Featured photo (c) Daniel Beltrá, DanielBeltra.com
For those of us who were not lucky enough to make it to Houston for Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle’s landmark talk this week, we’re pleased to share the full-length video courtesy of Rice University’s Baker Institute.
From the need for deep exploration to pressing worldwide ocean issues, the focus moved to the unique challenges of the Gulf of Mexico, and what we’ll need to do to save it for tomorrow’s children.

The Civic Scientist Lectures are a series of talks by leading scientists and engineers from around the world who have impacted public policy. The Civic Scientist Program is managed by the Science and Technology Policy Program of Rice University’s Baker Institute in Houston, Texas.…

Recognizing the growing threat posed by foreign illegal fishing, Senator Jay Rockefeller, Senator Lisa Murkowski and 8 co-sponsors introduced two important bills on February 11th in the US Congress—the Pirate Fishing Elimination Act and the International Fisheries Stewardship and Enforcement Act—that would safeguard U.S. ports, strengthen enforcement, and protect American fishing interests. This follows introduction last month in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo of companion legislation to the International Fisheries Stewardship and Enforcement Act; that bill has eight cosponsors representing the East Coast, Caribbean and Pacific States and Territories.
Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing spans the globe, threatening legitimate fishing operations, undermining sustainable fisheries management, and stealing a vital resource from needy communities and the world economy.…

In July 2012, Bill Weir from ABC’s Nightline was invited to interview Dr. Sylvia Earle during Mission Aquarius, 60′ underwater off Key Largo, Florida.…

Photo of the Day: In many ways, diving in the San Benito Islands is not all that different than diving in Southern California’s Channel Islands. If, that is, you could get into a time machine and go back 40 or 50 years.
Thanks to its relative isolation from population centers, one of the best preserved Kelp forests in the Pacific Ocean is off San Benito Island, Mexico. Often the island is covered by clouds, and the light illuminates the Kelp creating incredible colors, as we see here surrounding these playful California Sea Lions.
Location: San Benito Island, Baja California, Mexico
Photo: © Octavio Aburto…