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Blog Archives
San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival features Mission Blue Partners

Now through Sunday, and in it's 10th year, The San Francisco Ocean Film Festival has added 'International' to it's well respected name. With 50 films created from all corners of the globe, the festival has truly raised the bar. Come by Pier 39 this weekend to catch a glimpse of an exciting lineup of ocean-related documentaries. With French explorer and environmentalist Jean-Michel Cousteau in attendance, the SF International Ocean Film Festival hopes to educate and entertain the public in greater numbers than ever before. We're proud that several of the films are by, or about Mission Blue Partners.

When Walter Marti called Mission Blue partners, Ocean Defenders Alliance to alert them about a huge derelict net at Isla Coronado in Northern Mexico, Kurt Lieber and his team went into action.…

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Bay Area Painter Celebrates Beauty of Marine Life to Support Conservation

"We live on the edge of giant, writhing oceans of life that continue to pump masses of much needed oxygen into the air we breath. Yet our life-filled seas face threatening hardships such as pollution, plastics, and overfishing."

– Cleo Vilett

“Leafy Sea Dragon” Oil on canvas, 24”x18” © Cleo Vilett 2008

In light of human-caused environmental challenges, artist Cleo Vilett invites her viewers to take a closer look. A painter, scientific illustrator and marine biologist by training, Vilett is a Bay Area native with a passion for the natural world. Through her work, she hopes “to bring attention to marine subjects as art while promoting conservation of the world’s oceans.”

“Large Jellies” Acrylic and resin on birch, 22”x10” © Cleo Vilett 2011

Vilett’s appreciation for the beauty of sea life began while earning a degree in marine biology.…

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Mesoamerican Reef – Swan Islands Expedition

July 16 – 24, 2011
“The goal of the July 2011 Mission Blue expedition to the Swan Islands was to explore and document the nature of marinelife in the surrounding waters and to support designation of the islands, known as the ‘Galapagos of the Caribbean,’ as a marine protected area.”   – Dr. Sylvia Earle
The Mesoamerican Reef was formed over the last 225 million years and extends from Isla Contoy on the north of the Yucatan Peninsula to the Bay Islands of Honduras. It is the second longest barrier reef in the world and unique in the Western hemisphere due to its length, composition of reef types, and diverse assemblage of corals and related species. It hosts more than 65 species of stony coral, 350 species of mollusk and more than 500 species of fish, including the mammoth whale shark—the largest fish in the world.…

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Coiba

Identified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2005, Coiba National Park is located in the Gulf of Chiriquí, Coiba and is approximately 30 miles off Panama’s Pacific coast. Coiba National Park is a group of 38 islands and the waters surrounding them covers 430,825 acres (Nacional Parque Coiba.)
Between 1919 – 2004, Isla Coiba served as a penal colony and access to the island was restricted. As a result, 80% of the islands natural resources have survived untouched and flourished through limited human contact (Nacional Parque Coiba,) but several deep-water areas including Hannibal Bank are not currently under protection.
Mission Blue embarked on an expedition to this Hope Spot to emphasize the importance of Coiba’s protection. With generous support from the STRI, Shannon and Bill Joy, Code Blue, International Community Foundation and the Sylvia Earle Alliance, a team of scientists, conservation leaders and dive professionals explored Coiba to better understand this complex ecosystem rich in diverse marine life.…

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Aquarius Habitat

Aquarius is an underwater ocean laboratory located in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The laboratory is deployed three and half miles offshore, at a depth of 60 feet, next to spectacular coral reefs. Scientists live in Aquarius during ten–day missions using saturation diving to study and explore our coastal ocean. Aquarius is owned by NOAA and is operated by the University of North Carolina Wilmington (NOAA, 2012)
As Mission Aquarius, a celebration of 50 years under the sea, winds to a close, the Mission Blue team in Florida is filled with hope for the future of Aquarius. Dr. Sylvia Earle, her team of Aquanauts and everyone working to support and highlight the mission pulled together into a cohesive team that has made a clear statement to the world – Aquarius must be saved.…

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Cocos Island

Surrounded by deep waters and strong currents, Cocos Island has long been admired by scuba divers for its wealth of marine life. Large pelagic species are very abundant in the cool productive waters surrounding Cocos and divers often see large schools of hammerhead sharks, dolphin, tuna, and schools of snapper. Jacques Cousteau visited Cocos several times and raved about its incredible beauty. Cocos Island was declared a National Park by the Costa Rican government in 1978 and in 1997, UNESCO designated Cocos a world heritage site. In 2002, the surrounding waters were included under that protection. Despite its status as one of the most important marine conservation sites in the world, Cocos is still under pressure from illegal poaching of sharks, tuna, and other marine species.…

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Bahamas

Consisting of over 3,000 islands, islets and cays, and covering an area of over 14,000 square kilometers, the nation of the Bahamas contains several priceless marine habitats, and thus has been designated by Dr. Earle as one of Mission Blue’s global Hope Spots. In cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, the expedition was concentrated in the Exuma Cays, a Marine Protected Area that has been managed as a no-take marine fishery reserve since 1986, allowing populations of commercially important species such as queen conch, Nassau grouper and spiny lobster to thrive. Sea turtles and sharks swim throughout coral reefs teeming with marine life.…

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Gulf of California – Pangas Cruise

The Gulf of California is a large body of water that separates the peninsula of Baja California from the Mexican mainland. It is bordered by the states of Baja California, Sur, Sonora, Baja California and Sinaloa with a coastline of approximately 2,500 miles (4,000 km). The Gulf of California is also called the Sea of Cortés, which is preferred by most local residents. Jacques Cousteau dubbed the Gulf of California, “the world’s aquarium,” because it boasts approximately one-third of the world’s total number of marine mammal species, nearly 900 fish species (about 90 of which are endemic to the area) and more than 170 seabird species.
In 2010, Expeditions Director Kip Evans joined the Panagas program for a week long cruise through the Gulf of California.…

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Belize – Mesoamerican Reef

In the winter of 2010, the Sealliance team made a 10-day trip to Belize to highlight research being conducted by scientists studying coral reefs, mangrove forest, and sea turtles.  We traveled to Belize City, Ambergris Caye, Lighthouse Reef Atoll, and Turneffe Atoll.  We were on a mission to show the difference between areas under protection and areas outside of protection.  The difference was staggering in some locations.
We interviewed scientists, filmed sea turtle research, tagging programs, and documented several coral reefs areas, both in and out of reserves.
Home to earth’s second longest barrier reef—the Mesoamerican Reef system—this country of only 300,000 already plays an important role in protecting the blue heart of the planet. While there we aimed to film and research the natural habitats of this unique Central American nation, as well as to meet a number of Belizeans who are working hard to preserve its vital, fragile environment.…

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Cuba

The team’s second expedition took us to the coral reefs of Cuba. In the late fall of 2009, we explored what remains of a priceless ecological resource; largely unspoiled coral reefs that support a wide array of rare plant and animal species.
In 2009 our team documented Cuba’s marine life and the biodiversity that thrives on Cuba’s coral reefs in order to aid our partners’ conservation efforts. Cuba is located at the convergence of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea; it provides a vital refuge for fish, amphibians, birds, and other creatures that have been forced to flee nearby local habitats. For example, Cuba is the exclusive sanctuary for the Cuban crocodile which once thrived in an area that extended from the Cayman Islands to the Bahamas.…

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