Featured image: Clockwise from left: Ecuador’s Minister of Environment Gustavo Manrique, DeepSee submersible pilot Arik Amzaleg, Dr. Sylvia Earle © Taylor Griffith
By Courtney Mattison

Thousands of bubbles glitter upwards around the clear acrylic sphere as the DeepSee submersible descends into the turquoise abyss. Dark water below invites curiosity and anticipation as the pilot and two passengers perch quietly on their seats, gazing through the deepening shades of blue that surround them. Enveloped in darkness at 220 meters depth, Ecuador’s Minister of Environment, Gustavo Manrique, utters to his co-passenger, “Sylvia, this is like being in space!” to which Sylvia replies, “No, this is even better — because there’s life.” 
Most of the ocean and life within it exist in darkness. Mission Blue founder and National Geographic Society Explorer-at-Large Dr.…

Featured image: © Steve Dawson, New Zealand Whale and Dolphin Trust
NEW ZEALAND (November 28th, 2022)

This week, the US Court of International Trade banned the import of New Zealand fish caught in trawl and gillnet fisheries, off the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. Judge Gary Katzmann made this decision to help protect the critically endangered Māui dolphin. With only about 50 individuals left, the Maui dolphin is literally teetering on the brink of extinction. The International Whaling Commission and IUCN have both urged New Zealand, since 2012, to fully protect these dolphins. The continued lack of effective protection resulted in the US banning fish imports from New Zealand, because New Zealand has failed to implement dolphin protection that is comparable to the US.…