Ocean Stories

Why are sea turtles miraculous? Scott Gass, Veronica Wallenberg and Johan Sonestedt recently teamed up to answer this question in the latest TEDed animated video. The short video explains the journey of a sea turtle and introduces the many pressures that threaten sea turtles today.
With increasing fishing pressures, rising problems with marine debris and threatened nesting grounds, the video states that only 2 out of every 800 sea turtle hatchlings make it to breeding age. Today, all eight sea turtle species are either extinct or threatened.
Watch the animated video below to see the miraculous journey of sea turtle hatchlings, learn the challenges presented by human interference and gain a new appreciation for these amazing creatures that have been around roughly 150,000,000 years ago!…

July 25, 2012  by Deb Castellana
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.
With One World One Ocean in the lead, an award winning group of ocean media pros converged on Key Largo, Florida to call attention to the imminent loss of funding for the world’s last remaining undersea laboratory. Utilizing IMAX film, live webcasts from both inside the habitat and from the seafloor, social media and mainstream news networks, teams worked 24/7 to highlight both the past achievements of Aquarius, and it’s possibilities for the future.…

Turning marine debris into electricity may have once been an idea of the future, but in Hawai’i, it’s actually reality.
Marine debris of all shapes, sizes and materials accumulates in and around the islands of Hawai’i. Much of the debris is made up of abandoned fishing gear including nets, lines, and commercial fishing traps. The debris endangers marine wildlife and even navigation through the surrounding water. In 2002 a NOAA-funded initiative set out to resolve this problem by converting some of the marine debris into electricity.
Every year, Nets-to-Energy removes large conglomerations of nets that can each weigh thousands of pounds, from Hawaii’s reefs and shores. After collection, the nets are chopped into small pieces suitable for combustion at an energy from waste facility.…

By Samantha Whitcraft, Shark Savers International

Photo: Mary O’Malley, Shark Savers

Florida is one of those places that like South Africa and Australia, is synonymous with sharks. The good news is that the State of Florida has listed 25 species of elasmobranchs as completely protected from harvest, on their ‘Protected Species’ list. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) defines this protected status as prohibiting the harvest, possession, landing, purchase or sale of these species or any part of them. The complete list includes not only some of the most charismatic species like white sharks and whale sharks but also species that are more rare like sawfish and basking sharks. And in the past three years alone, a united coalition of local conservation organizations, scientists, catch-and-release fishermen and concerned citizens have rallied to add several more species to that list.…

Every summer a whopping 57,000 beluga whales return to the western reaches of the Hudson Bay in Northern Canada. Once in the Hudson Bay the whales swim to two very specific locations: The estuaries of the Nelson and Churchill rivers. While the migration is recognized as one of the biggest migrations of belugas in the world, what drives them to these two specific estuaries remains a mystery.
In an attempt to better understand the strong homing instincts of the beluga whales, their feeding behaviors and the role they play in these estuary ecosystems a new three-year study has been launched. Mission Blue’s partner, the Pew Environment Group has teamed up with Canada’s Manitoba conservation Department of Fisheries and Oceans on the study. …

By Deb Castellana
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.

Photo: (C) Kip Evans Photography/Mission Blue

With One World One Ocean in the lead, a winning group of talented ocean media professionals converged on Key Largo, Florida this week to call attention to the imminent loss of funding for the world’s last remaining undersea laboratory. Utilizing IMAX film, live webcasts from both inside the habitat and from the seabed, social media and mainstream news networks, teams worked 24/7 to highlight both the past achievements of Aquarius, and it’s possibilities for the future.…

Right now, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Mark Patterson, and the rest of the Mission Aquarius team are joining One World One Ocean to celebrate 50 years of humans inhabiting the seafloor by spending six days doing research and outreach while living in the Aquarius Reef Base laboratory. 
Built in 1986 and relocated to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in 1992, Aquarius has allowed researchers and innovators to understand the decline of coral reefs and develop cancer drugs from sea sponges.…

By Saul Rosser (Operations Director of Aquarius Reef Base)
This morning we sent six of our friends to live beneath the sea. They submerged before us and then surfaced a short time later in an underwater research station 46 feet down. We now watch them on closed circuit television screens in our control room and see them turning the research station into a home.
Today, Lead Habitat Technician James Talacek, Habitat Technician Ryan Lapete, Dr. Mark Patterson, Dr. Dale Stokes, Dr. Sylvia Earle and renowned underwater cinematographer D.J. Roller moved into Aquarius where they will spend seven days sharing the excitement, the adventure, and the wonder of living beneath the sea.
This mission is focused on celebrating the 50 years that have passed since Jacques Cousteau put history’s first habitat, Conshelf I, 33 feet underwater off Marseille, France.…

A lot goes into keeping the aquanauts living safely 60 feet underwater for days at a time in Aquarius Reef Base.
A watch desk located on dry land is responsible for overseeing the saturation and the safety of the aquanauts in the habitat. The operations manager and diving safety instructor, Roger Garcia explains, “what we do at the watch desk during the missions is monitor the habitat and diving operations 24/7.”
Watch the short video to learn a few of  the things that go into keeping the aquanauts safe while diving and living 60 feet below the oceans surface.…

A Special Moment from Aquarius
By Dr. Sylvia Earle
By day this amazing creature lounges on the coral-encrusted framework of Aquarius looking like a big sofa cushion with eyes. Here she is at night, full-alert-predator mode, dining on fish drawn to the lab’s lights, a lioness on the prowl . . .
Meanwhile, I was with my 5 manly buddies, savoring a few hours of sleep after our first full day as Conch Reef aquanaut-explorers.
If Aquarius goes away, so will the home for the thousands of creatures  who have set up housekeeping here. Gone, too, will be a priceless living laboratory, the only place in the world where scientists, artists, poets and others can live underwater, using the ocean as a laboratory — an enduring muse.…