100,000 Marine Mammals and 1,000,000 Sea Birds die every year from marine debris and you alone can make a difference.

That’s why Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society was created – to help protect our oceans!

In 2004 Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society was founded by Richard and Heidi Taylor. Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society is run as a non-profit organisation with the goals of:

1. creating awareness in the community of marine environmental and conservation issues through marine environmental science projects; and
2. proactively participating in and organising marine conservation projects which address marine conservation issues.

Tangaroa is the Maori and Polynesian God and Guardian of the Sea and all that lives in her depths, including mermaids, where humanity is said to have come from. His breaths are the tides. He was one of the children of the Sky Father - Rangi, and Mother Earth - Papatuanuku.

Tangaroa made laws to protect the ocean and its sea creatures. One of his rules was that fishermen should always offer the first fish that they caught back to Tangaroa to show respect. Those that did not follow this law were punished.

The respect Tangaroa demands can be seen in the words "Tiaki mai i ahau, maku ano koe e tiaki"...if you look after me, then I will look after you...."

The organisation was named Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society to highlight the importance of protecting our oceans and creating projects and information to help the community keep their local coastline clean and healthy.

With the support of volunteers, community groups, industry and government agencies we have been able to create the South West Marine Debris Project to target deadly marine debris along beaches around the world.

The first part of the project was the South West Marine Debris Project which was started in 2004. Since then more than 150,000 pieces of debris have been removed from beaches along Australia's south west coastline.

The Marine Debris Project is not just a beach clean up, but data is collected on items found, which is then used to trace the most commonly found items back to their source. By then, working with Government agencies and industry, it is possible to make changes in design or use of these items so they do not end up on our beaches in the first place.

We are proud to announce new Marine Debris Projects starting up in other areas of Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and the USA, with more sites to come! If you are interested in getting involved send us an email.