We’re

a unique nonprofit: an impact-driven agency, working for the biggest client of them all…

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the Ocean.

On a mission to accelerate ocean science and conservation action.

After years of working in top marketing agencies in London, Richard Vevers had a simple idea; Why not create an agency for the ocean? With that simple thought, The Ocean Agency was born. We play a unique role in creating greater demand and support for ocean science and conservation. It’s what’s so urgently needed to understand and protect the source of life on Earth.

Our Formula

Big ideas +

Collaboration +

Communication

Few people really understand the importance of the ocean and how it impacts every aspect of our lives. The result is ocean communication is all too often ignored and the problem never gets resolved. It’s why there is a chronic lack of support for ocean science and conservation. At The Ocean Agency, we've developed a different formula to accelerate support for action. It's a formula for inspiring not just awareness but action… we call it Impact Science Communication.

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Accelerating ocean impact since 2010

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The Adventures BeginGoing GlobalInternational CollaborationsThe lead-up to COP21Chasing a Global Bleaching EventPremiering Chasing Coral on NetflixInternational Year of the ReefGrowing and GlowingA year that needed a little extra creativityStart of the UN Ocean DecadeCreating Hope for the Great Fringing Reef

After inventing the revolutionary SVII camera, we kicked off our surveying of the Great Barrier Reef — the most comprehensive scientific survey of the reef in history. We had two teams working on five separate expeditions: a shallow reef team and a deep reef team, going places no one had ever gone before.

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Following the success of our Australian expeditions, we took the project global, heading off to the Caribbean. Side trips to the Galapagos, Monaco and numerous other locations made this an amazingly successful year.

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We teamed up with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in 2014 to do our first major survey in the US. This was in addition to our survey of locations in the Coral Triangle. We also partnered with UNESCO, held our first exhibition, surveyed Sydney, re-visited the Great Barrier Reef after Cyclone Ita and got involved in several documentaries.

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Although we witnessed and revealed the Third Global Bleaching Event in 2014, it began to gain momentum in 2015. We re-visited American Samoa twice to record a reef bleaching and dying for the first time using 360-degree photography. We had expeditions in the Indian Ocean and a major exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London.

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The Third Global Bleaching Event continued throughout the year, and we were the only team tracking it as it devastated reefs around the world. It was the year we finished filming Chasing Coral, started our Seaview Education program with Google, and changed our focus from documenting the problem to creating a solution: a global plan to save corals.

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The year started with the team on the silver screen. Chasing Coral made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. Soon after, we launched our next big initiative, 50 Reefs — the only global plan to save coral reefs. Meanwhile, we continued to track the Third Global Bleaching Event.

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Still on the screen with Chasing Coral — which, in 2018, won an Emmy, a Peabody, and was shortlisted for an Oscar — we kicked off International Year of the Reef in January, and it quickly became our biggest year yet. The 50 Reefs initiative resulted in $86 million in funding toward conservation action.

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In 2019, we wanted to create even bigger excitement and optimism around coral reef conservation. We launched our Glowing campaign with Pantone and Adobe to reach a new audience of creatives, then partnered with World Surf League to capture the global surfing community.

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We pivoted away from expeditions and conferences and focused on unlocking the power of creativity to accelerate action – developing new partnerships and a plan for the UN Ocean Decade to help transform the image of ocean science and conservation.

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Our Team

We believe in keeping our team small so we can be more creative and react more easily to opportunities. A small, highly motivated team is the secret to achieving big results.

Richard Vevers

Founder & CEO

Richard Vevers is the Founder and CEO of The Ocean Agency. He is a Fellow of The Explorers Club and is best known for his leading role in the Emmy Award-winning documentary Chasing Coral on Netflix. His work has been featured in numerous publications and documentaries.

Before diving into ocean and coral reef conservation, Richard first worked at some of the top London advertising agencies and then as an artist and underwater photographer. It is this background that has guided his unique creative and business-thinking approach to ocean conservation. His major successes include: 1) inventing the camera that took Google Street View underwater, 2) pioneering virtual reality ocean education, currently available to over 90 million kids, 3) leading the most comprehensive underwater photographic survey of the world’s coral reefs with over 1 million images captured and analyzed (XL Catlin Seaview Survey), 4) revealing the crisis facing coral reefs due to climate change in the Netflix Original Documentary, Chasing Coral, 5) Developing a science-based global plan for targeting coral reef conservation efforts called 50 Reefs.

PASSIONATE PEOPLE ACCELERATING OCEAN SCIENCE AND CONSERVATION ACTION

Vincent Kneefel

Strategy & Partnerships

Stephanie Tate

Senior Program Manager

Melissa Smith

Communications Manager

Jayne Jenkins

Chief Expedition Photographer

Stefan Andrews

Marine Biologist & Filmmaker

Steve Benjamin

Underwater Videographer

Renata Romeo

Underwater Photographer

Prunelle Chappert

Illustrator & Designer

Check out our work

Major Projects