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).…

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.…