User:Berkeleyexpat/Sandbox

Save Our Marine Life (SOML) is an Australian not-for-profit, non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation working to protect and secure Australia’s unique marine life. It is a collaboration of non-profit conservation organisations, both Australian and international, founded in February 2009 to raise awareness of the need for the Australian Government to establish a network of large marine sanctuaries in the country’s South West waters. As of January 2010, the collaborating groups include:
 * Australian Conservation Foundation
 * Australian Marine Conservation Society
 * Conservation Council of Western Australia
 * The Nature Conservancy
 * Pew Environment Group
 * The Wilderness Society
 * World Wildlife Fund – Australia
 * Conservation Council of South Australia
 * Project AWARE Foundation
 * Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

The Australian government has divided the nation’s marine border into five marine bioregional planning regions, one of which is the one of which is the South West Marine Region extending from Kangaroo Island off South Australia, near Adelaide, through to Shark Bay off the central coast of Western Australia. The government is engaged in defining the activities permitted in each marine bioregion as part of a larger-scale Commonwealth effort, in support of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The campaign is using a combination of scientific research, public outreach and education, and engagement with state and national politicians to identify where marine sanctuaries should be established.