2017

ANNUAL REPORT Director’s Message

Amanda in Howe Sound, British Columbia, Canada. Photo by Amanda Vincent/ Dear friends Project

I am so pleased to share some of the Project Seahorse findings and doings from 2017. It was a rich and full year, not least because I was on sabbatical from my UBC professorial post from September to December. That meant I could spend time on field visits and policy development, both of which I love. It also meant I had time and opportunity to refl ect on marine conservation in general and on our Project Seahorse work in particular. Allow me to share a few of those experiences and thoughts.

Six weeks in , the majority of it surveying bottom trawl landing sites with Tanvi Vaidyanathan, hugely supported Project Seahorse’s decision to throw a lot of time and eff ort at ending this absurdly wasteful method of extracting marine life. It’s time to target our take and stop trawling.

Five weeks in southern Chile and Argentina allowed me to wallow in marine wildlife and help support the most southerly populations of in the new world. It was clear from working with Diego Luzzatto (IUCN SSC Specialist Group member) that the Project Seahorse combination of a research and management feedback loop would serve the Patagonian seahorses very well.

Five weeks in China gave me hope that the country might be mobilizing for marine conservation. Xiong Zhang and I spent time encouraging better enforcement of new laws directed at phasing out bottom trawling, planning the establishment of MPAs and training young colleagues who will fight for the ocean.

My children and I ended 2017, with New Year’s Eve spent watching a leatherback turtle lumber up a vast wild beach to lay her eggs in a protected area, while people from the local community patrolled to protect her clutch. The wonder of it all, and the hope it captured, was a great end to a very good year and a wonderful way to renew my commitment to the ocean and its .

On behalf of everyone at Project Seahorse, I sincerely thank our donors, collaborators, and team members for your tireless support and commitment. Together let’s work with hope in 2018 and beyond (see #OceanOptimism).

Yours, in hope,

Prof. Amanda Vincent Cover photo: Hedgehog seahorse (Hippocampus spinosissimus). Photo by Luc Eeckhaut/ Director and Co-Founder, Project Seahorse Guylian Seahorses of the World. @AmandaVincent1

2 Seahorses are iconic, flagship species that bring attention to a wide range of marine conservation concerns, including overfishing and destructive fishing practices, sea-filling, pollution, and much more.

Longsnouted seahorse (Hippocampus reidi). Photo by Chelsea Bennice/Guylian Seahorses of the World.

MISSION STATEMENT Project Seahorse is committed to the conservation and sustainable use of the world’s coastal marine ecosystems

3 Saving seahorses Th reatened by overfi shing, destructive fi shing practices, and habitat loss, seahorses are fl agship species for a wide range of marine conservation issues. Th rough biological and social research, trade and policy change, marine protected areas, and citizen science, Project Seahorse ensures that seahorse populations and their habitats are healthy and well-managed. Supporting THreatened seahorses & Their relatives

We are responsible for more than Syngnathids face many threats - habitat For the next four years we will be 300 fascinating syngnathiform loss, pollution, climate change, invasive focusing on the Critically Endangered (seahorses, , seadragons, species, direct exploitation in the form and Endangered species (and their trumpetfishes, shrimpfishes, of overfishing and bycatch, and more. marine and freshwater habitats), as well bellowfishes, cornetfishes, seamoths, The extent of the threats varies from as creating priority action statements and ghost pipefishes). We are so species to species. For example, the for those judged Vulnerable. At the proud to have generated the first full is Endangered with same time, we will also continue assessment of their . a geographical range limited to a few gathering knowledge and data on the We are ever ready to take, facilitate, South African estuaries, where human species that are poorly documented and mobilize conservation action for activity encroaches on its habitat. We and understood. Through integrated priority species and geographic regions can say conclusively that the other research, management support and of greatest concern (see table). species in the table are also threatened policy development we will help reduce with extinction. the pressures on these iconic creatures.

IUCN RED COMMON SCIENTIFIC LIST STATUS NAME NAME RANGE

Critically Endangered Estuarine Syngnathus watermeyeri

Endangered Knysna seahorse Hippocampus capensis South Africa

Endangered White’s seahorse H. whitei Solomon Islands, E.

Endangered - Microphis pleurostictus SE Asia (freshwater)

Vulnerable - Cosmocampus balli Pacific- Hawaiian islands

Vulnerable West African seahorse H. algiricus W. Africa

Vulnerable Barbour’s seahorse H. barbouri Indo-Pacific

Vulnerable Tiger tail seahorse H. comes SE Asia List of Critically Endangered, Vulnerable Lined seahorse H. erectus W. Atlantic Endangered and Vulnerable Thorny seahorse H. histrix W. Indian Ocean to Central Pacific

Vulnerable Vulnerable Pacific seahorse H. ingens California to Peru syngnathids we will Vulnerable Great seahorse H. kelloggi Indo-Pacific to E. Africa to China & Australia be focusing our efforts on in the Vulnerable Spotted seahorse H. kuda Indo-Pacific next four years. Vulnerable Japanese seahorse H. mohnikei Japan & Korea to

Vulnerable Patagonian seahorse H. patagonicus Brazil to Argentina

Vulnerable Hedgehog seahorse H. spinosissimus Indo-Pacific

Vulnerable Three-spot seahorse H. trimaculatus Indo-Pacific

Vulnerable Andaman pipefish Microphis insularis India

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Corythoichthys flavofasciatus). Network pipefish ( Photo by Richard Smith/Ocean Realm.

).

Phyllopteryx taeniolatus Photo by Andrew Green/ Guylian SOTW. Weedy seadragon (

The Knysna seahorse (Hippocampus capensis) clinging to a man-made structure. Photo by David Harasti.

Highlights

AMANDA COORDINATING GLOBAL “Seahorses: Magical Creatures in Our Backyard”. Our focus CONSERVATION EFFORTS FOR MARINE was on alerting people to the presence of seahorses and their SPECIES relatives in the Biscayne National Park, and (we hope) inspiring Our director, Dr. Amanda Vincent, is delighted to have the them to protect their park and ocean. opportunity to coordinate global conservation activities for marine species. She is now the chair of the Marine Conservation Subcommittee of the International Union for NATIONAL SEAHORSE EXPERTS & Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Species Survival Commission AMBASSADORS (SSC). Amanda is also Chair of the IUCN SSC Seahorse, iSeahorse, our citizen science programme for conservation, Pipefish, and Stickleback Specialist Group. now includes 17 National Seahorse Experts and 18 Ambassadors. National Seahorse Experts have particular credentials in SEAHORSES: MAGICAL CREATURES IN seahorse ecology and conservation and can address country- OUR BACKYARD specific seahorse questions. Ambassadors show their We launched our first outreach expedition into Florida, commitment to seahorse conservation partly by promoting USA, using seahorses to connect people to the beauty of iSeahorse. Together, we hope to increase public awareness of their marine backyards. In April and May 2017, we met 5000 seahorses and marine conservation, empowering citizens to act South Floridians and reached two million more through for seahorses and the seas. Find a National Seahorse Expert or conventional and social media during our campaign Ambassador in your country at iSeahorse.org.

5 Securing shallow seas Shallow seas — which encompass the fi rst 10 metres of depth along the world’s coastlines — contain many of the planet’s most valuable and threatened marine ecosystems, including reefs, , and seagrasses. Many of these are home to seahorses. Project Seahorse combines conservation research, sustainable fi sheries management, and marine protected areas to help safeguard shallow seas. MOBILIZING CITIZEN SCIENCE & MARINE PROTECTED AREAS

We are excited to foster marine coastal city in Shandong Province, China overfishing and habitat loss. His work conservation in China, the world’s are now strongly advocating for the has identified conservation priorities largest importer and consumer of protection of many square kilometres and is informing fisheries policy and the dried seahorses and a country that of coastal habitat and for the strong creation of new marine protected areas. exerts considerable pressure on ocean enforcement of an existing no-trawling resources. zone. This area has high densities To expand our infl uence, Xiong recruited of the Vulnerable Japanese seahorse enthusiastic divers to be iSeahorse For the past three years we have worked (Hippocampus mohnikei), and the local Ambassadors in China; they have had to mobilize China’s governments, fishers have voluntarily mobilized to great success in promoting our citizen NGOs, and local fishing communities to enforce no trawling in these areas. science program to monitor local appreciate, protect, and monitor their seahorse populations. He further trained threatened seahorse populations. Our China’s wild seahorse populations were ten teachers to spread the word about outreach campaign - “Saving seahorses little known until our researcher Xiong seahorse biology and conservation at means saving the ocean” – is bearing Zhang (PhD student) spent the last four local schools and communities in Hong fruit. Local governments and fishing years mapping seahorse populations Kong, Guangdong, Fujian, Shanghai, communities near Qingdao, a large and the threats they face, both from Qingdao, and Beijing.

Participants at an iSeahorse Workshop in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China, making the underwater sign for “seahorse”. Photo by Xiong Zhang/Project Seahorse.

6 Thorny seahorse (Hippocampus histrix). One of at least six known seahorse species found in China’s seas. Photo by Jean-Claude Vanderwal/Guylian Seahorses of the World.

Did you know?

• Shallow seas ecosystems provide a home for thousands of marine species, shelter coastal peoples from typhoons, and help to keep our planet cool. Unfortunately, they are being altered very rapidly. About one-third of reefs, forests, and seagrasses have been degraded or destroyed globally.

• Working with local communities, Project Seahorse has created 35 marine protected areas on Danajon Bank, a rare and threatened double barrier in central . Our research and marine conservation tools have helped many more shallow seas habitats around the world.

A fisher in Qinglan, Hainan Province, China, sorts seahorses by size into two plastic baskets. Photo by Xiong Zhang/Project Seahorse.

7 MAKING TRADE SUSTAINABLE Project Seahorse researchers track the global seahorse trade through a combination of fi eld work and data analysis. In the 1990’s we uncovered the vast geographical and economic scope of this trade. About 15-20 million seahorses are traded, live and dead, around the world each year. Th ey are used in traditional medicine, for display in aquariums, and as curios. Working with the United Nations’ global agreement, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), we make large contributions to trade regulation. REGULATING GLOBAL TRADE OF MARINE FISHES

Our researcher Ting-Chun Kuo (PhD student, now graduated), took a pioneering look at the regulation of the global trade in marine fishes, with a focus on the global agreement called CITES* (www..org). Ting was curious about how CITES’ first global commitment to restrict exports of any marine fishes had actually played out.

Dried Ting found that although reported seahorses and pipefish for seahorse exports declined globally with sale in Hong the new regulations, the number of Kong. seahorses caught in the biggest source Photo by Anita Wan/Project country, Thailand, did not change. For Seahorse. all species regulated by CITES, she found that the USA was the centre of global wildlife trade by number of Yet we still lack an understanding of the shipments, although Asian countries Global wildlife trade scale, routes, and impacts of wildlife were becoming more active. Her trade. An increasing number of wildlife continues to increase study also found that trade in marine species are protected by trade controls, fishes involved more countries than but marine fishes are often overlooked. rapidly and has become trade in most other animals on CITES’ It is notable, then, that all seahorse Appendix II. Ting’s study shows that a signifi cant threat to species have been protected by CITES global agreements can contribute to since 2002, when they became the first conservation action and her findings can species survival. marine fishes that had to be cleared for help set conservation priorities. export.

*Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 8 Highlights

SEAHORSE EXPLOITATION AND TRADE IN VIET NAM In light of suspension of its seahorse exports, imposed by CITES in 2013, Viet Nam sought to make its trade practices more sustainable. In response to the government’s request, we again marshalled resources to assess the management situation for seahorses in Viet Nam. What had changed since 1999, when we did our first trade survey? Were seahorse numbers bouncing back? Were seahorses still traded and exported in high numbers?

During intensive field surveys that comprised 146 interviews in eight provinces, we gathered information on the biology, fisheries, aquaculture, and trade of seahorses in Viet Nam. We soon realised that Viet Nam was not fully implementing CITES regulations: none of the seahorse catch was being monitored or regulated to any extent to assess sustainability; large numbers of dried seahorses were being exported illegally without CITES permits or exported with permits that Viet Nam did not report to CITES. In addition, the supposed switch in exports of cultured seahorses from H. kuda to H. comes - after CITES banned exports of H. kuda in 2013 - needs probing.

Frozen and dried seahorses for sale in Viet Nam. Photo by Do Huu Hoang/Project Seahorse. Did you know?

• About 15-20 million seahorses are traded, live and dead, around the world each year. They are used in traditional medicine, for display in aquariums, and as curios.

• Project Seahorse is the global authority on the sustainable trade in seahorses and other marine species. We generated landmark trade protections for seahorses under CITES in 2002 and 2012. Our trade analyses have clarified and reinforced the role of CITES in the conservation of marine fishes subject to global trade.

• Because of our work, Thailand suspended all seahorse exports until it can trade without damaging their wild populations. This is significant since Thailand is the world’s largest exporter of wild seahorses - responsible for three- quarters of global seahorse trade.

Spotted seahorse (). Photo by Bruno van Saen/Guylian Seahorses of the World. 9 MAKING Fisheries SUSTAINABLE Nearly three billion people depend on the sea as a source of food and medicine, and 90% of all economic activity in our oceans takes place in coastal areas. Overfi shing and harmful fi shing practices such as bottom trawling and the use of illegal fi shing gear put tremendous pressure on fi sh populations, making their recovery increasingly diffi cult. Our research supports our work to end trawling and promote sustainable fi shing practices in its place. Insisting on TARGETing OUR TAKE

There is a deep and growing awareness gear all over the world. To tackle this Also, a portion of this catch - at times that bottom trawling must end. alarming issue, we developed “Target the whole catch - is dumped into trucks Seahorses, along with most marine life, Our Take, Stop Trawling” – a campaign and hauled away for use in chicken or are caught recklessly in nonselective to alert India’s policy makers to the aquaculture feed, and often sold at an appalling forms of bottom astonishing low price of Rs 2/kg (USD trawling that extract all ocean 0.03/kg). life indiscriminately, and urge them to better manage their Amanda Vincent, our Director, and coastal resources. our researcher Tanvi Vaidyanathan (PhD student) surveyed trawl landing Trawling in India often no sites and met with Fisheries and longer has a target. As a trawl Forest department off icials, and owner in Mandapam, Tamil conservationists throughout India in Nadu says September. Extraordinarily, they found that everyone, from senior figures in the state government, to the representatives “Bycatch has of fisherfolk associations, scientists and technical people, all expressed the need become our main to end bottom trawling, and were ready catch”. to map a way forward. This lays the groundwork for what lies ahead. Now to get the political forces on board...

Catch is sorted on board into commercially important seafood (such as oil sardines, king , prawns) and the remainder goes to chicken feed, fish meal and fish oil. Photo by Tanvi Vaidyanathan/Project Seahorse.

10 Approximately a 1000 trawlers (mainly bottom trawlers) are in operation in the Rameswaram Region - catching everything in their path. Catches here are dwindling so they controversially cross over to Sri Lankan waters on a regular basis. Photo by Tanvi Vaidyanathan/ Project Seahorse.

HIGHLIGHTS getting young fishers to start using good fishing methods that do not cause damage to and seagrass, or catch juvenile SMALL-SCALE FISHERIES HAVE BIG fish and . IMPACT ON OCEAN Small-scale fisheries are incredibly important for local food THAI SEAHORSE CATCH IS 3X MORE THAN PREVIOUSLY FOUND security, but they’ve become less and less sustainable over time. We were astonished to discover that about 29 million seahorses Our researcher Jennifer Selgrath (PhD student, now graduated) were caught per year in Thailand – more than three times and other team members found that small-scale fishing eff ort the number previously documented. Our researcher Lindsay by individuals in the Danajon Bank, Philippines, increased Aylesworth (PhD student, now graduated) and colleagues >250% from 1960-2010. But, because fishing was concentrated, explored the relative pressure exerted by nonselective fisheries fishing eff ort increased > 2,000% at popular locations. The (such as trawling) on seahorses. We focused on Thailand as it huge increase in fishing eff ort was driven by the large growth is a dominant fishing nation and the world’s largest exporter in the number of people fishing, rather than by changes in of seahorses. Our interviews with commercial and small-scale individuals’ fishing behaviour. Also, the use of damaging fishers and our port sampling revealed that three fishing fishing gears increased rapidly over time, while the use of more gears - two commercial (otter and pair trawl) and one small- sustainable methods had not increased. When fishing eff ort scale (gillnet) - caught the most seahorses. Of the seven species is so high, methods that might have been passable in the past found in Thai waters, Hippocampus kelloggi, H. kuda, and H. can cause substantial damage to marine life. Jenny also found trimaculatus were most susceptible to fishing. that people did not change fishing eff ort very often, and they continued using destructive fishing methods even if those TARGETED AND INDISCRIMINATE SMALL- fishing gears became illegal. This highlights the importance of SCALE FISHING OF SEAHORSES IN VIET NAM A largely unregulated global extraction of seahorses has emerged, of which Viet Nam is one of the main sources. In south Viet Nam, bottom trawling and compressor diving are the fishing methods that target seahorses and/or catch them A Thai female incidentally. Our researchers, Allison Stocks (MSc student, fisher using a gillnet for now graduated) and Sarah Foster (Programme manager), found shrimp also that trawls and divers that did not target seahorses caught an caught numerous average of 1 and 3 seahorses per boat per day respectively, and small fishes and even a small caught higher proportions of young seahorses. This amounted shark. Photo to more than four times the catch of similarly sized fisheries by Lindsay Aylesworth/ that do target seahorses. This apparently low fishing pressure, Project when multiplied by the number of boats, results in the landing Seahorse. of 127,000–269,000 seahorses in just one small area, a tally of considerable concern.

11 training conservationists Under greater pressure than ever before, our oceans need more champions and more optimists. Project Seahorse is training the next generation of scientists, conservationists, and advocates to stand up for our oceans. To date we have trained over 175 professional conservationists (as well as about 80 volunteers) around the world, with backgrounds ranging from the biological sciences to law to the arts. WHere are they now?

Allison Stocks, MSc: Outreach and Kerrie O’Donnell, PhD: Research Coordinator, Interpretation Off icer at Gulf Islands Fisheries & Marine, EcoTrust, Canada. National Park Reserve, Parks Canada. In addition to their Lindsay Aylesworth, PhD: Ecological Research cutting-edge research Clayton Manning, MSc: Environmental Project Leader at Oregon Marine Reserves, Sustainability Off icer at EQWIP HUB in Department of Fish and Wildlife, USA. and conservation Zanzibar, Tanzania. Lucy Woodall, PhD: Research Off icer, Ocean work with the Project Danika Kleiber, PhD: Post-doctoral Research & Conservation Group, Oxford Researcher, ARC Centre for Excellence in University, United Kingdom. Seahorse team, our Coral Reef Studies & WorldFish, Australia. alumni have gone on Marivic Pajaro, PhD: Manager, Research Eulalio Guieb, PhD: Associate Professor at the Department, Haribon Foundation for to build impressive, College of Mass Communication, University the Conservation of Natural Resources, of the Philippines, Quezon City, Philippines. Philippines. difference-making Iain Caldwell, PhD: Sessional lecturer at Miguel Correia, PhD: Researcher at Fisheries careers as scientists, University of Hawaii, USA. Biology & Hydroecology Group, University of the Algarve, Portugal. policymakers and Janelle Curtis, PhD: Senior Research Scientist, conservationists. So, Department of Fisheries & Oceans, Canada. Natalie Ban, PhD: Associate Professor, University of Victoria, Canada. where are they now, and Jennifer Selgrath, PhD: Postdoctoral Research Associate at Hopkins Marine Station, Nicholas Hill, PhD: Conservation for what are they doing? Stanford University, USA. Communities Technical Specialist, Net- works, ZSL, United Kingdom. This year we focus on those trained Jonathan Anticamara, PhD: Assistant academically. Here is a snapshot of some Professor at the Institute of Biology, Sian Morgan, PhD: Lead Auditor, Scientific of our PhD and MSc graduates and the University of the Philippines, Quezon City, Certification System, USA. work they are doing for the oceans. Philippines. Ting-Chun Kuo, PhD: Assistant Professor, For more information visit our website Julia Lawson, MSc: PhD student at Bren National Ocean University, Taiwan. www.projectseahorse.org/about-alumni. School of Environmental Science & Management, University of California, USA.

12 Seahorse champions at SyngBio 2017: the IUCN SSC Seahorse, Pipefish and Stickleback Specialist Group making the underwater sign for “seahorse”. Highlights Photo by Heather Masonjones.

CONSERVATION OUTREACH TOOLKITS FANTASTICAL FISHES: SEAHORSES, We have created an array of resources for like-minded groups PIPEFISHES AND SEADRAGONS INTO THE to use for education and community programming, and when FUTURE We were delighted to co-host the third global meeting of engaging with policy-makers. Here are the toolkits we have so researchers and managers working to understand and support far: seahorses, pipefishes, pipehorses, and seadragons. Participants • Seahorses: magical creatures in our backyard. from about 20 countries on six continents gathered for SyngBio Launched 3 April 2017. 2017 at the University of Tampa, Florida (USA) in May 2017. We www.projectseahorse.org/bnp-seahorses had a dynamic and inspiring meeting and came away with a • Target Our Take, Stop Trawling. renewed sense of urgency and excitement to continue saving Launched 1 September 2017. syngnathids, and the seas. www.targetourtake.org • Saving seahorses means saving the ocean.

Launched 1 November 2017. www.projectseahorse.org/seahorseschina-intro/ • Protect the Knysna Seahorse – A Threatened National Treasure. Launched 1 December 2017. www.iucn-seahorse.org/knysna/

Future ocean champions: our current group of talented, enthusiastic volunteers who assist us with everything from social media, iSeahorse, CITES & Ramsar research, Red List assessments, translations, and so much more... Photo by Lily Stanton/Project Seahorse.

13 Publications (peer-reviewed)

Pontoh’s seahorse (Hippocampus pontohi). Photo by Tom van Hout/Guylian Seahorses of the World.

Aylesworth, L., R. Phoonsawat and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Eff ects Selgrath, J.C., S.E. Gergel and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Incorporating of indiscriminate fisheries on a group of small data-poor spatial dynamics greatly improves estimates of fishing species in Thailand. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 75(2): 642- pressure: Long-term participatory mapping of coral reef 652. doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsx193 fisheries. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 75(1): 210-220. doi. org/10.1093/icesjms/fsx108 Aylesworth, L., T.L. Loh, W. Rongrongmuang and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Seahorses (Hippocampus spp.) as a case study for locating Selgrath, J.C., G.D. Peterson, M. Thyresson, M. Nyström and S.E. cryptic and data-poor marine fishes for conservation. Animal Gergel. 2017. Regime Shifts and Spatial Resilience in a Coral Conservation. 20(5): 444-454. doi.org/10.1111/acv.12332 Reef Seascape. In: Learning Landscape Ecology, Springer New York. pp. 301-322. Aylesworth, L., R. Phoonsawat, P. Suvanachai and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Generating spatial data for marine conservation and Stocks, A.P., S.J. Foster, N.K. Bat and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Catch management. Biodiversity & Conservation 26(2): 383-399. doi. as catch can: Targeted and indiscriminate small-scale fishing org/10.1007/s10531-016-1248-x of seahorses in . Fisheries Research 196: 27-33. doi. org/10.1016/j.fishres.2017.07.021 Foster, S.J., L. Aylesworth, H.H. Do, N.K. Bat and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Seahorse exploitation and trade in Viet Nam. Fisheries *Vincent, A.C.J. and S.F. Foster. 2017. Setting precedent in export Centre Research Reports 25(2), 50pp. regulations for marine fishes with seahorses. Fisheries 42(1): 40-43. doi.org/10.1080/03632415.2017.1273658 Lawson, J.M. 2017. The global search for seahorses in bycatch. Fisheries 42(1):4-39 [photo essay]. Zhang, X. and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Integrating multiple data sets with species distribution models to inform conservation of the Lawson, J.M., S.J. Foster and A.C.J. Vincent. 2017. Low bycatch poorly-recorded Chinese seahorses. Biological Conservation 211: rates add up to big numbers for a of small fishes. 161-171. doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2017.05.020 Fisheries 42(1): 19-33. doi.org/10.1080/03632415.2017.1259944 For a complete listing of our publications visit www.projectseahorse.org/research-publications *invited piece, not reviewed

14 “We are so grateful to our Partners & partners and donors for their donors ongoing support of our work to advance marine conservation. Together we will continue saving seahorses, OUR PARTNERS & HOME INSTITUTIONS and the seas.” The University of British Columbia hosts much of the team. Director and co-founder Prof. Amanda Vincent is a Professor in the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries.

The Zoological Society of London is our other home base. Dr. Heather Koldewey, Project Seahorse’s co-founder and Field Conservation Manager, is also Head of Marine and Freshwater Conservation Programmes ZSL.

OUR MAJOR SPONSOR

Guylian Belgian Chocolates is a major sustaining partner and sponsor for our research and conservation projects around the world, providing truly generous support. Indeed, Guylian’s commitment to marine conservation is matched only by the excellence of its chocolates.

OUR DONORS

Aquarium du Quebec Greensboro Science Center Indianapolis Zoo International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC) Langar Foundation Mohamed Bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund Munich Zoo NSERC CREATE program Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong Denise’s seahorse (Hippocampus denise). Photo by Danny Van Belle/Guylian Seahorses People’s Trust for Endangered Species of the World. Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium Synchronicity Earth Special thanks to an anonymous donor who for many years provided Taiwan Forestry Bureau, COA essential support to Project Seahorse. The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund The Herbert W. Hoover Foundation Thank you to our hard-working, dedicated volunteers and interns around The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation the world for their enthusiasm and dedication.

15 Online [email protected] projectseahorse.org iseahorse.org iucn-seahorse.org

projectseahorse AmandaVincent1 HeatherKoldewey Photo by Filip Staes/Guylian Seahorses of the World.

Canada office Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries The University of British Columbia 2202 Main Mall

Vancouver, B.C. (Hippocampus hippocampus). V6T 1Z4 Canada +1 604-827-5141

United Kingdom office Zoological Society of London Regent’s Park

London NW1 4RY hort-snouted seahorse S United Kingdom

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