Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA)

Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) exists to give people like you a way to clean our oceans!

ODA is funded by donations big and small from individuals and companies who are concerned about the problem of marine debris and want to be part of the solution.

The active work of cleaning our coastal waters and shorelines is done by a myriad of ODA volunteers of all ages from all walks of life. Young and old, people who are technical divers and those who can't even swim, all come together with a common purpose: To work towards debris-free seas!

If you're just learning of us, you'll be glad to know we've been around a long time. Founded in 2000 by people just like you, and based in Orange County, California, ODA is a marine conservation organization and became a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2002.

ODA -- the only nonprofit in CA and HI solely dedicated to removing marine debris

In 2017, we expanded our ocean-cleaning sites from the coast of California to the three of the Hawai'i islands -- Maui, Oahu, and the Island of Hawai'i. We've been adding to our cleanup sites every month since, because unfortunately, ocean debris such as plastics and abandoned fishing gear (nets, lines, traps) is a continuous problem. With your help, we will eradicate hazardous man-made debris!

Why ODA is needed

In the years leading up to the launch of ODA, the need for our work became glaringly apparent to Founder Kurt Lieber, an avid diver and self-made scholar of marine conservation news and information.

On dive after dive, and all over the world, Kurt found abandoned commercial fishing gear on the ocean floor or attached to boat wrecks—where it indiscriminately kills marine flora and fauna long after its service to the fishing industry was over! At the same time, in his studies of the state of the world’s oceans,Kurt read widely diverse reports about the oceans, and came to understand the dire plight of life in the seas.

The urgent call came clearly to him: rampant, escalating overfishing and man-made pollution was threatening the survival of marine wildlife and the overall health of the life-giving seas of the earth…and someone needed to DO something about it!

His heart told him to take action, and his intellect agreed completely. So, with a 40-foot boat generously gifted to ODA by Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Kurt began taking volunteer divers to reported abandoned fishing gear sites. Using the boat as a dive platform, the divers descend at each location, cut the gear loose, and float it to the surface.

Volunteers on the boat haul the nets, lines, and traps onto the deck and take it back to shore for proper disposal. Animals such as lobsters, crabs, and fish found trapped alive are carefully liberated by ODA, and thus given a new chance to thrive, grow, and breed.

California

Our foundational roots are in Southern California.

The organization was formed there in 2000 when Kurt Lieber was made aware of the great need for the oceans to be cleaned of abandoned fishing gear and all kinds of debris including plastic and other trash that makes its way to the ocean from inland waterways.

He started rallying like-minded ocean conservationists to come together and start this cleaning adventure from right in their own “backyard”: The Pacific Ocean.

ODA remains active off the coasts of the following counties: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Ventura, and has done sporadic work north of there.

Debris

The main problems we see in California include abandoned fishing gear and plastic trash. The fishing industry is active in the coastal waters, so we see a large quantity of lost commercial fishing equipment including line, nets of all kinds, ropes, and multiple types of traps.