Sustainable seafood and perfect wine pairings will be front and center at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s seventh annual Sip for the Sea – a benefit that showcases and celebrates WCS’s marine conservation and education work at the New York Aquarium and around the globe.

Sip for the Sea will take place at the Central Park Zoo on Thursday, Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. Proceeds will help further the mission of WCS and the New York Aquarium to save wildlife and wild places.

This year’s event will feature pairings of sustainable seafood and other delectable offerings from some of the top restaurants in New York City and wines from Cono Sur Vineyards & Winery. Participating chefs will be serving up bites from amazing restaurants including: Almond; Amali; Between the Bread; Crave Fishbar; Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse; Fulton Landing Seafood Co.; Mastro’s Steakhouse Manhattan; Mayanoki; Perrine; Shuka; Tavern on the Green; Thalassa Restaurant; Tocqueville Restaurant; and others. Keep an eye on the Sip for the Sea event page for additional participants as they are added.

The Sip for the Sea event will highlight WCS’s marine conservation work in the New York Bight and around the world. WCS’s Marine Conservation Program operates in more than 20 countries globally and focuses on several initiatives to help safeguard marine diversity. In addition to efforts to monitor and protect whales and dolphins, sharks and rays, and coral reefs, WCS scientists provide technical assistance in the establishment of marine protected areas in some of the world’s most important marine ecosystems.

In local waters, the New York Aquarium’s local conservation initiative, the New York Seascape Program, focuses on studying local species that inhabit and move through the New York Bight, a water body found between Long Island’s Montauk Point and New Jersey’s Cape May. Scientists for the New York Seascape Program study shark species such as sand tiger sharks, blue sharks, and shortfin mako sharks, and are working to help reestablish populations of American eels and alewife herring to the area’s freshwater habitats such as the Bronx River. In addition to field research, New York Seascape also works on marine policy, public outreach, and visitor engagement, all vital activities for effective marine conservation and education.

WCS’s New York Aquarium opened to the public in Battery Park, Manhattan in 1896 and is the oldest continually operating aquarium in the United States. It has a fascinating history as the center for marine conservation in New York and is home to an array of aquatic wildlife. In 2018, the New York Aquarium opened the groundbreaking new exhibit—Donald Zucker and Barbara Hrbek Zucker Ocean Wonders: Sharks!—which houses 18 species of sharks and rays and more than 115 other species of marine life.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Members of the media who would like to cover this event should RSVP to John Delaney at jdelaney@wcs.org.