The Sea Ranger Service is a

social enterprise A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in financial, social and environmental well-being. This may include maximizing social impact alongside profits for co-owners. Social enterprises ha ...

based in

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, which works in direct cooperation with government agencies to manage ocean areas. The organisation trains young people as Sea Rangers and deploys special

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

work ships to carry out marine management tasks, as well as research and eco-system regeneration work. The current operational area for the Sea Rangers is the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

History

The Sea Ranger Service was founded by conservationist Wietse van der Werf in 2016. After having been awarded the Future for Nature Award for his innovative approach to marine conservation, he used the prize money to start the Sea Ranger initiative, which was officially launched by Mayor of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

Ahmed Aboutaleb Ahmed Aboutaleb (; born 29 August 1961) is a Dutch politician of Moroccan origin. A member of the Labour Party (PvdA), he has served as Mayor of Rotterdam from 2009 to 2024. In January 2024, he announced he would resign the post later in the ...

, in August 2016. Initially founded as a

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

, the Sea Ranger Service developed a

business model A business model describes how a Company, business organization creates, delivers, and captures value creation, value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-pub ...

for its conservation work and transitioned into operating as a

from 2017. In March 2018 the organisation organised a Sea Ranger Bootcamp, in which the first Sea Rangers were selected and trained. Since October 2018 the Sea Ranger Service operates its first sailing work vessel on the

, with

Den Helder Den Helder () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Den Helder occupies the northernmost point of the North Holland peninsula. It is home to the country's main naval base. From here the Royal TESO fe ...

as its home port. A second vessel has been under construction in

Hardinxveld-Giessendam Hardinxveld-Giessendam () is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is located about 10 km east of Dordrecht, on the river Beneden-Merwede. The municipality had a population of in and covers an are ...

since 2016.

Approach

Van der Werf has stated the original inspiration for the Sea Ranger Service has come from the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

, a programme launched by US president

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

to alleviate poverty and unemployment in the inner cities during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

in 1933, whilst simultaneously carrying out large-scale landscape restoration and conservation work. The Sea Ranger Service follows a similar approach for ocean conservation. It trains young people (partly long-term unemployed youth) with the help of

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

as Sea Rangers. After their one-year deployment as Sea Rangers, in which they carry out conservation tasks at sea, the Sea Rangers transition into maritime employment. The Sea Ranger Service exclusively operates commercially certified sailing work vessels. In May 2019 the Sea Ranger Service was awarded the Medal of Honour by the Enkhuizen Maritime College and the Dutch Commercial Sailing Board, for operating the first commercial sailing vessel in the offshore industry. The Sea Ranger Service has announced plans to scale its approach internationally, through a

social franchising Social franchising is the application of commercial franchising concepts to achieve socially beneficial ends, rather than profit. Overview Social franchising is the application of the principles of commercial franchising to promote social benefi ...

model.

Mandate

The was signed in December 2018 between the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Quality (LNV), Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW), Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK), Ministry of Social Affairs and Employability (SZW) and the Sea Ranger Service. It sets out an initial two-year period in which the Dutch government works together with the Sea Ranger Service to explore which tasks it can be appointed. The initial pilots as part of the Green Deal were started in the

in the spring of 2019. According to Sea Ranger Service its tasks include

maritime surveillance Maritime patrol or maritime reconnaissance is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to active ...

, wildlife monitoring, underwater photography and surveys, sea water sampling, restoration of underwater

seagrass meadow A seagrass meadow or seagrass bed is an underwater ecosystem formed by seagrasses. Seagrasses are marine (saltwater) plants found in shallow coastal waters and in the brackish waters of estuaries. Seagrasses are flowering plants with stems and ...

s and general offshore inspections tasks but excludes any enforcement tasks.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Sea Ranger Service website
Nature conservation in the Netherlands Social enterprises Marine conservation organizations Environmental organisations based in the Netherlands