CRRA2021

Project Scientist

Molly Morse is a marine scientist with a passion for implementing real-world solutions to environmental challenges. Based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, her work with the Benioff Ocean Initiative focuses on diverse topics such as plastic pollution and fisheries. She currently leads the Clean Currents Coalition, a global network of innovators piloting solutions to turn off the tap of plastic waste from rivers to the ocean. Molly has a BA in biology from Dartmouth College and a MS in marine science and technology from the University of Massachusetts.

Turn off the Tap!

Worldwide, rivers account for 0.8-2.7 million metric tons of plastic waste emissions into the ocean. This provides a strategic opportunity to turn off the tap of plastic entering the ocean that endangers marine life, threatens human livelihoods, and spoils pristine landscapes. At UC Santa Barbara, applied marine research group Benioff Ocean Initiative is supporting a global network of innovators, the Clean Currents Coalition, in addressing this key source of marine plastics in river systems around the world. At each of the Coalition project sites (across North and South America, Africa, and Asia), we are deploying river plastic capture technologies, conducting research and collecting data, and educating and empowering communities to change their relationship with plastic. Our ultimate goal is to develop scalable solutions that can be replicated around the world and drive the elimination of plastic waste in our waterways.

Communications and Policy Director

As Communications & Policy Director Fay develops strategies and cultivates relationships with key elected and appointed officials, while forging partnerships with organizations from the private and social sectors to implement WILDCOAST’s public policy agenda in Mexico and the United States. Fay’s internationally acclaimed conservation communications campaigns have been reported on by the Wall Street Journal, NPR, New York Times, BBC, CNN, Televisa, among others. Fay created and carried out international campaigns such as “My Man Doesn’t Eat Sea Turtle Eggs,” to stop poaching and reduce consumption of sea turtle eggs and meat. 

WILDCOAST works on US/MX cross-border conservation challenges. The Benioff Ocean Initiative's project with WILDCOAST is focused on capturing plastic waste in the Tijuana River on the Mexico side of the border to prevent its reaching the Pacific on the US side of the border, where the river empties into a US national estuarine research reserve.  Learn more