WHAT WE DO
Project Kolika - "Be a protector."
Our mission: To be a voice for the voiceless and creating a bridge between people and the very animals we are trying to save. At Project Kolika, we are geared towards ocean conservation. We achieve this through means of education and research efforts. We hope to connect people and oceanic wildlife through our wildlife tours and educational outreach program to local schools, conservation work through our cinematography, and our wildlife research endeavors.
Our co-inhabitants of our planet don't have a voice we can understand to tell us what is troubling them. Therefore, it's up to us to recognize the signs that they are sending forth. By recognizing their signs, we can stop and help prevent further exploitation of our wildlife. They'll be able to fight for their own survival, instead of trying to fight human exploitation.
Project Kolika, previously known as Saving Wildlife Project, was founded in 2011 by our founder and CEO, Cassie Paumard. Since then, we have raised money for dolphins, polar bears, gorillas, manatees, grey wolves, African elephants, sea turtles, sharks, and so much more! We've sent the 100% of the various funds to reputable organizations, like Dolphin Project and Defenders of Wildlife, to help the various animals mentioned above. As of May 2018, Saving Wildlife Project, became Project Kolika. The term Kolika, which is Hawaiian for "from the sea," expresses our devotion to protecting our ocean's ecological balance. Without a healthy ocean, we cannot have the terrestrial life that makes up the rest of our planet. Focusing a large part of our work on sharks, we are geared towards education, conservation, and research.
Education
We believe it's important to empower the young, future generations. Going to various schools in San Diego, we educate students on the importance of sharks in our oceans. We focus on sharks, as without an ocean full of sharks, the rest of the world, including our own species, will collapse. Making this message clear to the future generation gives the world a fighting chance and helps students shift their perspectives on sharks. Sharks are the key to our survival and the rest of the world's continuation. Without sharks, efforts in rescuing other endangered species is futile. Through education comes change and through change comes a new world that our future generations will enjoy.
Interested in having us come to your school? Check out our Research and Education page and send us an email!
Conservation
Through educational outreaches and our monthly beach clean ups, we hope to inspire young minds to care to protect our planet and its inhabitants. We hope our experiences with wildlife we capture and share through social media will lead others in our footsteps towards a cleaner and brighter future where animals and people can coexist. Leading people in our educational Wildlife Snorkel Tours, we hope to further create those bridges with the misunderstood animals that lie below our ocean and to bring that newfound fascination to YOU.
You can find the Wildlife Snorkel Tours under the "Book Your Tour" tab.
We are working on a shark conservation short film series that is constructed for the sole purpose of educating and inspiring the public to protect sharks, and therefore, protecting our oceans as a whole.
Research
Project Kolika focuses their research efforts on our local mako sharks. This species is predominantly hunted in our local waters off San Diego and sold in restaurants for consumption. With our data, we hope to work with restaurants in eradicating unsustainable shark meat consumption, starting in San Diego, CA.
Apart from researching and saving sharks, we analyze various animals' behaviors and surveys.
Want to help save sharks? You can! Visit our Donate page and help us work towards a "shark meat free" world!