Founded by expert marine biologists and conservationists, One Ocean Diving is a pelagic tour company that facilitates marine conservation efforts through public open-water diving opportunities. Located on the North Shore of Oahu, One Ocean Diving has direct access to the open Pacific Ocean where a plethora of marine species are available to learn about and experience first hand. Through their tours and social media platforms, the brand has a main intention to progress marine conservation efforts while also educating the public about the general understandings of marine species, and the misconceptions surrounding them, especially sharks. With the 3 main goals of: research, education, and conservation, One Ocean Diving is able to utilize their background and platforms to engage with the public in both physical and digital experiences with efforts that are, “focused on studying behavior, physiology, biology and human interaction and effects on sharks, sea turtles and whales. Our dedicated team of marine biologists are passionate about helping people better understand these animals and the negative misconceptions that can go along with them!” (What is One Ocean Diving).
Research
One Ocean Diving consistently carries out studies examining the behaviors of marine species such as the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle, Humpback whales, and of course, sharks. Their shark research includes the observation and studying of specific behaviors in relation to factors such as gender, shark-species, average depths, seasons/locations, and more. Since One Ocean Diving directly places the public in these open-water environments, their newer studies look into the elements of human interaction/interference and how they influence marine ecosystems and shark hierarchies. The collected data is used and supported keeping in mind both humans and marine life. Their tagged sharks are also in a shared database available on their website (Shark Research), where there is more information about each of the sharks One Ocean Diving is observing in their overall research.
The Honu ID Program was also recently developed for the research of the Green Sea Turtle, specifically utilizing photos instead of physical tagging on the animal. Their “main focus is on entanglement issues and the Fibropapillomatosis virus that is highly common among Green sea turtles. When we come upon an entangled sea turtle we take note of the type of gear, location, types of injuries, appearance or state of the sea turtle, photo ID and efforts to remove the gear off the sea turtle. Our goal is to better understand what types of gear more highly affect sea turtle health.” (Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle).
For Humpback whales, the One Ocean brand researches the tail fluke ID, for each identified animal. From there they look into genders, ages, and social groupings. Their findings are shared with other conservation groups, which will further progress the overall education and awareness of specific marine species.
Education
One Ocean Diving is able to provide education of marine conservation efforts through their main diving tours, and social media platforms. While on these tours, there are expert marine biologists and divers who flip through a binder of all the possible marine life one could see on their dive, informing the public of their backgrounds, relation to the location, and misconceptions surrounding their existence. Their social media platforms utilize these diving experiences with the public in underwater photography images and video that have been able to reach global audiences and followings. These digital platforms are very powerful tools in showing the misconceptions of sharks specifically, with most of the brands posts showcasing public directly swimming in the open water safely with the sharks, eliminating the idea that they are all hungry predators waiting for a meal to splash in.
Ocean Ramsey and Juan also have their own platforms which showcase their own research, which are also amazing tools in combating the global misconceptions of sharks. For example, Ocean Ramsey’s main profile picture is her and what the world now knows as, Deep Blue, the world’s largest great white shark ever recorded. It was her who swam among this apex predator, left unharmed, and was able to share the world her experience, which was nothing but positive to the representation of shark misconceptions. Because I’m sure most people would assume the largest shark ever recorded would be aggressive or hostile, which couldn’t have been further from the truth. Which is why Ocean Ramseys, and her brand One Ocean Diving, are such important catalysts in their ability to showcase these open water experiences both to individuals who can dive in person with them, and also to the global audiences who see their content on social media. These forms of awareness surrounding sharks and other marine species is what may ultimately help their conservation efforts, making the world more sensitive and understanding of marine conservation related issues, such as shark finning (Shark Finning Issue).
The One Ocean Diving Education Program is an in-person workshop where the company visits schools, homes, and groups that are all wanting to learn more about marine conservation efforts. There are full presentations with informative lectures, photos, and video, coming from the One Ocean team providing the studies. It is a great way for communities and students to directly interact with the One Ocean Diving brand and mission, with hopes to foster passion in these workshops where people will be encouraged to learn even more about marine ecosystems and their conversations.
Conservation
The conservation page on the One Ocean Diving website provides all topics relating to their involvement in overall marine conservation efforts. There is a map provided with all the tagged species, a section discussing the main threats to open-sea animals with call-to-action letters provided, plastic/net concerns, and partners with the brand that are also involved in marine conservation efforts. This section is very important in revealing misconceptions of sharks, as there are very real and graphic descriptions that discuss the important topics of shark finning and other related issues. It is incredible that the website provides a letter to give to any restaurant that is serving shark fin related meals, and further represents how the One Ocean Diving brand uses their platform and resources to interact in the public in ways that foster overall awareness and inspiration for marine conservation efforts, specifically when it comes to the topic of sharks.
How to Get Involved
There are many ways to get involved with the One Ocean Diving brand, and the main one would be to of course experience a open-water dive with them by booking on their website here, One Ocean Booking. For those who may not be able to experience a dive in person yet, I’d highly recommend exploring their available online resources which includes shark related books/merch, online courses, donation page, shark adoption page, etc. There are endless opportunities, and the more budget friendly options could include simply following their social media platforms where they also showcase all of their ocean, diving, and shark related content. So now is the time to join the One Ocean Diving journey by joining them on, “one of our pelagic dives on the beautiful, world famous, North Shore of O’ahu and experience for yourself how incredible each marine species is! You will walk away with a new understanding and appreciation for the ocean and hopefully will help spread the word to help save the ocean!” (One Ocean Diving).