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Byron Bay Named Australia’s Newest Mission Blue Hope Spot Highlighting Need for Improved Marine Protections

Featured image: Migaloo white humpback whale and Wollumbin © Craig Parry
(BYRON BAY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA) –
An 8-hour drive north from Sydney, Australia rests the small coastal town of Byron Bay, appreciated by its 9,000 residents for its sparkling blue waters, golden sands and epic surf breaks. The area encompasses the Cape Byron Marine Park and the Julian Rocks Nguthungulli Nature Reserve, which represent the ecological, cultural, and economic importance of the region. In recent years, Byron Bay has become a popular tourist destination, with 3 to 5 million annual visitors. However, this added pressure comes with a downside: much like many marine ecosystems around the world, the area struggles with the negative effects of pollution, runoff, and increasing coastal development, which has caused habitat degradation of the local marine life.…

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The Great Lakes Named Mission Blue’s First Freshwater Hope Spot

Featured image: Aerial view of Sleeping Bear Dunes © Shedd Aquarium
(LAKE MICHIGAN, CHICAGO, UNITED STATES) –
International marine conservation nonprofit Mission Blue has named the Great Lakes the first and only freshwater Hope Spot with the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, Illinois, as the Hope Spot Champion. 
 
 
Dr. Sylvia Earle, Founder of Mission Blue, posed a challenge to Shedd Aquarium last April to consider the Great Lakes for designation, in part, due to the unique connectivity they share with marine environments and human health. “The Great Lakes represent both the figurative and the literal heart of the North American water system,” Dr. Earle stated. “A source of water for over 40 million people and more than 3,500 plant and animal species, many of which are unique to the Great Lakes, the inclusion of this critically important natural area as a Hope Spot will highlight the connection and significance of protecting inland habitats, as we really understand that the whole aquatic world; inland waters and the ocean beyond are one interconnected system.” …

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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. …

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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.…

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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.”…

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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.’…

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Mission Blue Makes Waves at IMPAC5: A Celebration of Hope Spots and Indigenous Influence

Header image: Dr. Sylvia Earle, IMPAC5 keynote speaker © IISD/ENB 
(VANCOUVER, CANADA) –
From February 3rd-9th, 2023, the 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) was co-hosted by the Canadian government and The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This conference brought together policymakers, conservationists, scientists, and stakeholders from around the world to exchange knowledge, experiences, and best practices in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Mission Blue was omnipresent at the Congress, with the Hope Spots program and the influential presence of Dr. Sylvia Earle.
 

 
The event underscored the importance of indigenous influence in ocean conservation, highlighting the invaluable knowledge and practices of indigenous communities. The focus on indigenous perspectives demonstrated a growing recognition of the vital role that traditional knowledge and practices play in marine conservation, acknowledging the need for greater collaboration and understanding between indigenous communities and the broader conservation community.…

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Scuba Diving made Accessible to Every Body throughout Pacific Northwest with S.A.F.E. Scuba

By Chelsea Meier, Creative Partner, S.A.F.E. SCUBA

(HILLSBORO, PORTLAND, OREGON, UNITED STATES) – 
Beneath the tranquil blue water of the ocean, there’s a bustling world filled with marine life, coral, and wonder. Those who are disabled may not believe that this world is accessible to them but with S.A.F.E. Scuba, it is.
 
 
S.A.F.E. Scuba is a non-profit organization, based in Hillsboro, Oregon, that trains both divers with disabilities and dive buddies who will accompany them on their adventures. Through their adaptive diving programs, they strive to give those with disabilities the chance to gain the confidence, independence, freedom, and self-esteem that come with the sport of scuba diving. Through adaptive diving, those with disabilities can explore new depths and gain a sense of freedom in the open water.…

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Snorkeling for Science: Citizen Scientists join Cape RADD in Exploring the Underwater World of the False Bay Hope Spot, South Africa

By Louise Baldwin, Hope Spot Specialist
Header image: Beautiful underwater scene in the False Bay Hope Spot © Raoul Coscia
(FALSE BAY, SOUTH AFRICA) – 
Southern Africa is home to a particularly rich array of marine diversity with over 13,000 species, almost 6% of all coastal marine species worldwide. Even more impressive is that 35% of these are endemic (occurring nowhere else in the world). This species richness is largely attributed to the fact that two major current systems, the warm Agulhas and the cool Benguela current sweep along its coastline.   
Mike Barron, False Bay Hope Spot Champion says, “I am lucky enough to have traveled the world diving and even worked on the Great Barrier Reef, but on a good day, there’s nowhere quite like diving in the Great African Sea Forests.” …

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Important Sea Turtle Breeding and Foraging Grounds Throughout the Pearl Islands Archipelago in Panama Recognized as a Hope Spot

Featured image by Eduardo Estrada

(PEARL ISLANDS, GULF OF PANAMA) – 
El Archipelago de las Perlas, or the Pearl Islands Archipelago, is a collection of more than 200 islands and islets and 3,188 beaches, located in the Gulf of Panama, approximately 48 kilometers off its Pacific Coast. This archipelago holds an impressive marine life richness and diversity that has yet to be fully discovered, studied, and recognized for its importance within the Latin American region and around the globe. It provides, currently or historically, a breeding ground for four sea turtle species: hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata), green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas), leatherback sea turtles (Dermochleys coriacea), and olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), and it is a nursery ground for hammerhead sharks (Sphyrnidae) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) to breed and raise their young. …

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