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Unforgettable Cabo Pulmo

By: Shilpi Chhotray

What happens when fishers give up their fishing poles in the name of conservation?
An iconic example is the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park- 17,570 acres of protected water in Baja Mexico’s East Cape. I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting Cabo Pulmo last December after hearing so much about local fishers collaborating with biologists, conservationists, government staff and divers from around the world to create a no-take marine reserve, providing us hope for life in the sea. There’s a reason Dr. Sylvia Earle holds up Cabo Pulmo as a model to the world:

“I love how this community celebrates the living value of the creatures that occupy the ocean in your neighborhood. It’s a matter of respecting them as neighbors.…

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Dive into the World of Sharks with Sharks4Kids

Mission Blue is proud to partner with Sharks4Kids! 
By: Jillian Morris

At Sharks4Kids, our goal is to create the next generation of shark advocates through education, outreach and adventure. We take students underwater to see sharks first-hand and combine all three aspects of our program to provide an incredible, eye-opening experience. 
We spend a lot of time in the Bahamas which is considered a sanctuary for sharks and the “shark diving capital of the world.” It’s extremely important for local students to see these remarkable animals up close and understand why sharks are valuable not only for the environment, but also the economy. Kids are the future guardians for these animals and making a connection to them is critical for future conservation efforts.…

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Journey to the Sea: Turtles Unite the Choroni + Chuao Hope Spot

To view the article in Spanish, click here. 
By: Shilpi Chhotray, Mission Blue Communications Strategist 

February marks the beginning of sea turtle nesting season on the Venezuelan coastline. For anyone who has witnessed sea turtle hatchlings find their way to the ocean, you know these little marine creatures are up to an enormous challenge. Not only do they have to conquer several meters of sand to get to the sea without any interference, once they are in the ocean, they are up against the risk of pollution, entanglement from fishing gear, and injury from boat propellers. Sea turtles may have been around since the time of the dinosaurs (110 million years!) but their population is in grave decline. It’s safe to say, sea turtles can use our help. …

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Manta Rays and Microplastics

Understanding the Beauty and Vulnerability of Giant Mantas of the Revillagigedo Archipelago
By Courtney Mattison

For those who have spent time underwater with giant manta rays, the experience they recall sounds dreamlike and meditative. The Mission Blue expedition team felt this phenomenon firsthand at the Revillagigedo Archipelago, an open ocean oasis for giants of the sea. “The mantas are like sirens tempting you to go deeper and deeper following their seductive ocean acrobatics,” remarked Shari Sant Plummer after a day of diving with them at Roca Partida, the smallest of these four volcanic islands. She continued:

The mantas here seem to love divers! They want your attention and if you stop paying attention to them, they will remind you… They’re like my dog that comes and nudges my arm when I’m on the computer so that I’ll come play with him.…

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Underwater in the Galápagos: A Lesson in Human Connection

By: Danielle Epifani, Mission Blue Communications Assistant 

After months of reporting imagery and articles of undersea life, I had the unique opportunity to join a seven day liveaboard with the Aggressor III, as a Mission Blue Hope Spot reporter. Throughout my childhood, I alternated between swimming in the ocean of Southern California, my neighbor’s pool, and the crystal clear lagoons and reef passes of my ancestral islands, in French Polynesia. I thought I had experienced the sea: it’s wonder, beauty, and the urgent need for marine protection.
Learning to scuba dive in one of the world’s legendary dive sites had not quite registered with me. However, the unfathomable statistic that the ocean has lost 90 percent of its big fish, ignited a sense of urgency.…

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Tailing Sharks in the Revillagigedo Archipelago

Shark Tagging and Conservation in the Revillagigedo Archipelago
by Courtney Mattison

In the radiant blue of the Revillagigedo Archipelago Biosphere Reserve, about 250 nautical miles south of Cabo San Lucas, sharks rule. From its depths, Galápagos, hammerhead and silvertip sharks find all they need to thrive. White tips and silkies abound. Even the elusive whale shark, its enormous body weightless and almost invisible in the deep blue, frequents these waters. Humans are merely guests, and earlier this month, the Mission Blue expedition team paid a visit.
Sharks and rays throughout the Mexican Pacific and Gulf of California are threatened by commercial fishing operations, some which catch tuna and trap sharks as bycatch while others target sharks outright. Last year, the Mission Blue expedition team discovered tons of dead sharks on the beach of Bahia Los Frailes in Cabo Pulmo Marine Park in the Gulf of California Hope Spot, only 250 nautical miles from the Revillagigedo Archipelago Biosphere Reserve.…

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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 |

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Since When Did We Become A Plastic Society?

Last week I attended the screening of A Plastic Ocean hosted by Plastic Pollution Coalition, Algalita Marine Research and Education, 5 Gyres, Team Marine, Ed Begley Jr., and the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). Thanks for a great event!
By: Shilpi Chhotray

Since when did we become a plastic society? The documentary A Plastic Ocean seeks answers as two fascinating ocean explorers embark on a four year journey to understand the depth and damage of plastic waste in our ocean. Director Craig Leeson and free-diver Tanya Streeter meet with renowned scientists and researchers to witness and communicate the growing issue of ocean plastic pollution to the world. The results are not pretty, nor did I expect them to be given the major implications for all life on earth- from microscopic plankton to giant whales and sea birds, and even human beings. …

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Dodging Disney: Bahamians Seek Science to Save the Egg Island Hope Spot

By: Shilpi Chhotray, Mission Blue Communications Strategist

“Tourists from around the world come to see an untouched Bahamas. Meanwhile, the government says that cultivating high-volume, high-impact deals with cruise lines will bring local jobs. In reality few locals are hired to staff the cruise lines’ “private islands” and these fantasy terraforming projects naturally conflict with efforts to promote local, more lucrative eco-tourism. If Egg Island is designated a marine protected area, the community will see pretty quickly that the income-earning opportunities for eco-tourism far outstrip the earning potential of the average cruise port employee.” Theo Linn is an American attorney and resident of Russell Island, the closest community to uninhabited Egg Island. He recently assisted Bahamian colleague, Holly Peel, in a major battle against Disney Cruise Line. …

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Expedition Update: Fresh Off The Water from the Revillagigedo Archipelago

The Mission Blue expedition team — comprised of Kip Evans, Brett Garling, Courtney Mattison and Shari Sant Plummer — just got off the water from the Revillagigedo Archipelago 300 miles south of Cabo San Lucas, and we have some amazing stories to share with you! Last week we joined forces with our partners Fins Attached, Pelagios Kakunjá and FUSION Media to explore below the surface of this incredible open ocean oasis, which frequent visitors fondly refer to as “Revi” and Mexico’s “little Galápagos.”
The science team, led by Dr. James Ketchum of Pelagios Kakunjá, deployed nine acoustic tags on silky, whitetip and silvertip sharks that will provide invaluable data to researchers on the migration, feeding and reproduction behaviors of key shark species in the Revillagigedo Archipelago Biosphere Reserve and across the Mexican Pacific.…

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