Ocean Alliance Names Honda Marine "Donor of the Month"

Honda Marine has been named “Donor of the Month” by Ocean Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of whales and their ocean environment through research and education. The groups partnered in 2007 to pair a Honda Marine 40 horsepower outboard with the tender to Ocean Alliance’s key research vessel, R.V. Odyssey.

As part of its well-documented global research efforts, Ocean Alliance and R.V. Odyssey were able to draw comparisons between contaminant loads throughout the world’s oceans - offering the first truly comprehensive worldwide assessment of the ecotoxicological risks facing humans and other animals that depend on the marine environment for food.

R.V. Odyssey will next be gathering samples from the Gulf of Mexico to look at how toxic runoff from hurricanes like Katrina are entering the food chain, while longer-term plans include revisiting some of the hot spots uncovered during the first Voyage of the Odyssey, a global research endeavor highlighted by PBS.

“No one punishes an outboard like an oceanographic non profit that runs programs for literally years at a time,” said Iain Kerr, CEO, Ocean Alliance. “The outboard motor has to start every time, it has to have low emissions, and it has to be reliable. We have never been let down by our Honda outboard.”

“Ocean Alliance recognizes that our success in making the Odyssey one of the most versatile, long-term, offshore research platforms on the high seas is due in large to donations made by companies like Honda,” said Casey Clarke, development coordinator, Ocean Alliance.