Stone co-founded "Pole to Pole Conservation", an ocean conservation 501c3 nonprofit. The focus is to create sustainable and regenerative developments in a rapidly changing climate. The organizations work includes science, policy development, communications, and a scholarship program. Since 2000, Stone, in partnership with the government of Kiribati and NGO partners Conservation International and the New England Aquarium, has led the effort to create one of the world's largest marine protected areas around the Phoenix Islands in Kiribati. This project is among the first to use market-based mechanisms to conserve ocean biodiversity, a strategy that encourages and fosters economic opportunity for local communities, and was at the time of declaration the largest marine protected area in the world and the first to protect open ocean pelagic systems.
Expeditions
Stone has over 7,000 dives in all oceans and has spent 30 days in a saturation habitat underwater. He has led expeditions for National Geographic to Antarctica, Thailand, and the Pacific Islands. He has authored hundreds of publications; his work has appeared in National Geographic Magazine and the journals; Nature and Science, and he has written dozens of book chapters. He has also written four books, including - Underwater Eden: Saving the Last Ocean Wilderness , Oceans: Heart of Our Blue Planet , Ice Island: Expedition to Antarctica’s Largest Iceberg which won the , and Soul of the Sea in the Age of the Algorithm.
Awards
In 2011 Stone received the University of Rhode Island's Dean's Award for Distinguished Achievement and was the recipient of the Peter Benchley Award for ocean solutions. In 2008 he was one of the nominations for the Boston Globe's “Bostonians of the Year” and in 2007 was given the National Geographic Society's Heroes award. Stone was a recipient of the Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation in 1997 and in 1990 won a postdoctoral award from the National Science Foundation for his work on marine science in Japan. In 1989, Stone received the John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship and in 1986 the National Science Foundation and U.S. Navy Antarctic Service Medal. In 2013, Stone received the Wyland Foundation ICON Award, the NOGI from the National Academy of Underwater Arts and Sciences in 2015, and in 2014 was named the Boston Sea Rovers Diver of the year.
Publications
His frequent contributions to National Geographic Magazine have included the newly released article on Seamounts – “Mountains of the Sea”; “Phoenix Islands” , “After the Tsunami” , “Phoenix Islands: South Pacific Hideaway” , “Deep Science” and “Islands of Ice: Exploring Antarctica’s Islands of Ice” He also presented a TED Talk: "Saving the ocean one island at a time.", and at Davos on the Ocean Health Index
