The Safina Center is a nonprofit group that works to protect nature and the environment. It is based in Setauket, New York, as part of Stony Brook University. The organization was started in 2003 as the Blue Ocean Institute. Later, it was renamed to honor its founder, Carl Safina.

History

The Safina Center was created in 2003 by Dr. Carl Safina, who has a PhD in Ecology from Rutgers University. He is also a MacArthur fellow and the first person to hold the Endowed Chair for Nature and Humanity at Stony Brook University.

At first, the center focused on ocean science and policy, especially studying fish and fisheries. Later, as problems like global warming and ocean acidification became more important, the center expanded its work to examine how energy use, food production, material culture, and human activities affect the ocean and all living things. The Safina Center now studies how human actions change the natural world and what those changes mean for ecosystems and people.