protected areas. We also met with the secretaries of fishing, environment, and sustainable development of yucatan, the state where alacranes reef is located. We are now partnering with local fishers to discuss and agree on the protections needed by alacranes and the surrounding region. Peru habitat protection to improve the management of existing mpas, oceana is ensuring that peru's national service of natural protected areas (sernanp) effectively protects the waters around mpas in the regions of piura and ica, through improved controls of fishing and tourism. Illegal fishing oceana completed an updated estimation of anchoveta landings illegally diverted to fishmeal processing using information provided by the ministry of production (produce) and customs trade records we are now expanding the analysis to include the illegal detour of giant squid legally only allowed to be used for human consumption - for protein-rich fishmeal production. Meanwhile, we were able to stop the approval in congress of a bill allowing the expansion of small-scale fishmeal processing plants usually involved in illegal fishmeal processing - promoted by local interest groups. Also, oceana signed a memorandum of understanding with the special office for environmental affairs of the national attorney's office (fema). Through this mou, we will have the opportunity to improve the prosecution capacities of fema against fisheries and marine wildlife crime. Philippines stop illegal commercial fishing”

“Transparent oceans initiative oceana's new transparent oceans initiative (toi) seeks to reign in the harmful practices of distant water fleets around the world, which operate in the high seas or within the national waters of other nations, largely without accountability. Toi will complement oceana's existing campaigns against iuu fishing in the world's top fishing countries by conducting research on distant water fishing's impact on the oceans and those who rely on them, empowering decision-makers to implement responsible distant water fishing policies and communicating the importance of fisheries transparency around the world. In 2021, toi commissioned three reports that provided key information on the impact of distant water fishing (dwf) around the world. These reports were: - assessing the spatial burden of harmful fisheries subsidies by drs. Daniel skerritt and rashid sumaila, the university of british columbia. This report found that just 10 countries (china, japan, korea, russia, u.s.a., thailand, taiwan, spain, indonesia and norway) account for more than two-thirds of the world's total spending on harmful fishing subsidies. The investigation also discovered that approximately 40 percent of these harmful subsidies go to distant water fleets, which fish on the high seas or in other nations' eezs, often in the waters of low-income nations. This activity would likely not prove profitable without these subsidies. By financially supporting such activity, these countries are essentially subsidizing overfishing. - transversal linkages in world's fishing crimes and the role of legal access as an enabler of criminality by drs. Dyhia belhabib, ecotrust canada and philippe le billon, the university of british columbia. - addressing china's financing and subsidization of fisheries at home and abroad by dr. Tabitha mallory, university of washington and china ocean institute.”

“Protect endangered species from entanglement in fishing gear after years of campaigning, oceana delivered $1 million to the state of california to help transition fishermen away from the highly destructive drift gillnet gear in california's swordfish fishery. This donation triggered a four-year phase-out of all remaining state drift gillnet permits, which will end any remaining drift gillnet fishing by january 31, 2024, in the only state in the u.s. Where use of this gear remains legal. These mile-long drift gillnets are nearly invisible and are set out overnight near the ocean's surface to capture swordfish. They are responsible for entangling, injuring and killing endangered whales and sea turtles as well as dolphins, sea lions, sharks and other important non-targeted fish species. The state of california estimated that at least 20 miles of drift gillnet gear had been removed from the drift gillnet fishery for swordfish in 2021. With an increase in whale sightings in april 2021, the california department of fish and wildlife closed the northern california dungeness crab fishery in waters deeper than 30 fathoms (180 feet). In june 2021, they imposed a statewide closure of the commercial dungeness crab fishery to prevent whale entanglements. These time and area closures achieve an important piece of our whale entanglement campaign. Furthermore, in partnership with the sanctuary foundation and sustainable seas technology, oceana helped deploy four different ropeless fishing technologies. Oceana facilitated two demonstration events in monterey bay, and at-sea demonstrations and training of three state game wardens as well as the lead state staffer on whale entanglements. We also initiated collaboration with the leadership and legal team of the california department of fish and wildlife regarding a roadmap for ropeless gear authorization in early 2022. Reduce single-use plastics together with more than 30 national, state, and local organizations, including surfrider, u.s. Public interest research groups (pirgs), the center for international environmental law, and beyond plastics, oceana is using a combination of grassroots organizing, stakeholder outreach, and targeted federal advocacy to push for national legislation that would limit single-use plastics in the u.s., like the break free from plastic pollution act. To pass national legislation against plastic pollution, oceana and our allies are demonstrating to members of congress that their constituents want this and that large companies can incorporate reduction of plastics into their business model. Our local (municipal and state) and corporate campaigns, therefore, not only reduce plastic pollution in themselves, but also constitute key components of obtaining national policy change. At the local level, oceana has secured six state laws in virginia, maryland, washington, and new york that limit plastic pollution, and successfully defeated an attempt in georgia to pass a law that would prevent cities and towns from taking action to limit plastic. In virginia, we succeeded in passing two bills into law in february 2021. The first of these laws bans expanded polystyrene foam food ware, including foam carryout boxes and cups, while the second bans the intentional release of balloons. We also secured two state laws in washington that ban single-use plastic bags, regulate recycling requirements for reusable bags, ban polystyrene foam, and prohibit plastic utensils and straws except on request. In new york, we secured a law that bans plastic foam food and beverage containers in restaurants, grocery stores, and other venues and the use of plastic foam peanuts for packaging, while in maryland we helped to ban intentional balloon releases. Oceana has also secured local ordinances and resolutions against plastic pollution in cities throughout the u.s., including large cities like new york city, washington d.c., and los angeles. Many of these policies specifically prohibit unnecessary th”

“This return presents consolidated financial statements for oceana, inc. And its non-u.s. Affiliates. Oceana has offices in spain, brazil, denmark, belgium, mexico, philippines, belize, london, chile and peru for the purpose of building an international movement to save the ocean through public policy advocacy, science and economics, legal action, grassroots mobilization, and public education. The operations in spain, belize, brazil, mexico, switzerland, and the united kingdom are incorporated as independent entities in those countries under local law. However, these entities are dependent on oceana for funding, participate in oceana activities and decision-making, and carry out the general mission and international activities of oceana.”