When you help steer the world's largest advocacy group for ocean conservation, you're likely to get some recognition along the way. So it's no surprise that GQ has finally gotten around to naming Ted Danson to its 2012 Gentlemen's Fund.

The initiative, now in its fifth year, was created by the lifestyle magazine as a means to raise awareness on issues that are important to modern men. Past celebrity ambassadors highlighted for their philanthropic work have included Ashton Kutcher, Adrian Grenier, Mark Wahlberg and Josh Duhamel.

"The Gentlemen's Fund is about ordinary men doing extraordinary things," GQ publisher Peter Hunsinger said in 2009. "In these times when resources contract, needs escalate, and I am pleased that our sponsors and celebrity ambassadors are bringing awareness to our readers and finding ways for men to give back."

Danson, who joins this year's other ambassadors, Adam Levine of Maroon 5 and actor Kellan Lutz, is being honored for his work with Oceana, a group he helped create back in 2002.

In a new video that talks about his work with the organization, Danson says, "A third of what the world catches is thrown away dead or dying because it's not the fish that they were after." One third of all fish caught being bycatch is a pretty eye-opening statistic. For every two fish you see at the market, that means one was discarded as trash.

As for what it takes to be a GQ gentlemen, Danson says, "I think a gentlemen is more likely to step up and do the right thing in the moment. If the ego starts getting above the work you're doing ... then you lose your gentlemen's badge for the day." He asks other men to "start giving back now."

Mother Nature Network