Featured image: A female whale shark migrates past Darwin Island. Image © Dr. Alex Hearn
By Courtney Mattison
It’s difficult to think of a place more deserving of status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site than the Galápagos. With cold-water organisms like penguins and kelp living among tropical corals and endemic bullhead sharks, this “melting pot” of marine biodiversity is unparalleled. In 1998, the Ecuadorian Government safeguarded 138,000 square kilometers of ocean surrounding the Galápagos Islands Hope Spot through the creation of the Galápagos Marine Reserve. Nearly 25 years on, Mission Blue celebrates this great achievement alongside a team of researchers led by Mission Blue founder and National Geographic Society Explorer-at-Large Dr. Sylvia Earle and principal expedition investigator and Hope Spot Co-Champion, Professor Alex Hearn.…

Antarctica’s Ross Sea represents the idyllic vision of Earth’s southernmost continent – boundless landscapes of ice glimmer under the sun and penguins stand tall on the edge of glacial cliffs. Under the waves, species like seals, whales and toothfish can be found, along with many species only found in the Ross Sea, and more yet to be described by science. 
 
 
Scientists believe that the Ross Sea is one of the last remaining undisturbed marine ecosystems in the world. In 2016, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) adopted the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area (MPA), making the region the world’s first large-scale, high seas MPA covering 2.09 million square kilometers. “This act showed the world that we can do remarkable things — reaffirming the value of cooperation, peace, science, and conservation in Antarctica”, describes Kimberly Aiken, Research and Policy Associate at the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC).…