Standing in the harbor of California’s Marina del Rey on a cool day in January 2005, actor and Oceana Board Member Ted Danson smashed a bottle of champagne to celebrate Oceana’s new “eyes and ears in the oceans”: a freshly-painted, double-masted ship christened the Oceana Ranger.
Today, despite being nearly 40 years old, the boat’s hull still skims gracefully over the waters. For the first half of its life, the Oceana Ranger was a custom-built hospital boat that brought communities medical care. In its second career as Oceana’s research vessel, it is helping to improve the health of the oceans by revealing both the beauty and damage found in their depths.
Donated by former Oceana Board Member Stephen McAllister, the Ranger takes Oceana’s team of scientists — along with a captain, deckhands, photographers, cook, and crew — out to sea to deepen our collective understanding of ocean life and build the case for conservation.
Sailing on a scientific expedition is full of wonders and challenges, but one thing it is not: fast. Oceana’s crew often sails at least a week to reach their research destination, says Oceana’s Senior Advisor and Expedition Lead Ricardo Aguilar. “You’re moving at the speed of a bike — and there’s a lot of ocean to cover.”
Twenty years ago, when his silver beard was a bit darker, Aguilar participated in Oceana’s first and only transoceanic expedition with the Ranger: a five-month voyage that took the boat from Los Angeles, down the Pacific Coast, threading Caribbean waters, across the Atlantic, and to the Mediterranean. After documenting dozens of sites along the way, they arrived at the boat’s new base: The Balearic Islands, off the coast of Spain.
Over the last two decades the Ranger has helped Oceana protect and restore Europe’s oceans. Data from these expeditions has helped secure protections for 29 areas in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, plus 12 trawling bans across the region. The photos and videos collected have revealed the depths and dangers of plastic waste and species never before caught on camera.
To mark the 20-year anniversary of the Ranger, enjoy an inside look at photos that have influenced how we understand the oceans — and why we must fight to protect them.
Diving deep in the Gorringe Ridge
© Oceana/Juan Carlos Calvin
On June 13, 2005, nearing the end of its journey across oceans, the Ranger arrived to the Gorringe Ridge — a group of impressive underwater mountains approximately 120-140 nautical miles off Portugal. Here, researchers embarked on some of their deepest dives: 30 to 40 meters (about 100-130 feet) down.
The divers saw underwater mountains covered in abundant algae forests, home to gray triggerfish, Mediterranean rainbow wrasse, and slipper lobster. Oceana returned to the area on multiple expeditions over the years and identified over 350 species in the Gorringe Ridge — including species scientists did not know resided there, like branching black coral, bird’s nest sponge, and various other corals.
Thanks in part to Oceana’s detailed reports about life on the Gorringe Ridge, the government of Portugal issued protections to help conserve the area in 2015. In 2025, at the United Nations Ocean Conference, Portugal announced that the area will be expanded to encompass 100,000 square kilometers (38,600 square miles).
© Oceana/Juan Carlos Calvin
Mapping Malta’s marine life
In 2015 and 2016, Oceana sailed east to the waters surrounding Malta. Skilled scuba divers and
a remotely operated vehicle captured thousands of photos and more than 300 hours of footage of life unfolding underwater. A small seahorse, less than 3 centimeters (just over one inch) long, was one of many species in the days-long underwater photoshoot. From these photos and footage, researchers could map out sandbanks, reefs, and 89 marine caves surrounding Malta.
Oceana’s scientists then drew up a list of the areas they deemed most in need of protection — from bamboo coral gardens, to areas home to sponges, fish, and animals like the coppery Elongate jewel squid. Following Oceana’s recommendations, the government of Malta announced eight new or expanded marine protected areas in the Mediterranean in 2018. Today, 35% of Malta’s waters are now protected.
Oceana’s new namesake
During the Ranger’s 2012 expedition near Palos Cape in the Spanish Mediterranean, Oceana’s team came across what they thought was a carnivorous sponge. Until they took a closer look, that is. Detailed observation revealed that the mysterious organism had collected skeletal pieces of dead sponge on the seabed and connected them together with a “protein glue,” similar to the kind sponges use. This was no carnivorous sponge, but a foraminifera — a single-cell organism. At about four to five centimeters (one and a half to two inches) long, it is the largest foraminifera species in the Mediterranean, and the first documented of its kind. The species now bears Oceana’s name: Spiculosiphon oceana. “This strange species proves how little we know about our waters and the real danger of losing biodiversity before we even know these species exist,” Aguilar says.
A dolphin escort
The Ranger is often joined by some familiar friends: dolphins. Despite their label as the “common” dolphin, these animals never cease to delight with their playful company. On an expedition in the waters off Southern Spain, Oceana Senior Marine Scientist Helena Alvarez recorded that a group of at least 100 dolphins were “swimming peacefully and changing their course to appear alongside the Oceana Ranger.” The Ranger has helped scientists better understand the places where dolphins breed and feed.
Deep-sea jewel
© Oceana/Carlos Minguell
A “hidden treasure” deep in the Mediterranean Sea, the Cabliers Bank remained unknown until its discovery during a 2010 Oceana Ranger expedition. Located in the nutrient-rich waters where the Mediterranean and Atlantic meet, the Cabliers Bank is a deep-sea coral mound estimated to be over 400,000 years old — and might be the only cold-water reef in the Mediterranean Sea that is still growing.
Because the Cabliers Bank lies in the waters of neighboring countries Morocco, Algeria, and Spain, protecting the area required extensive regional cooperation. Oceana has campaigned for the three countries to close these waters to fishing. At the United Nations Ocean Conference in June 2025, Spain announced that it is closing the Cabliers Bank to all bottom fishing, marking an important step toward increased deep-sea conservation in the Mediterranean Sea.
Exposing bottom trawling
Just a couple miles from the Western Mediterranean’s coral-covered seamounts are areas that have been stripped bare by a destructive form of commercial fishing known as “bottom trawling,” where heavy weighted nets bulldoze everything in their path. In this photo, visible trawl marks cut into a seabed near Seco de los Olivos, off the coast of Southern Spain.
“Part of our work involves spending long hours in places where there’s nothing left — where bottom trawling has destroyed everything,” says Aguilar.
This scientific observation, boring as it may seem, is vital. By sampling the sediments and oxygen and pH levels of the water, scientists collect evidence that can help protect more ocean habitat from destruction. “We know that bottom trawling is impacting the seabed, but often we don’t have the evidence to prove it,” says Aguilar. “Now, in part due to these efforts, more than half of European waters are protected from trawling.”
In recent years, both the EU and Member States are closing areas to the damaging activity. In 2022, the Spanish fishing administration issued a protective order officially prohibiting trawling on the top of the seamount in Seco de los Olivos.
The depths of plastic
The Mediterranean is not just abundant in fish. It is also brimming with plastic pollution and abandoned fishing nets. Oceana Senior Policy Advisor Agnes Lisik described “seeing human impact everywhere” on a Ranger expedition, the waters cluttered with colorful plastic bags. The cameras surface what nobody sees, former Oceana Senior Scientist Silvia García points out: “On the one hand, extremely valuable information about the species and habitat present, but on the other, the image of a sea turned into a dump.”
Close to home
Over the two decades the Ranger has docked in the Balearic Islands, Oceana has undertaken at least seven expeditions in the waters surrounding the islands, putting together a picture of life in the water’s depths — from seagrass meadows and colorful corals to abundant grouper and striking nudibranchs. In 2019, after decades of campaigning, six expeditions, and hundreds of meetings with local and national leaders, Oceana won new protections for the Cabrera Archi
