User:K.katsuta/Project Seahorse

Project Seahorse is a marine conservation organization committed to the conservation and sustainable use of the world’s coastal marine ecosystems. Founded in 1996 by Amanda Vincent and Heather Koldewey, Project Seahorse generates cutting-edge research and turns its findings into highly effective conservation interventions. The organization collaborates with other researchers, governments, and local communities. Project Seahorse is the IUCN Red List authority on seahorses and their relatives. Major partners include the University of British Columbia, Zoological Society of London, John G. Shedd Aquarium, and sponsor Guylian Belgian chocolate.

By working to protect seahorses, Project Seahorse supports marine conservation more broadly. Seahorses suffer from the same pressures and benefit from many of the same interventions as other marine life. They are threatened by overfishing and habitat loss. Action for seahorse conservation directly benefits other marine animals, particularly when it comes in the form of marine protected areas or improved governance.

The organization takes a holistic approach to conservation, finding marine conservation solutions by understanding interdependencies between marine life and human communities. Concentric pressures bear down on individual animals, making an "onion world" in which each layer affects the others. Biological seahorse research is at the centre of Project Seahorse's work, which also focuses on other marine fish populations, ecosystems, fishing communities, national and global trade issues, and policy and public outreach. Project Seahorse divides its work into five priority areas:


 * Saving seahorses
 * Securing the world's shallow seas
 * Cleaning up fisheries
 * Making trade sustainable
 * Training conservationists

About 35 team members work around the world. At present, Vincent is the Director of Project Seahorse while Koldewey holds the position of Associate Director. Over the years, many Project Seahorse alumni have gone on to do important conservation research and hold marine policy and planning positions in government and academia around the world.

History
Project Seahorse started in 1996. Its inspiration began with Amanda Vincent’s early research on seahorses in the late 1980s, while at Cambridge University. At the time, most of what was known about syngnathids was decades old. Vincent was one of the first scientists to document seahorses’ unusual mating habits.

Vincent discovered the trade in seahorses was much larger than previously suspected. By the early 1990s, it was clear that many species were facing extreme pressure from over-exploitation, pressure that was also damaging entire marine ecosystems. Vincent and Koldewey, who was carrying out genetic analysis of seahorses as a research associate at the Zoological Society of London, launched Project Seahorse. Together they established an international team of researchers and community development specialists dedicated to finding ways to reduce those pressures, protect seahorse populations and ensure sustainable livelihoods for those who depend on seahorse fishing.

Beginning with the community of Handumon in the Philippines, Project Seahorse quickly expanded to other countries, attracting scientists and other professionals interested in marine conservation and sustainable development. The organization works or has worked in Europe, Central America, east and southeast Asia, Africa, and North America.

Project Seahorse's success at building community support resulted in the creation of several partnerships, including the University of British Columbia, where Vincent holds Canada Research Chair in Marine Conservation; the Zoological Society of London, where Koldewey is Head of Global Programmes; John G. Shedd Aquarium; and the TRAFFIC network's East Asia office in Hong Kong, with whom Project Seahorse has worked closely on international trade issues.

In 2006, Project Seahorse put together a retrospective of its first decade, Project Seahorse at 10.

Achievements
Project Seahorse has:
 * Generated 34 locally managed marine protected areas in the Philippines to protect all marine life.
 * Fostered an alliance of 1,000 families of small-scale fishers, KAMADA, that is leading in the establishment of marine reserves and enforcement against illegal fishing in the Phillippines.
 * Generated an agreement amongst 172 countries (under CITES) to limit the export of seahorses to sustainable levels.
 * Reconciled conflicting interests in coastal marine conservation (representatives from industry, government, public institutions, *higher education, and conservation groups) to make traditional Chinese medicine ecologically sustainable.
 * Catalyzed the first global export controls for any marine fish of commercial importance, under the Convention on International *Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
 * Prompted new regulatory options for marine fish exports globally.

Awards

 * Finalist, Indianapolis Prize in Animal Conservation (2010)
 * Yves Rocher Woman of the Earth Award (2007)
 * Whitley Award in Animal Conservation, Royal Geographical Society (1996, 2006)
 * Conservation Hero Award, Disney Conservation Fund (2006), awarded to KAMADA
 * Chevron Conservation Award (2005)
 * Association of Zoos and Aquariums Significant Achievement Award for International Conservation for Project Seahorse (2001)
 * Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation (2000)
 * Rolex Award for Enterprise (1998)
 * Grand Prix International pour l’Environment Marin from the Conféderation Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (1997)