EcoOcean’s mission is to empower people to care for the marine and coastal environment of Israel and the region. EcoOcean does this by means of Research, Education and Outreach. They aim to make the protection of the marine environment a high priority amongst the general public and policy makers in Israel and believe that strengthening the bond between people and the sea will have a positive impact on keeping it sustainable and healthy as a value on to itself and for future generations. EcoOcean was established by the Weil family together with a group of leading scientists and environmentalists in 2002 and has been an ever-growing influence in its field for the past 16 years.

Facilitate Marine Research 

As a rule, marine research at sea is costly. EcoOcean own and activate a state-of-the-art research vessel – The Mediterranean Explorer (the Medex) – which serves the marine academic community at subsidized costs. Until the existence of the Medex most research focused on the Red Sea leaving the whole of the Mediterranean coast of Israel mostly unexplored. Today, almost every Marine Science researcher in Israel is making use of the MedEx and its sophisticated equipment which includes its advanced ROV (Remote operated Vehicle). The MedEx has facilitated hundreds of marine researchers over the past 16 years and is recognized as the major cause for the surge in marine research in Israel and the growing place of the country’s Marine Centers and Universities on the global scene.

Marine Education

EcoOcean is dedicated to providing quality marine environmental education programs. The programs are designed to expose both younger generations and adult populations, to the serious issues facing marine and coastal environments and to the wonders of the sea.  This is done by interactive educational experiences incorporated into the programs as they are the most successful tools for strengthening the bond between humans and the marine environment. EcoOcean facilitates 25,000 educational interactions annually connecting its different audiences to the marine environment.

Public Outreach

EcoOcean specialize in energizing and leading communities around the goal of marine protection.

EcoOcean represent the international Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). This is an important partnership between EcoOcean and Israel’s coastal Municipalities aimed at engage and recruit them to help protect the sea, using the international ‘Blue Flag’ label. The Blue Flag is recognised as one of the world most successful ecolabels.

EcoOcean and the Ministry for the Protection of Environment have lead for the past 3  years the country, in the ‘Clean Seas’ campaign. Under the slogan of ‘Single use plastic not in my sea’ our co-ordinated efforts, begun the change in tide for cleaner beaches as reported for the second year in a row.

EcoOcean also take part in the UN  #cleanseas initiative. Under the umbrella of the UN initiative and the Blue Flag program we created and now lead a regional campaign gathering at this point 14 of the 22 coastal countries of the Mediterranean under the banner: ‘Caring for the sea that unites us’.

EcoOcean founded in collaboration with 4 other national NGO’s a movement called the ‘Mediterranean People’ focusing on creating a grass-route effort for the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s) in the territorial’s waters of Israel.

EcoOcean has now been declared the national organisation in Israel, responsible for the establishment of the ‘National network of emergency marine response volunteers’, focused on effective response to oil spills.