Centre for Ocean Literacy Collaboration
(formerly Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition)
New name. Same acronym. Same mission.
Empowering people to better understand, value, and care for the ocean.
What is COLC?
The Centre for Ocean Literacy Collaboration (COLC) is a living lab for high impact public ocean engagement. We work with partners and communities to mobilize research and knowledge into collaborative action.
Launched in 2018, and formerly known as the Canadian Ocean Literacy Coalition, COLC is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in ocean literacy collaboration and innovation.
What is a Living Lab?
A living lab is a space of study, mutual learning, and iteration. It is research-based, participatory-driven, and ground-truthed in experience. A living lab is both dynamic and responsive.
Together with partners, we generate ideas and theories that can help more people understand and care for the ocean. We then apply and refine insights within community spaces. We share and amplify what works (and what doesn’t) with broader networks of ocean actors to accelerate high impact public ocean engagement.
Am I an ocean actor? If you are an individual, community, organization, business, or government, acting to ensure a healthy ocean, then YES you are an ocean actor.
Our Impact
We work with partners and communities to co-identify and track concrete answers to essential impact questions:
What’s working? What’s not? How do we know? What indicators are being measured? What changes are happening? Together, we share what we’ve learned through workshops, communities of practice, consultation, and exchange.
What is Ocean Literacy?
Ocean literacy is an outcome – a society that better understands, values, and cares for the ocean. It includes an understanding of how the ocean influences us and how we influence the ocean. Fundamentally, it is about our relationship with the ocean (all water), and managing our behaviour in ways that ensure a healthy ocean.
"Ocean literacy empowers us to understand the stakes, connect the dots, and take meaningful action."
Action Gallery
Canadian Ocean Literacy Strategy
Published in March 2021, the National Strategy was developed by Canadians, for Canadians, through an evidence-based and community-driven engagement process in which over 400 organisations and more than 3,000 Canadians participated.
The Strategy was directly informed by the findings from COLC’s national study (2019-2020) that examined how ocean literacy was understood and practiced across regions and sectors. An updated National Strategy will be published early in 2026.
Advancing the Canadian Ocean Literacy Strategy is an endorsed UN Ocean Decade Action (No. 31)
The Ocean Frontier Institute, led by Dalhousie University, serves as COLC's administrative home
