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Our natural waters are a key source of food, livelihood and beauty for people all over the world. Luke's Lobster has partnered with The Ocean Foundation to make a long-term commitment to the coasts. Through the partnership, activities will be funded that:
 

• Keep our coastal waterways healthy 
• Strengthen economic opportunities for fishing communities
   

On January 21, TOF Board members Joshua Ginsberg, Angel Braestrup, and I participated in a Salisbury Forum event focused on plastic waste in the ocean. The event began with the 2016 film “A Plastic Ocean,” a beautifully filmed, emotionally devastating overview of the ubiquitous distribution of plastic waste throughout our global ocean (plasticoceans.org) and the harm it is causing to ocean life and to human communities as well. 

My late grandmother was a big believer in the old adage “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” She knew that relying on one skill or one industry or one source of income was a high-risk strategy. She also knew that independence was not the same as dominance. She would know that the American people should not bear the burden for those who seek to sell our public eggs for personal reward. I look at the map from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and I have to ask myself—what would she say about the eggs in this basket?

In October, we celebrated 45 years of protection for whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals, sea lions, manatees, dugongs, walruses, sea otters, and polar bears, which followed President Nixon’s signing of the Marine Mammal Protection Act into law.  Looking back, we can see how far we’ve come.

“America was first, and the leader, and still is a leader today at marine mammal protection"
- Patrick Ramage, International Fund for Animal Welfare

For those who care about our ocean, the life within, and the human communities that depend on a healthy ocean— the specter of expanding industrial use of the ocean threatens all of the work that is being done to address the existing harm from human activities. As we try to reduce dead zones, increase fish abundance, protect marine mammal populations from harm, and promote a positive human relationship with the ocean on which all human life depends, the last thing we need is expanded offshore oil drilling.