Ocean Stories

Though much of the ocean is in precipitous decline due to humanity’s meddling, there are still Hope Spots that harbor the vibrance and biodiversity that can turn the tides on ocean degradation and form the foundation for tomorrow’s healthy ocean. Yet, even these precious ecosystems — Mission Blue has identified 19 of them — are today strained and stressed by our thoughtless plundering and pollution of the finite ocean.
Close to the US’s doorstep, the Mesoamerican Reef is one such Hope Spot. What does it contain that gives us reason for hope? For one, the area contains one of the largest populations of manatees in the world, as well as four different types of marine turtles: Green, Loggerhead, Leatherback and Hawksbill.…

By Mission Blue Partner, Wallace J. Nichols
We’ve been studying and working to protect loggerhead sea turtles in Mexico for nearly 20 years. As a scientist and conservationist, one strives to acquire the best available information, build the best team possible and to use the most appropriate tools to solve a problem, be it pollution or dead endangered animals.
A combination of incentives, referred to as “carrots” and “sticks” are commonly used to nudge or force a solution ahead. Sometimes a “silver bullet” technology saves the day, but that’s rare.
The work of conservation is typically slow, incremental, and human.
It’s been our experience that those who would spend two decades or more working closely with fishermen to understand and protect sea turtles typically have the best interests of both people and nature in mind, although sometimes they are called “turtle-huggers” or scapegoated over another competing agenda. …

Mission Blue partners at Conservation International have played a part in the discovery of a new species of Epaulette Shark, or Walking Shark (Hemiscyllium Halmahera.) Discovered in Halmahera in north eastern Indonesia, this will be the ninth recognized species of walking shark in the world.
These are relatively small sharks with the largest only reaching 121 cm (48 in) in adult body length. Instead of swimming, these sharks “walk” along the ocean floor by wriggling their bodies and using their small paddle-like pelvic and pectoral fins to push themselves forward across the ocean floor. It will only swim if being pursued by a predator, and even then, not for long. 
The good news is, according to Dr. Mark Erdmann, the local government and emerging dive tourism industry is excited to promote its newly-named endemic species.…

Capacitor and The Aquarium of the Bay Proudly Present Okeanos
Capacitor presents “Okeanos Intimate” with Pre-show talks led by marine biologists and oceanographers. Mission Blue Founder, Dr. Sylvia Earle joins Okeanos LIVE on September 14th. Tickets available here: http://www.capacitor.org/okeanos-intimate/
WHEN: 8 Saturdays Beginning August 10th[Pre-Show Talk and Show at 7pm]WHERE: Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39, San Francisco, CA
“If I was to sum up the phrase ‘creativity for change’ I would use one word – Okeanos” ~David de Rothschild 
Imagine you could go to the aquarium and completely immerse yourself in the tank…without getting wet.  At the Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39, you can.  Beginning August 10th Capacitor, San Francisco’s dance/cirque company, dives into the deep to bring you Okeanos Intimate. …

Our friends at SeaKeeper and the Sargasso Sea Alliance are gathering at the St. Francis Yacht Club tonight to present the 2013 International SeaKeeper Award to honor and promote key figures who have made extraordinary commitments to protect this unique area of our ocean.
The event will take place along with the America’s Cup which will be in full swing this week. In attendance will be Dr. Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue director Patty Elkus and more passionate ocean advocates from the Sargasso Sea Alliance and other hardworking nonprofits. For last minute tickets, click here.

The Sargasso Sea, one of Mission Blue’s 19 Hope Spots, is a dynamic ecosystem of thriving diversity that contributes to overall ocean health. Located near Bermuda, the Sargasso Sea is the only sea without a land boundary.…

Our photo of the week is the Sargassum Fish, Histrio histrio, to celebrate Mission Blue’s Sargasso Sea Hope Spot and the work of the Sargasso Sea Alliance. An iconic resident of the Sargasso Sea, it’s life is typically spent adrift on tropical and warm temperate oceans among floating Sargassum Weed. Although the Sargassum Fish is capable of swimming quite rapidly, it often crawls through the Sargassum Weed, using its pectoral fins like arms.
The unique appearance of the fish features stalked, grasping, limb-like pectoral fins with small gill openings behind the base, a trapdoor-like mouth high on the head, and a “fishing lure” on the snout. The Sargasso Fish is an ambush predator and also a cannibal – one individual was found to have 16 juveniles in its stomach!…

It was once a popular belief that the ocean was “the silent realm.” This was largely due to the fact that humans are poorly adapted to hearing underwater, and marine animals don’t appear to have “ears” that look anything like the ears of terrestrial animals. We are now finding that the ocean is anything else but silent. In the dark depths of the sea animals have evolved a panoply of adaptations to underwater sound. Some animals use high frequency “bio-sonar” to “see” their surroundings, others use acoustically-generated ‘particle motion’ to sense the proximity of prey and predators; some use long wavelength sounds to navigate over long distances, others chorus with conspecifics like crickets do to keep tabs on their “acoustic communities.”…

Earlier this month, Mission Blue Board Director Dan Laffoley found these Plumose Anemones on a reef just north of St Martins, during his explorations in and around the Isles of Scilly European Marine Site and Marine Conservation Zone – a jewel in the crown of UK MPAs.
Photo: (c) Dan Laffoley
 …

by Courtney Mattison
“Blackfish” is grim. But then again, so is the plight of these magnificent, intelligent whales.” – Tom Long, Detroit News1
The gripping documentary Blackfish is drawing crowds around the world this summer after advance screenings by Magnolia Pictures in Los Angeles and New York. Notable news outlets from the Guardian to the New York Times have praised the film’s condemnation of animal husbandry and safety practices at SeaWorld, painting a picture of corporate greed and negligence that the multibillion-dollar franchise is now publicly fighting.

Through a mesmerizing and heartbreaking tapestry of firsthand accounts, court proceedings and incident and autopsy reports, Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, the 12,000-pound orca whale responsible for three human deaths including that of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010.…

Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) and The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) are warning that the massive fracking gas, coal and other industrial projects planned for Australia’s Great Barrier Reef will push globally significant species of turtles closer to the brink of extinction.
The industrialization of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area will destroy and degrade critical nesting, feeding or migration habitat for six marine turtle species of international value.
“The Great Barrier Reef is home to some of the most amazing and vulnerable sea turtle species in the world who rely on a healthy reef for their future,” said Teri Shore, program director for Turtle Island Restoration Network, which has taken legal action over U.S. funding of massive Liquefied Natural Gas facilities in sea turtle habitat. 

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