Mary Kay Inc. Partners with The Nature Conservancy to Advance Sustainable Fishing in Gulf of Mexico

 Mary Kay Inc., an international leader in corporate and social responsibility, today announced its partnership with The Nature Conservancy to advance sustainable fishing practices in The Gulf of Mexico. The program, named the Texas Fisheries & Coastal Resilience Program, aims to tackle problems like overfishing, habitat damage, and bycatch—the incidental capture of non-target species during commercial fishing.

“We each have a responsibility to do our part in protecting the most valuable resource on the planet: our oceans,” said Deb Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer of Mary Kay. “It’s our hope that, by partnering with The Nature Conservancy, Mary Kay will be able to advance ecosystems and biodiversity conservation.”

The program will support fishery management to restore and maintain aquatic ecosystems, while also fostering innovation, community collaboration, and policies that enable sustainability across the Gulf. As more people are drawn to coastal states for their booming economies, the way they sustain growth will directly impact the health of their natural resources.

Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy is the leading conservation organization, working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. The Conservancy’s practices are rooted in science and are driven by pragmatic solutions to the most pressing conservation threats at the largest scale.

Working across the Gulf, Mary Kay’s investment will benefit:

• Science: Establish demonstration projects with priority fisheries to show benefits of improved management and build momentum for change in other fisheries.

• Leaders: Drive experimentation that leverages partnerships and innovative contributions from nongovernmental stakeholders to increase adaptive, cooperative management capacity.

• Technology: Demonstrate and influence the integration of modernized information systems and decision-support tools and technologies to streamline data collection and adaptive management responses.

“Mary Kay has long worked to impact change that will sustain the earth for generations to come, and we’re proud to be partnering with an organization so aligned in mission to double down on our work in ensuring a healthy and thriving Gulf ecosystem,” said Laura Huffman, Texas regional director of The Nature Conservancy. “This investment in our program will not only move the needle in terms of science, policy and community-collaboration, but will help us prove that we don’t have to choose between ecological health and economic prosperity – what we’re doing is helping people and nature thrive, together.”

Recently, representatives from Mary Kay participated in the Oceans Plastics Leadership Summit, the first event to convene leading organizations in the plastic supply chain to showcase high-impact initiatives, prototype creative new strategies and approaches, and spur large scale implementation of solutions to the ocean plastics crisis through inspired partnerships, joint ventures, and R&D initiatives.