James Cameron’s solo dive to the deepest point in the ocean has garnered the headlines, but a manned Chinese submersible called Jiaolong is increasingly making its mark on the ocean’s floor.
The Jiaolong successfully completed a dive to 22,851 feet (6,965 meters) below sea level into the Mariana Trench on Tuesday. China’s State Oceanic Administration reported that the submersible took three hours just to descend and the dive lasted 11 hours in total. The submersible returned to the surface with samples of deep-sea water, sediment deposits, specimens, as well as video and photographs.
The dive marked the piloted submersible’s third dive in the Mariana Trench. The submersible was being piloted by Ye Cong, Fu Wentao and Tang Jialing and had a support team of nearly 100 scientists on standby to ensure the functionality of the submersible, conduct research and analyze seabed samples, according to the Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.…

President Anote Tong of Kirabati, who was instrumental in the creation of one of the largest marine protected area, was the winner of this year’s Peter Benchley Ocean Award for National Stewardship of the Ocean.

President Tong is globally recognized for his work on climate response, ocean protection and multinational collaboration. Within the ocean community he is best known for his instrumental work in creating one of the world’s largest and most biologically rich marine protected areas, the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, which was recently declared a UN World Heritage Site. President Tong is also a key player in the Pacific Islands Forum of 16 independent states that are taking control of their marine resources and planning a network of linked marine protected areas dubbed the “Pacific Seascape.”…

Philippe Cousteau, grandson of famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, opened the Rio+20 Oceans Dialogue yesterday as moderator of a panel of 10 international ocean experts sitting on stage alongside 10 recommendations critical to advance global ocean management.
“Oceans are considered too big to fail, but in fact they are failing,” said panelist Richard Delaney said of the Global Ocean Forum at the start of the public discussion organized by the Brazilian government.
Each panelist acknowledged the myriad of problems facing the world’s ocean – from ocean acidification, unsustainable and illegal fishing to land and marine-based pollution – with an eye toward sending a strong message to the United Nations delegates charged with producing a final political document on June 22 at the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development.…

By Annie Reisewitz
Valuable on-the-ground discussions about community outreach are happening alongside the deep political negotiations at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This past weekend, Mission Blue and the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) presented, “Oceans in Google Earth as an Educational Tool: A Dominican Republic Perspective,” a real-world example of how to connect the world to the global ocean through technology. GFDD environmental manager Emy Rodriguez took everyone in attendance on an interactive Google Earth tour of the state’s diverse marine environment, rich with stingrays and fish cruising along colorful coral reef in the Dominican Republic.
In 2009 Google launched Oceans in Google Earth and the “Explore the Ocean” layer, which is curated by the Sylvia Earle Alliance.…

“Planet Ocean” is an international documentary that takes viewers on a unique journey into the heart of the least known region of our planet — the ocean. The film is set to premiere today at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The film seeks to promote a deeper understanding of the importance of oceans in the ecosystem thorough narration that links man and the ocean, the future of humankind on Earth, the issues of governance of the high seas, and the issues that the world’s ocean will face in the future.
“It’s not a policymaker restricted film nor an expert documentary,” said the director of the film Michael Pitiot. “I feel it’s much more an emotional film to talk about humankind and nature.”…

In celebration of World Oceans Day, people crowded into the Baird Auditorium at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC last Friday afternoon. Dr. Sylvia Earle Skyped from the stage with team of scientists from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation on their research ship, the Golden Shadow, anchored off of Darwin Island in the Galapagos.
Dr. Earle spoke with the research team about how coral reefs in the Galapagos cope with threats including temperature change, ocean acidification and bleaching events. Audience members learned about current studies looking at rare coral reefs and how some coral species in the Galapagos hold hope that corals have the resilience to cope with global climate change. Following the live Skype call with the Galapagos, Dr.…

In celebration of June 8th’s World Oceans Day, a new online database of global MPAs, www.MPAtlans.org, that is dedicated to bringing the importance of ocean parks into the public eye was announced. Behind the launch of the new online tool is the California based Waitt Foundation and the Marine Conservation Institute announced.
www.MPAtlas.org is an interactive and user-friendly platform that offers a comprehensive scope of data within an online digital map. The appeal of www.MPAtlas.org is in the global scale of the website. This project has compiled and synthesized information to help website users understand the level of protection, biodiversity, biomass, size, and management authorities of MPAs. It is expected that scientists, policy makers, conservation advocates and members of the public will turn to the online tool for comprehensive information.…