Three-time Gold medalist racing for the oceans

• Aaron Peirsol helping recruit ocean advocates during run-up to 2008 Beijing Olympics

WASHINGTON, DC, April 13, 2007 -- Aaron Peirsol, three time Olympic Gold Medalist and World Record Holder in the 100m and 400 Medley Relay has announced that he will "race for the oceans" during his run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. "I want to get the swimming community and our fans involved in the fight to save our oceans," said Peirsol.

Peirsol is presently acting as a spokesperson for the Oceana, the largest international organization solely dedicated to advocating for the world's oceans. He is working with the organization to highlight the need for more people to get involved with Oceana and its campaigns throughout his journey to the Beijing Olympics. "Oceana has accomplished an amazing amount in a short period of time -- and its clear to me that if more people get activated and support the effort to save our oceans, this organization can do a lot more," said Peirsol.

"Aaron's passion for saving our oceans is remarkable," noted Oceana CEO, Andrew Sharpless, "he found us and contacted us because he liked the fact that we get stuff done and we believe we'll be able to get a lot more done with his help, specifically, educating and mobilizing people to join us in the campaign to save our oceans."

Oceana currently has over 300,000 supporters in over 150 countries and would like to -- in the next few years -- dramatically expand this base. "It's simple really, "added Sharpless "our oceans have been governed in the dark for too long. We've found that if we can get more people involved in and concerned about ocean issues, we can win real, meaningful victories."

Since its inception in 2001, Oceana has already been able to convince US and European officials to protect over 750,000 square miles of ocean from destructive fishing (the largest such protections to date in both the US and Europe), and has also succeeded in getting European authorities to enact the biggest reduction in oil pollution in years by forcing commercial ships to stop the routine dumping of over 20 million gallons of oil and other wastes in the water every year.

A surfer, Peirsol grew up around and in the ocean in Southern California and became motivated to get involved because of his personal experiences in the water. "Even though I'm a young guy, I've noticed a lot of scary things out there -- fewer fish and more pollution. It's made me decide to get involved and try to make things better," said Peirsol.

Oceana campaigns to protect and restore the world's oceans. Our teams of marine scientists, economists, lawyers and advocates win specific and concrete policy changes to reduce pollution and to prevent the irreversible collapse of fish populations, marine mammals and other sea life. Global in scope and dedicated to conservation, Oceana has campaigners based in North America (Washington, DC; New York; Juneau, AK; Los Angeles and Monterey, CA; and Portland, ORE), Europe (Madrid, Spain; Brussels, Belgium) and South America (Santiago, Chile). More than 300,000 members and e-activists in over 150 countries have already joined Oceana.

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Also see:
-- "NOAA releases report on national coordination of ocean and coastal water quality monitoring"

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