fbpixel April 2023 - Mission Blue

Monthly Archives: April 2023
Restoration and Protection in Action: A Year of Successes for the Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation on Pangatalan Island, the Philippines

Header image: Pangatalan Island © Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation
The Philippines is part of the Coral Triangle and is located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is an area of exceptional importance and is recognised as the global center for marine biodiversity. It is home to more than 1,700 reef fish species, five of the world’s seven marine turtle species and a staggering number of reef building coral species (460+). Due to the richness of marine biodiversity found here, conservationists have advocated for its increased protection. 
 
 
Mission Blue has designated two Hope Spots in the Philippines, one of which is Pangatalan Island. This small island is located north-east of Palawan and covers an area of 4.5 hectares. In 2011, driven by their love of the ocean, French business developer Fréd Tardieu and his wife purchased the island and founded the Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to conserve, protect and restore the natural resources of Palawan. …

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, sylvia earle, Uncategorized |

Leave a comment
New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary Named a Hope Spot to Highlight Ongoing Cleanup Efforts to Improve Water Quality and Ecosystem Restoration

Featured image: Egrets in the Meadowlands © Hackensack Riverkeeper
(NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY HARBOR ESTUARY, UNITED STATES) –
The New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary is located in the largest metropolitan region in the United States, where more than 14 million people work and raise their families and millions more come to visit from around the world every year. Throughout more than three centuries, the water in the estuary was degraded due to pollution and habitat destruction from activities like untreated sewage, industrial waste dumping, dredging, and development. The quality of the water hit its lowest point in the 1960s, a turning point in which New York State voters passed the Pure Waters Bond Act in 1965 and the federal Clean Water Act of 1972 was passed when several public and private NGOs and agencies began focusing on its recovery and pushed improved regulations and enforcement, coastal land use policies, public access, research, and education.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, sylvia earle, Uncategorized |

2 Comments
High Seas Treaty Reached at United Nations in Historic Deal

Featured image: Sargassum floating in the Sargasso Sea, located in the Northern Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, high seas. The Sargasso Sea is one of Mission Blue’s Hope Spots located in the high seas © Philippe Rouja
(UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK) – 
After two decades of ongoing discussion, United Nations delegates from 193 nations reached a historic agreement on March 4th, 2023 to protect marine biodiversity and address climate change in international waters, also known as the “high seas”. The high seas refers to approximately 2/3rds of the world’s oceans that are not within any country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), leaving such waters vulnerable to damaging fishing and other extractive practices. 
António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General, says, “This action is a victory for multilateralism and for global efforts to counter the destructive trends facing ocean health, now and for generations to come.”…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, sylvia earle, Uncategorized |

Leave a comment
New Sea Hub of Environmental Learning in Laamu (SHELL), a Jewel for Conservation in the Maldives

Featured images: Sea Hub of Environmental Learning in Laamu © Shannon McIntyre Rake
Written by Hope Spots Program Manager Shannon McIntyre Rake
(LAAMU ATOLL, SOUTHERN MALDIVES) –
Congratulations to Six Senses Laamu, Hope Spot Champions for Laamu Atoll who celebrated the grand opening of the Sea Hub for Environmental Learning in Laamu (SHELL) on March 1, 2023. The SHELL will house the Maldives Underwater Initiative (MUI), a marine conservation collaborative consisting of Six Senses Laamu marine biologists and partner NGOs, The Manta Trust, Blue Marine Foundation and the Olive Ridley Project.
 

 
Marteyne van Well, Regional General Manager, says, “Healing the ocean requires understanding first. The environmentalist Baba Dioum once said, ‘In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.’…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, sylvia earle, Uncategorized |

Leave a comment