It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in Juneau, Monterey, Fort Lauderdale, New York, Portland, Toronto, Mexico City, Madrid, Brussels, Copenhagen, Geneva, London, Manila, Belmopan, Brasília, Santiago, and Lima,[2][3][4] and it is the largest international advocacy group dedicated entirely to ocean conservation.
[3] Oceana takes a multi-faceted approach to ocean conservation; It conducts its own scientific research in addition to making policy recommendations, lobbying for specific legislation, and filing and litigating lawsuits.
It mainly focuses on legislation for scientific based catch limits, which have led to dramatic recoveries of depleted fisheries in the recent past.
[3][31] Recent victories have included protecting dusky sharks,[32] banning industrial activity in Canada's marine protected areas,[33] increasing transparency through digital tracking in Chile's fishing industry,[34] and creating the second-largest marine national park in Spain's Mediterranean coast.
While it mentions some of Oceana's achievements, it focuses on its main goal: to make fishing a sustainable and abundant food supply.
The main recommendations and goals of the book are science based catch limits, eating fish lower on the food chain (like sardines), focusing less on more glamorous sea creatures (like whales and dolphins), protecting habitats, and reducing bycatch.
The book is scientifically grounded and was called engaging by the Los Angeles Times because it is filled with asides, charts, and photographs.
CWPA claims that these numbers are inflated and that the actual (smaller) decline in fish stock has not been caused by overfishing, but rather by environmental factors.
Criticism focuses on Oceana's assumption that all mislabeled seafood is intentionally fraudulent, even for species that are easily confused or have different names in different countries.
The methodology of Oceana's studies has also been questioned, mainly due to its selection of historically mislabeled fish for testing instead of a more representative sample.