Oceana is an international organization with over 300,000 members. Its mission is to safeguard and restore the world’s oceans. Its team of marine researchers, economists, lawyers and other collaborators are obtaining substantial modifications to current legislation in order to reduce pollution, prevent the irreversible collapse of fish stocks and protect marine mammals and other forms of marine life. Collaboration between Ermenegildo Zegna and Oceana goes back to the time of the American Ocean Campaign project, before the creation of the Fondazione in fact, when Oceana was headed by Ted Danson. The two organizations share a mission to monitor and protect the oceans, convinced that there is a direct connection between the state of health of the oceans and the oxygenation of the planet. In October 2005, in Spain, Anna Zegna, Andrew Sharpless (Oceana president) and Xavier Pastor (head of Oceana Europe) presented the initial results of their exploration of the Gorridge Bank ecosystem, together with a collection of submarine photographs. Thanks to support from Fondazione Zegna, Oceana’s researchers were able to study one of the oldest marine mountains in the Atlantic, which at over 5,000 meters is higher than any of Europe’s peaks. Fondazione Zegna subsequently engaged Oceana to monitor the corals in the Mediterranean, a true thermometer of the state of health of our waters. In September 2007 the results of their surveys were presented in a report entitled “The corals of the Mediterranean”. Collaboration with Oceana is still ongoing.
