Leonardo DiCaprio’s foundation inked a $3 million check to environmental advocates dedicated to saving ocean wildlife.
“Protecting our planet’s oceans and the marine species that call it home is one of the most pressing sustainability crises facing humanity today and a moral imperative that we must acknowledge,” DiCaprio said in a statement released by Washington DC-based group Oceana.
“It’s my hope that this grant will help Oceana continue the tremendous work that they do daily on behalf of our oceans.”
Leo’s grant will be used to push for responsible fishing measures and, most notably, proposed bans on gillnets off the California coast.
Commercial fisherman use the controversial nets to catch swordfish and other tasty seafood products.
But in the process, they inadvertently catch sharks, dolphins, whales, sea turtles and other endangered species.
“The foundation and Leo’s support for campaigns like our efforts to ban the drift gill nets in California will help Oceana win more protections for countless sharks and other marine animals and for ocean habitats in the Pacific and Arctic – which include some of the most productive ocean places in the world,” said Oceana CEO Andy Sharpless.
“The net impact will be a much more abundant and biodiverse ocean that has many millions more sharks and critical and amazing marine animals, wilder and more pristine ocean habitats and oceans that can feed over a billion people – many of them hungry – a healthy seafood meal each day.”