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Yearly Archives: 2014
A Prolific Whaling Ship is Reborn in the Name of Ocean Conservation

The ship on the US commemorative stamp pictured above is the Charles W. Morgan, a whaling vessel that was built in 1841 and sailed the global ocean for 80 years hunting giant cetaceans. The ship is the world’s oldest surviving commercial vessel and had been under restoration for 6 years until it was re-launched in 2013. Only the USS Constitution, the 1797 Navy frigate afloat at Pier 1 in Charlestown, is older.
This past weekend, the Charles W. Morgan sailed around Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off of Massachusetts — not as a commercial interest to plunder the ocean, but as a beacon of ocean conservation. The ship held a lively crew of historians, scientists, authors and artists who were aboard to draw attention to the sanctuary’s efforts to study, understand and protect endangered whales.…

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The Tides Are Changing!

Can You Feel It? The Tides Are Changing!
National Ocean Month ignited the ocean community with can-do energy and saw many positive developments. We at Mission Blue believe that the tides are changing in favor of the ocean — that this moment is truly the sweet spot in time. How could we conclude otherwise in light of these recent developments?
Secretary of State Kerry unveiled his Ocean Action Plan: end overfishing by 2020; reduce nutrient pollution 20% by 2025; reduce carbon emissions; get at least 10% of the ocean protected by 2020. And, Leonardo DiCaprio knocked our fins off with his generosity, pledging $7 million from his foundation to ocean causes over the next two years. All in all, $2 billion was pledged to ocean projects and causes.…

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Is education the key to saving our oceans?

by Olivia and Carter Ries 
There’s nothing quite as inspiring as young people with a mission, and Olivia and Carter are always in motion – fighting the good fight. So listen up, these kids have some things they want us to know.
First, we’ll hear Olivia’s reflections after having attended John Kerry’s historic ‘Our Ocean 2014’ Conference this month.
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As we attended the ‘Our Oceans’ conference at the State Department recently, it became apparent that there are a whole lot of people and countries who care for the future of our oceans.  We heard experts from around the globe way-in on such issues as Ocean Acidification, Overfishing/Illegal Fishing and even about the issue of Marine Debris and Plastic Pollution. 
We were all so excited to see the level of participation from so many countries and the sincere compassion participants demonstrated as they mapped out their plans to help our oceans.  …

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From despair to repair: Dramatic decline of Caribbean corals can be reversed

With only about one-sixth of the original coral cover left, most Caribbean coral reefs may disappear in the next 20 years, primarily due to the loss of grazers in the region, according to the latest report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN,) the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP.)
The report, Status and Trends of Caribbean Coral Reefs: 1970-2012, is the most detailed and comprehensive study of its kind published to date – the result of the work of 90 experts over the course of three years. It contains the analysis of more than 35,000 surveys conducted at 90 Caribbean locations since 1970, including studies of corals, seaweeds, grazing sea urchins and fish.…

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Actionable Rescue Package for the Global Ocean

We are thrilled at the announcement of groundbreaking plan of the Global Ocean Commission, that has generated eight concrete proposals from science, academia, business and NGO’s to catalyze a reversal of the alarming ocean decline we’ve seen over the past century. As our supporters know, Mission Blue is dedicated to elevating public knowledge and concern for our global ocean, through diverse means from expeditions to films. The issues that the report addresses, such as governing the high seas or combating marine plastics, are issues that Mission Blue and her nearly 100 partners are engaged with daily in a battle to right the wrongs done to the Blue Heart of Our Planet.

There are 8 exciting proposals put forward by the new initiative:
1) A UN Sustainable Development Goal for the Ocean — putting a healthy living ocean at the heart of the UN’s post-2015 development agenda, with detailed targets and specific indicators for ocean heath.…

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A Time For Heroes

By Deb Castellana
Last week, 400 participants from 80 different nations answered US Secretary of State John Kerry’s call to come together for his Our Ocean 2014 Conference in Washington, D.C.  Dr. Sylvia Earle has been honored to serve on the steering committee of Mr. Kerry’s Oceans Group, and her work over the past several years helped make the conference the success it was.
Attending were heads of state, CEOs of large corporations like Bumblebee Tuna, NGOs, foreign ministers, scientists and celebrities. They gathered to collaborate on an action plan to insure that future generations will inherit a planet capable of sustaining human life. As Earle says: “No blue; no green. No ocean; no us.”
In his opening keynote, Mr. Kerry called for the creation of a global ocean strategy.…

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Kerry Conference Calls for Global Action to Save Oceans ‘Under Seige’

“Increasingly, the ocean is threatened. The world’s oceans, as vast as they are, as much as they elicit a sense of awe for size and power, are under siege.”
This week’s State Department ‘Our Ocean’ conference hosts leaders of governments, businesses and NGOs from across the globe and aims to deliver hard-hitting messages about the need for closer co-operation to overcome the challenges facing our ocean – and ourselves.
The summit is built on three pillars: sustainable fisheries, marine pollution and ocean acidification. Speakers include Dr. Margaret Leinen from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, President Anote Tong of Kiribati and actor and philanthropist Leonardo DiCaprio.
On June 17, National Geographic will host a screening of the Mission Blue film for the ‘Our Ocean’ delegates and invited guests.…

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Mission Blue Film Screens at ‘Our Ocean 2014’

Sheldon Whitehouse, the outspoken ‘blue’ senator from the Ocean State of Rhode Island kicked off the evening by introducing Bob Nixon and Fisher Stevens before the Mission Blue Screening at National Geographic HQ in Washington, D.C.  Netflix made it possible for delegates to have a rare opportunity to see the film before its formal release on August 15th.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photographs (c) Deb Castellana …

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Ocean Trio Makes Diving History at Aquarius

By Deb Castellana
Imagine if you will, a life support pod at the bottom of the sea. About the size of a city bus, Aquarius sits in 63’ of water inside the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Currently operated by Florida International University, Aquarius was almost closed due to lack of funding in 2012. Mission Aquarius, during which Mission Blue’s Dr. Sylvia Earle lived below for a week, was eloquently documented by One World One Ocean. Through the efforts of many who shined a spotlight on Aquarius as a unique and valuable asset to science, Aquarius received a stay of execution. In her time, she has served an important role, hosting NASA astronauts in training, coral scientists, climate change experts, journalists and statesmen.…

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Celebrating Coral Triangle Day

The Coral Triangle is an extraordinarily biodiverse marine area of the western Pacific Ocean, and today the world celebrates this globally important Mission Blue Hope Spot! Encompassing waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands, it covers 5.7 million square kilometers of ocean. 
Representing less than 1% of the planet’s marine environment, coral reefs support no less than 25% of its species. The Coral Triangle is a bioregion that’s half the size of the United States and harbors more marine species than anywhere else on the planet. There are single reefs here that contain more species than the entire Caribbean. The Coral Triangle contains 76% of all known coral types, more than 3,000 species of fish and 6 out of 7 of the world’s turtle species.…

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