Ocean Stories

Earlier this month, Dr. Earle had a chance to dive the reefs of Curacao with Stephen Frink, while attending a DAN Board of Directors Meeting. The result? These magical photos with Her Deepness! 
 All photographs (c) Stephen Frink http://www.stephenfrink.com…

Mission Blue Board Director, Ann Luskey takes on plastic pollution in the oceans at The Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI) in Blue Hill, Maine.

Confronting Plastics and Microplastics in the Sea from MERI Center on Vimeo.…

Have you ever met a little kid who refuses to go to bed, because they know the minute they lay their head down, something amazing and unexpected will happen? No matter how strong the onset of the Sleepies, this child will valiantly fight them back until wee-hours just to ensure the impending night’s biggest excitement won’t slip by. Over the last few weeks out at sea, I’ve been the adult-reincarnate of that child! 
Aboard the E/V Nautilus we are exploring the Gulf of Mexico seafloor using deep diving ROVs around the clock 24 hours a day.  Capable of diving to 13,000 feet, mapping the seafloor and bringing up a suite of water, sediment, chemical, or biologic samples the vehicles can produce never-ending possibilities for what lies just beyond the edge of the ROV lights.…

Nineteen Causes for Hope!
The Bering Sea Canyons were recently named the 19th Mission Blue Hope Spot, an area of critical importance to the ocean’s health: seeds of tomorrow’s healthy ocean. Already, change is happening and hope is growing.
The Bering Sea Canyons Hope Spot supports a near endless variety of precious life, a vital ecosystem which is threatened by industrial fishing. After Mission Blue and Greenpeace jointly announced the 19th Hope Spot, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council decided to expand research in the region to conserve the Bering Sea and its canyons.
By identifying precious ecosystems in the oceans with our scientific minds and human hearts — Hope Spots! — we can create a network of Marine Protected Areas across the globe.…

By David Helvarg
California, its economy recovering from the Great Recession, is far from the demise conservative doomsayers predicted just a few years ago, a demise brought on by environmental regulation, graduated income taxes and its sybaritic ways.
In fact when it comes to environmental policy, particularly ocean and coastal protection, California is a national trendsetter and a role model for what kind of blue planet we leave the next generation. “This is the only state where you can get elected or lose your job based on your positions on coastal protection and offshore oil,” Monterey Rep. Sam Farr likes to point out.
One reason is Californians’ sense of entitlement to their 1,100 miles of oceanfront. This grows out of the state’s history as a maritime frontier dependent on access to the Pacific for its economic and social development.…

By Courtney Mattison
With Shark Week in full swing and beach vacation season beginning to wind down in the U.S., it’s time for an update on one of our favorite shark-loving tropical Hope Spots – the Bahamian reefs. Many NGOs, governments and other stakeholders are doing exciting work there and throughout the Caribbean Community that is good for the ocean and good for us.
With over 3,000 low-lying islands covering 1,400 square kilometers off the southeastern tip of Florida, the Bahamas are home to a wealth of marine life and host millions of visitors each year. More visitors mean more people hungry for seafood and eager to explore the reefs. It’s great that tourists want to get wet and explore the ocean both for their own enjoyment and to support the regional economy (tourism accounts for 60% of the Bahamian GDP), but as with any good thing, responsibility and moderation are key.…

It’s Shark Week! How jawsome is that? We get a full week to celebrate and learn the full 360 on these toothy fellows. Get involved in the conversation! Check out the cheat sheet below, provided by our friends at Upwell.

On the menu for the week is a close look at the gargantuan megalodon, which had 7 inch teeth and the most powerful bite of any creature ever. Its chomp packed between 10 – 18 tons of pressure, compared to today’s lion which does about 600 pounds. What a wimpy cat! Check the graphic…these guys were huge!

Viewers can also look forward to 11 hours of new material, a profile of freshwater bull sharks near New Orleans, a peek at extremely rare deep sea sharks and the top ten sharkdown of the world’s most deadly species.…

By Shari Sant Plummer, Mission Blue Board Director, President, Code Blue Foundation
On a cold, foggy morning along the Malibu coast, a small brown lump emerges from the sea and waddles ashore. I spot it from 100 yards away, but already my dog, Cooper, is at a full run toward the baby sea lion. I scream at him to stop, but it’s too late: The thin, frightened sea lion pup is heading back into the ocean. I finally catch up to Coop and pull him back, and we watch as the pup swims out through the waves. Though Cooper hadn’t touched him, the timid pup was easily threatened; animal lovers with cameras approaching other pups have been met with the same result.…

King Penguins, Aptenodytes patagonica, are one of the key iconic Antarctic species that we are working hard to protect as we continue to fight for the Antarctic Ocean.  King penguins have been equipped with depth recorders and have been found to regularly dive to 500m (1600ft).  Deep dives tend only to occur during the daytime with only shallow dives being recorded at night.
Photo Courtesy of David Neilson…

What’s the tallest mountain in the world? Without the seminal work of Marie Tharp, this question may have remained unanswered. In the first half of the 20th century, Tharp worked together with Bruce Heezen to bring definition to the world of the deep blue, a topographic map of the world ocean. At a time when acoustical mapping techniques were extremely basic, Tharp brought the seafloor to life by illustrating the dramatic geographic features of the ocean for all to see.
The tallest mountain in the world is, of course, Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which beats Everest’s height when you consider that the mountain extends from the ocean floor. And speaking of revelations about ocean topography — known as bathymetry — we can’t discount the amazing work of Google in creating Google Ocean.…