Our Mission

We are a team of scientists on a mission to protect marine life, including whales, dolphins, sharks, salmon & seabirds, in Canada and beyond. Like the whales we study, we are highly migratory. We spend half our time getting our feet wet in the field, wherever our work is needed, but the other half is spent using our science to inform smart decisions to conserve wildlife.

Our core mission is to protect marine biodiversity in the face of climate change and other anthropogenic threats. We are best known for our work to prevent the extinction of the iconic and critically endangered southern resident killer whales. We have active research programs on data-poor species, including Pacific white-sided dolphins, and have worked on all three of Canada's coastlines. Our body of work informs the conservation and management of North Atlantic right whales, St Lawrence Estuary beluga, walrus, Arctic cod, and wild Pacific salmon. We accomplish our conservation mission by conducting trusted, partnered science to inform ocean habitat protection, fisheries management, and endangered species recovery and action plans.

Note: "Oceans Initiative" is the operating ("doing business as") name of Oceans Research and Conservation Association (ORCA), a registered Canadian charity to protect the oceans (CRA 808781330RR0001).