In 2012, Ryan, at 6-years-old, wrote and illustrated his book titled Puffy the Pufferfish Saves the Ocean. His book is in several libraries across the country and in Canada and Iceland.

In 2017 Ryan was given permission by his school to help coordinate an Ocean Conservation summer camp. It was well-attended and so much fun. The kids made microfilament disposal tubes out of old tennis cans through the Stow It-Don’t Throw It Project. There was also an ocean trash trivia cleanup and waterslide game, fossilized shark tooth mining with tooth identification, a mobile gaming truck featuring the game Endless Ocean, a surprise appearance by the Tampa Bay Rays mascot with photos, and so much more. All the snacks he planned were sea-themed and served with environmentally friendly utensils and paper straws. In addition, he started a volunteer list to help with future events.

In conjunction with the summer camp Ryan held an online auction. He called or emailed several companies and through his efforts he garnered donations from companies including Tiffany Jewelers, Adidas Corporation, Guy Harvey Foundation, Bote Boards, Bloomin’ Brands and so many more. He also was able to obtain autographed books by Pout-Pout Fish Author Deborah Diesen. Due to the auction, the Fishes Wishes was able to donate $2,000.00 to The Stow It-Don’t Throw It Organization. The money was used for mini-grants to go towards youth-lead ocean conservation projects.

In 2018 The Fishes Wishes made some sea-themed Halloween and Day of the Dead keychains. Ryan made themed keychains like the Goblin Shark, vampire squid, amber-jack-o-lantern, ghost shrimp and more. He and his friends sold the keychains at a locally popular day of the dead festival and raised an additional $200.00.

At the end of 2018 Ryan started to make sculptures out of one-time use plastic and beach trash found locally. His friend Enzo (his friend and a fellow ocean conservationist) worked with Ryan to clean up the beaches and collect unusual pieces of trash that worked perfectly for him to create his one of a kind "trash to treasure" ocean themed sculptures.

After securing a bunch of beach trash Ryan cleaned the pieces and then started to assemble his sculptures. A local restaurant heard about his mission and asked if he would like to have a sculpture unveiling. He was delighted at the opportunity and worked with the owner of the restaurant to help plan the event. There was live music and various ocean organizations came out to help support the event. The groups attending were Clearwater Marine Aquarium, O.N.E. (Ocean Needs Everyone), Ocean Allies and Auburn Supply group. To raise more money, Ryan went into every local restaurant and shop and requested donations of gift certificates and items from ocean-friendly companies. He held a raffle and silent auction at the sculpture unveiling and raised $1,200.00 which was donated to the Ocean Conservancy.

Last year Ryan completed a lighted anglerfish sculpture out of ocean plastic. The Ocean Conservancy asked him to submit his work as an artist. He was accepted as an artist and his angler was displayed in the Ocean Conservancy’s booth inside the Environmental Village at the NFL Live Super Bowl LIV in Miami. In addition, he and his friends Enzo and Sebastien worked together to create a large football sculpture. The sculpture design concept was submitted to the NFL and it was approved. The sculpture was placed in the lobby of the Super Bowl NFL experience at the Miami Convention Center. Ryan was able to attend both events and spoke with people about the importance of keeping trash out of our oceans. In addition, he did a beach cleanup while he was there.

Over the last two years, Ryan has been working on a sequel to his first book. What makes this book different is that, in addition to continuing the Puffy the Pufferfish saga, he was able to interview several influential ocean conservationists, authors and artists and those interviews will be included in the sequel. Ryan also decided to use his award money to design a stuffed animal in the likeness of the main character, Puffy. He worked to choose the right colors, positioning of the fins and to get the measurements just how he envisioned. His goal is to be able to donate a lot of money from the sales of his book and plushy. He got this idea remembering how much he had liked stuffed animals when he was younger so he thinks they will appeal to a wide range of children. His hope is to reach a broader demographic and to inspire others to help keep our oceans clean. Additionally, Barnes and Noble in Clearwater has invited him back for a second book signing once his book is complete. The book and pufferfish will be available in February 2021 on his tenth-year anniversary of helping the ocean.

Ryan’s continued dedication and love of the ocean is evident in his volunteer history, the films he writes and the speeches he gives. He routinely speaks in front of audiences in the hopes of inspiring future ocean conservationists. He treasures his time spent speaking about his passion and appreciates everyone’s willingness to hear his message.

I appreciate you allowing me to nominate him for this award.