Ocean Stories

By Rachelle Lauro of Indigo V Expeditions (new Mission Blue partners)
When we think of the ocean, often times it’s the more exciting and interactive denizens of the sea that come to mind. We can easily connect with the plight of cetaceans in captivity, monitor bycatch, track orca populations and lobby against shark culls.
It’s hard to believe, but the ocean could be completely devoid of macro-life, yet continue to serve its main function of atmospheric buffering, nutrient cycling, CO2 absorption and oxygen production. Taken in sum, the ocean is the backbone to sustaining habitable living conditions on earth.
A healthy ocean ecosystem underpins healthy life on land, national security and business interests for humankind. Yet we continue our assault on this very fragile ecosystem with no real information on the effects of our activities.…

By Mariasole Bianco, President of Worldrise (a new Mission Blue partner)
Cinque Terre is definitely one of the jewels in the crown of Italy. Riomaggiore, Manrola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso are five pastel-hued little towns along the northwest coast of Italy; so romantic, so iconically Italian, that it seems that they were made to grace picture postcards.
If you ask, everyone will tell you that the main attraction of Cinque Terre is the magnificent landscape representing the harmonious interaction between people and nature. This is undeniably true, as the landscape illustrates a traditional way of life that has existed for 1,000 years – when stone wall terraces were built to colonize the steep hills and high cliffs of this area overlooking the Mediterranean.…

Until well into the 20th Century, getting to Antarctica – and returning – was a really big deal. It still is, but thanks to new technologies and operations such as the National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions, adventurous souls from around the globe are able to experience Earth’s southernmost continent and appreciate the importance of the whales, seabirds, fish and seals that live there like never before. Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle is grateful that “the value of exploiting Antarctic wildlife as commodities is giving way to appreciating them as vital elements of systems that maintain Earth as a planet that works in our favor.” The urgency of exploring and protecting the Southern Ocean has never been greater.
The following photo journal illustrates Gale Mead’s recent visit to Antarctica, South Georgia and the Falklands.…

From our new partners at the GOES Foundation (Global Oceanic Environmental Survey):
by Dr. Howard Dryden, GOES Founder
Nature 2010 and Nature 2011 reported that there has been a 40% drop in primary productivity in the North Atlantic since the 1950s. At the same time, oceanic pH started to decline sharply, causing seawater to acidify.  This trend may be related to an increase in industrial output and carbon dioxide emissions. However, as a marine biologist specializing in some of the largest aquarium life support systems in the world, I know that carbon dioxide is used to increase primary productivity. Woods Hole reported that an increase in carbon dioxide increased photosynthetic productivity, yet over the last 60 years there may have been a reduction by 40%.…

Ever wonder what the seafloor of the Galápagos looks like? What goes on below the surface around the magnificent cluster of islands that Darwin’s finches and those wonderful giant tortoises call home? Our partners at the Khaled Bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation went to find out, and the results have captured our imagination.
Using an innovative high-resolution seafloor habitat mapping technique, researchers from the Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) and the National Coral Reef Institute at Nova Southeastern University collected hundreds of underwater videos and over one million depth readings around Baltra, Darwin, Floreana, Isabela, Marchena, Urvina, and Wolf Islands in June 2012 as part of the six-year KSLOF Global Reef Expedition.
Using a method of collecting shallow water surveys called “groundtruthing,” the team covered over 750 square kilometers of seafloor around the Galápagos.…

By Andrew Kornblatt, co-founder of the Online Ocean Symposium
The Online Ocean Symposium is a digital forum that uses streaming video to connect and broadcast different voices from the ocean world. We have guests that speak on issues ranging from ocean acidification to plastic legislation to climate change. Each conversation is not only live-broadcast where the audience can ask questions directly of the participants, but it also is forever housed in YouTube.
For the past two years we have invited guests like Sylvia Earle, Bill McKibben, Don Walsh and most recently, Richard Branson, to discuss their work and passions as they relate to the ocean. We have hosted over 30 different Hangouts. Now the Symposium is honored to become an official partner of Mission Blue.…

Things are looking up for the high seas after last week’s deliberations at United Nations Headquarters in New York City. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President of the United Nations General Assembly Sam Kahamba Kutesa convened a meeting with States Members of the United Nations, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and parties to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) for four days of negotiations concerning the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The meeting concluded early Saturday morning with a formal recommendation for the UN General Assembly to develop a legally binding agreement to protect ocean life in the high seas.
The high seas make up approximately 64% of the global ocean (nearly half of Earth’s surface) – a huge patchwork of regions lying outside of any country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).…

By Jackie Dragon (Originally published January 16, 2015 on Greenpeaceblogs.org)
This week in Seattle billboards and posters are popping up with a message for companies that profit from the sale of our ocean wildlife. Greenpeace, Mission Blue, and Marine Conservation Institute — three organizations committed to protecting important ocean places — have joined up to tell supermarkets that we need their help to protect special ocean places, like America’s Grand Canyons in the Sea.
An American gem is hidden from sight beneath the chilly waters of Alaska in the Bering Sea. Zhemchug and Pribilof canyons — designated a Hope Spot by “Her Deepness,” Dr. Sylvia Earle in 2013 — are the world’s largest underwater canyons, both more massive than the Grand Canyon.…

Dr. Sylvia Earle addressed the United Nations Tuesday afternoon, urging the body to take action and implement an agreement that would bring law and order to the High Seas — an area half the size of our planet that is currently plundered and polluted with abandon.
Read Dr. Sylvie Earle’s bold remarks below. She’s right: the ten year olds are watching!
Thank you,  Co-Chairs, for the privilege of speaking officially on behalf of Mission Blue, and unofficially, for those who cannot speak for themselves – the children of today and for  all of those in the future – our descendants who will from their place in the future either applaud or condemn our actions – or lack of actions – concerning establishing governance – a strong and meaningful implementing agreement under UNCLOS for biodiversity of half the world, the high seas – the ocean beyond national jurisdiction. …

In Paris on Monday, French luxury skincare company Biotherm held a joint press conference with Mission Blue to announce that part of proceeds from three products of its Aquasource range (Aquasource Gel, Aquasource Crème and Aquasource Crème Riche) would support the Tetiaroa Society and CRIOBE (The Insular Research Center and Environment Observatory of French Polynesia) to research and replenish fish and crustacean stocks in the lagoon of Tetiaroa – an exquisite coral atoll located 33 miles north of Tahiti in French Polynesia.
Stan Rowland, chairman of Tetiaroa Society, said:
“We are thrilled to be working with Biotherm and Mission Blue in a collaborative effort to protect our oceans and marine environments. This funding from Biotherm will support an important effort to demonstrate an economic and environmentally sustainable method of replenishing marine life in coral lagoons.…