fbpixel Dr. Sylvia Earle Archives - Page 15 of 24 - Mission Blue

Blog Archives
Mission Blue Heads to Palau to Investigate MPA Successes and Challenges

Named as one of National Geographic’s “Last Great Places on Earth”, The Republic of Palau is an isolated archipelago in the Western Pacific that encompasses 340 islands and some of the world’s most remarkably vast biological diversity. Palau is home to more marine life species than most any other area of comparable size on Earth. Three of the world’s major currents collide here, creating a giant mixing zone that drives productivity for thousands of species including vibrant corals, squid, starfish, sea urchins and more than 1,500 species of fish. The continued success of the marine life here is due, in part, to the citizens’ and government’s steadfast dedication to conservation and protection.
The Mission Blue team is embarking on an expedition to Palau to highlight the nation’s protected areas, high biodiversity and threats faced by marine life such as illegal fishing.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, sylvia earle, Uncategorized |

2 Comments
Grand Cayman Port Controversy

In 2016, George Town Harbor was designated by Mission Blue as a Hope Spot. Mission Blue and the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) define Hope Spots as “areas in the ocean recognized by scientists for having unique ecological attributes that make them especially deserving of designation as marine protected areas.” These areas that are privileged enough to be recognized have qualities of ecological, biological, aesthetic, or socioeconomic significance.
Hope Spots were created to “encourage people to take responsibility and ownership of their environment” and now for the first time, the people of the Cayman Islands could have a direct say in the fate of their marine environment and the fate of George Town Harbor through a referendum. If you live in the Caymans, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (GHOF) encourages you to take responsibility for your ocean and stand up for what is right with your vote. …

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, Hope Spot, mission blue, Uncategorized |

9 Comments
Declaration of Alborán Sea Hope Spot Coincides with Intercontinental Conservation Efforts

ALBORÁN SEA, (September 13th, 2018) – International non-profit Mission Blue has declared the Alborán Sea a Hope Spot, coinciding with the upcoming meeting between IUCN (Intercontinental Union for Conservation of Nature) Center for Mediterranean Cooperation and the Universities of the Alborán Sea to establish a unified system of regulations to protect the waters and species that inhabit it. The area of coastline that lines the Alborán Sea is of high ecological value with an incredible biodiversity of susceptible and endangered species that are currently on the IUCN Red List and protected species of MAPAMA (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment).
The Alborán Sea is home to some of the highest biodiversity in the Mediterranean, including sea birds, turtles, seahorses, bottlenose dolphins, sharks and dwarf sperm whales.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, sylvia earle, Uncategorized |

2 Comments
Varadero’s Coral Reef off the Colombian Coast at Cartagena is Designated a Hope Spot

CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA (April 23rd, 2018) – Varadero´s Coral Reef, a dynamic marine ecosystem in the Bay of Cartagena, has been declared a Hope Spot by international non-profit Mission Blue. The reef has a paradoxical existence, harboring high coral cover and diversity despite the poor water quality and sediments discharged during the last 500 years by the Canal del Dique, a 118 square kilometer canal connecting Cartagena Bay to the Magdalena River. Varadero´s Reef which has drawn special interest from the local scientific community, is now being thrust into the international conservation spotlight as a Mission Blue Hope Spot. The persistence of the Varadero´s Reef is currently threatened by a project to modernize Cartagena’s port, not only by the direct damage produced by the dredging of a new shipping lane through the reef, but also by the deterioration of water conditions associated with the operation and maintenance of the channel.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue |

15 Comments
Destacada oceanógrafa Sylvia Earle bucea en la Reserva Nacional Pingüino de Humboldt y llama a las autoridades a protegerla

This content 

La bióloga marina y reconocida conservacionista, Sylvia Earle buceó en las aguas de la Reserva Nacional Pingüino de Humboldt aprovechando su asistencia al Cuarto Congreso Internacional de Áreas Marinas Protegidas, IMPAC4, que se realiza en Coquimbo. En la visita, Earle compartió con buzos locales, quienes le mostraron las maravillas naturales de uno de los lugares más ricos del mundo en términos de biodiversidad.
“Quisimos invitar a Sylvia para mostrarle la importancia de preservar este lugar y compartir con ella el trabajo que hemos realizado para protegerlo”, señaló César Villarroel, documentalitsta y capitán del Centro de Buceo Explorasub, organizador de la visita de Earle. “Nuestra meta es impulsar el turismo sustentable, aprovechando que este lugar es un laboratorio natural de interés tanto para científicos como para el público en general y que se amplien las zonas de protección para todas las islas del Archipielago Humboldt”, añadió.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories |

2 Comments
Glimmers of Hope from an Ancient World

by Courtney Mattison

Undulating in the clear cerulean water, long blades of Posidonia oceanica seagrass glittered green through the window of my scuba mask. As I sank among them, I felt as if I could disappear within their dense, elongated strands. I peered down and discovered a painted comber (Serranus scriba), twenty-five centimeters long, staring back at me from its hiding spot. Gazing ahead to the other divers in our group, I spotted a golden yellow brittle star climbing up the arm of Manu San Félix, an underwater filmmaker and marine biologist who was our guide on this dive.
“The first time you jump on a place with Posidonia and you look through your mask, you will see a green meadow,” remarked Manu San Félix after the dive.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Uncategorized |

Leave a comment
Cocos Island Expedition: A Lesson in Enforcement

You don’t need to be a marine biologist to understand why Cocos Island is well worth protecting. While the schools of hammerhead sharks steal the show, the truth is that there are nearly 1,400 marine species identified around Cocos Island with a high degree of endemism. On a single dive, a lucky diver could see multiple species of sharks, mantas, yellowfin tuna, marlin, eels and a profusion of fishes. Good on the Costa Rican government, then, for having created Cocos Island National Park and thus prohibited the entrance of fishing boats within 12 nautical miles around the island.
As Mission Blue and our expedition partner Fins Attached cruised back to Puntarenas on the Undersea Hunter vessel, we had time to reflect on the jaw-dropping natural beauty we had witnessed at Cocos Island and the continuing struggle to protect it.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue |

4 Comments
Hope for Wildlife on Planet Earth

Have you ever wondered what animals think and feel? Dr. Sylvia Earle reflects on Carl Safina’s famous Ted Talk, “What are animals thinking and feeling?”
By: Dr. Sylvia Earle

As I sat aboard the 340-foot National Geographic Lindblad Orion exploration vessel steaming through one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, the Coral Triangle, and listened to Carl Safina deliver his mesmerizing talk, “What are animals thinking and feeling?,” I felt a stirring of hope for wildlife on planet Earth. With such incision, Carl confirmed what I have observed through my decades of diving into the blue: fish have personalities! Eels have intelligence! Whales have empathy! Sharks exhibit rationality! These cognitive faculties that some humans insist make us distinct from the animal kingdom are actually shared by many of the creatures living on this blue speck in the universe.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue |

3 Comments
Canada: Please Improve the Proposed Protection Measures for the Scott Islands Hope Spot!

Find below a letter from Dr. Sylvia Earle, founder of Mission Blue, and Dr. Dan Laffoley, Chair of the Mission Blue Hope Spot Council, to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change in Canada urging improvement in the protection of the Scott Islands Hope Spot. Want to add your voice?

Hon. Catherine McKenna
Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Canada
cc: Caroline Ladanowski, Director, Wildlife Management and Regulatory Affairs Division, Canadian Wildlife Service
By Email
Dear Minister McKenna,
Mission Blue congratulates the Canadian Government’s efforts to protect the ecologically significant marine area surrounding the Scott Islands. However, we encourage the Government of Canada to improve the proposed protection measures for the Scott Islands marine National Wildlife Area, for both the seabirds and for the other marine species that inhabit the waters in this ecosystem.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue |

3 Comments
Fate of Small Species Has Huge Implications for Our Ocean

The Pacific Fishery Management Council should use science to set catch limits on anchovy.  
By: Dr. Sylvia Earle

When most of us think of the ocean, we think big: It covers 71 percent of our planet, dictates our weather, and is home to the tallest mountain and deepest canyon on the planet, as well as the largest animal, the blue whale.
And yet the ocean relies on its smallest inhabitants, from the phytoplankton and zooplankton that underpin the food web to forage fish, species like sardines, herring, and anchovy that are often referred to as baitfish.
In recent years, numbers of some forage fish species have declined dramatically, causing a food shortage for a vast array of marine animals. The Pacific marine ecosystem, including right here in the San Francisco Bay, is already suffering the consequences, with well-publicized accounts of starving sea lion pups and brown pelican breeding failures among the most visible evidence.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue |

1 Comment