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Coastal Southeast Florida Hope Spot: A Community in Action

By: Angela Smith, Shark Team One

For a number of years, I have worked with key stakeholders as well as educational and governmental groups on recommended management actions (RMAs) that propose an integrated approach for ecosystem and coral reef protection for the Southeast Florida region. The Hope Spot nomination in part was inspired by a particular action plan calling for no-take zones within a marine protected area. That RMA along with many others written by myself and other stakeholders were vetted and voted on during a process called “Our Florida Reefs,” a community planning process developed by the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative (a National Action Plan to conserve coral reefs under guidance from the United States Coral Reef Task Force, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission).…

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PADI and Mission Blue Are Partnering to Ignite Support for Hope Spots

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – 7 June 2017 – PADI® and Mission Blue™ have forged a formal partnership to help increase the level of protection of our world’s ocean. Led by legendary oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue inspires action to explore and protect the ocean. At the heart of this effort is a global campaign to build public support for the protection of Hope Spots — special places that are vital to the health of the ocean.

Hope Spots are about recognizing, empowering and supporting individuals and communities around the world in their efforts to protect the ocean. By activating its global network of divers and dive professionals, the PADI family will further bring attention to marine areas in a worldwide network targeted for enhanced protection.…

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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.…

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Kicking Off The United Nations Ocean Conference

By: Shilpi Chhotray, Mission Blue 

June 5th marks the first day of the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference, a major conference energizing efforts to promote ocean sustainability. Dr. Sylvia Earle and Mission Blue are thrilled to be partnering for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, life below water. SDG 14 aims to: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. The Ocean Conference, the first UN conference of its kind, coincides with World Environment Day and World Oceans Day on Thursday (June 8th).
The Ocean Conference will not only serve as a place to raise awareness of the state of the ocean but call upon global leaders and advocates to generate new dialogues and partnerships aimed at implementing solutions.…

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New Vision at Blue Vision: Heirs To Our Oceans at BVS6

By: Aislinn Clark, Dakota Peebler, Charley Peebler, Seth Weinfield, Nee-Yu Marcus, Cambria Bartlett and Kiran Garewal

Every two years a very important ocean conference happens in Washington, D.C. – the Blue Vision Summit (BVS).  This year it was particularly special. 
For the first time middle-school age kids, us! – Heirs To Our Oceans! — participated alongside our adult ocean-protecting counterparts.   That’s right – 9 Heirs descended upon our nation’s capital. 
What did we do there?  We helped make a plastic pollution fact sheet for our Congresspersons to review!  We sat on panels with experts!  We visited 10 of our Representatives’ offices on Capitol Hill (all in one day) asking that our congresspersons sponsor ocean-protecting bills, for our generation!  We hosted the first-ever Youth Mixer at the Summit! …

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An Ode to Cocos Island, Circa 1987

The Mission Blue team is currently researching and tagging sharks in Cocos Islands. Learn more about our latest expedition. 
By: Robert Yuhnke

Isla de Cocos is magnificent. I spent 6 days there in 1987 diving with an expedition. We were blown away by the richness and diversity of the marine life. I can recall on a bright cloudless day drifting at 70 feet above a wall that dropped into the abyss when suddenly the light disappeared. Turning up, I could barely make out the sun shimmering through a swarm of fish (perhaps tang) so dense that the water had turned dark. On another day my crew mates thought I was nuts for diving over the rail one morning for a half-mile swim in a bay where I watched schools of 12-foot white tips below me as I swam.…

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Saanich Inlet and the Southern Gulf Islands at Risk – Mission Blue Takes Action

By: Emily Bates, PADI

Teeming in the cool waters of Vancouver Island, Canada is some of the greatest diversity of marine life in North America. The famous Jacques Cousteau stated that, “it’s the best temperate-water diving in the world and second only to the Red Sea.”
In March 2017, Mission BlueTM proudly announced the approval of a new Hope Spot: Saanich Inlet and the Southern Gulf Islands in British Colombia, Canada. Bordered by Vancouver Island, the mainland of North America, and the USA/Canada border, this special location is rich with ecologically diverse creatures and plants that are unique from anywhere else in the world.
Despite its value, this Hope Spot faces many challenges like overfishing, heavy marine traffic, urban development that causes pollution, and agricultural run-off that threaten the health of this region.…

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Working to End Whaling in the Saint Vincent and Grenadines Hope Spot

Note, this feature contains sensitive content.
By: Marc de Verteuil

Hundreds of cetaceans are killed by fishermen in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) each year. The species targeted includes humpback whales, orcas, bottlenose dolphins and pilot whales.
Adam Gravel, 28, is a Vincentian ocean activist and the founder of SalvageBlue, a NGO dedicated to establishing SVG as a Hope Spot.
Hope Spots sprang from the mind of marine biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle. She introduced the idea during a TED talk in 2009. The campaign is headed by Dr. Earle’s NGO Mission Blue and it receives support from National Geographic, Rolex and Google.
Gravel spent his childhood in the sea swimming with dolphins, turtles and sharks.
Sailing the Grenadines islands has given him an intimate knowledge and appreciation of the archipelago he calls home.…

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Destination Cocos Island: One of the Sharkiest Places on Earth

Considered to be the most beautiful island in the world by Jacques Cousteau, the island of Cocos in Costa Rica is a sight to behold. Located 350 miles off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, lives a diversity of large pelagic species including sharks, rays, tunas, and dolphins. Sharks including hammerhead, Galápagos, silky, tiger, white tip reef and whale sharks are common sightings, making it a haven for scientists, divers, and marine enthusiasts alike. The iconic animals are known to migrate throughout the Eastern Tropical Pacific from the Galapagos to Columbia, Panama, and Costa Rica. Sharks are integral apex predators that shape the food web and maintain a healthy ecosystem for all marine life. Unfortunately, they continue to be hunted for their fins and exported to China in violation of international agreements, despite Cocos Island designation as a World Heritage Site. …

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The Night Watch

In Playa Grande, Costa Rica, more than 20 years of egg poaching consumed a generation of leatherback sea turtles, bringing the population in the Eastern Pacific to the brink of extinction. Today, Earthwatch scientists and volunteers are working alongside local communities to ensure there’s a future for this species.
By: Alix Morris, Earthwatch Institute

When María Teresa Koberg first arrived in Playa Grande, Costa Rica in the late 1980s to study nesting sea turtles, Doña Esperanza Rodriguez was concerned. At the time, Playa Grande was the most important nesting site worldwide for leatherback sea turtles, but it was also a dangerous place, particularly for a researcher. People were arriving on the beaches from all over the country to harvest eggs from the turtles’ nests, and Esperanza and her family were involved in managing these efforts.…

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