Ocean Stories

By Daniel Fox, Wild Image Project
I am here, not far from the Kamilo Beach located on the South Point of the Big Island of Hawaii with Justin from NOAA & the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program to monitor a female Monk seal and her pup. Compared to other seals and sea lions, Monk Seals greatly differ in the way they raise their young. Instead of gathering in great numbers and benefiting from the protection of the group, female Monks give birth alone, nurturing the pup for about 5 or 6 weeks before weaning it for good, leaving behind a fat young seal and hoping for the best. The duo here has been together for close to 6 weeks now. The female is starting to look skinny while the little one is adding pounds.…

No Refuge: Tons of Trash Covers The Remote Shores of Alaska
A marine biologist traveled to southwestern Alaska in search of ocean trash that had washed up along a magnificent coast rich in fish, birds, and other wildlife. He and his colleagues found plenty of trash – as much as a ton of garbage per mile on some beaches.
by Carl Safina
I am back ashore after an unusual expedition that brought scientists and artists to witness and respond to beach trash on the shores of southern Alaska. I have good and bad news.
The expedition was called GYRE, partly because much of the trash spins out of the North Pacific Ocean gyre, and partly because of the trip’s message: what goes around comes around.…

On July 11th, CCAMLR, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources will meet in Bremerhaven, Germany to again debate the fate of the Ross Sea. Let the world know you are watching, and send a message to the countries who may stand in the way against Antarctic protections by following this link. Click on one of the countries that is still on the fence, and send an email (which the Antarctic Ocean Alliance has done for you!) It’s easy & quick and so important!
In this video, Mission Blue teams up with Biotherm and the Antarctic Ocean Alliance to speak out in support of our Ross Sea Hope Spot. You can make your voice heard too! We’ll be posting more in the next weeks about how you can help.…

By Sharon Kwok, Mission Blue Board Director
I’m a Eurasian American raised in Hong Kong. Until recent years, every banquet I attended seemed to include shark fin soup. Although the exact origin of this ostentatious dish is shrouded in mystery, we do know it had to come from China’s southern coastal regions, and it was never a favorite of the Northern Chinese. Therefore l doubt the truthfulness of claims that it was a fancy dish created for the Emperor. Perhaps it was a fancy marketing ploy but we’ll never know for sure. I’ve even heard a version that shark fin soup’s origin was simply the fishermen’s frugal use of their catch. In bygone days, any obviously useful parts would either be sold fresh or salted to survive a trip to inland China.…

Dr. Sylvia Earle calls Dr. James McClintock’s recent book, Lost Antarctica: Climate Change on the Antarctic Peninsula (Palgrave/MacMillan, 2012), a wonderfully written wake up call concerning Antarctica and global climate change. The book should be required reading for everyone who can read. No exceptions. Those who can’t read should watch the film.” 

Ghost Rookeries: Climate Change and the Adelie Penguin from EOWilson Biodiversity Foundation on Vimeo.
“The consequences of a loss of biodiversity could encompass everything from altering key Antarctic marine food chains to the loss of species that may hold cures to cancer,” writes Dr. McClintock, whose recent book forms the basis of Ghost Rookeries.
The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation (EOWBF) and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) will be embarking on an exciting new initiative this summer.…

An Interview with Sylvia Earle from Andrew M Cohen on Vimeo. 
Congratulations to Her Deepness, who was honored in June at the Aquarium of the Pacific Ocean Conservation Awards.  The Aquarium of the Pacific, located in Long Beach, California is highlighting Ocean Exploration programs this summer and also debuting a new Wonders of the Deep gallery.
Dr. Earle was one of 3 honorees, along with fellow ocean explorers Walter Munk and Captain Don Walsh in this year’s Gala.
Musical Score by Eddie Freeman & Marta Victoria of Icarus Music
 …

By Mission Blue Young Explorer, Yoland Bosiger
There’s no traffic, no factories, no fast food dispenser and no bright flashy movie theaters to tantalize and entertain. Here under the starry sky there is nothing but stillness – a crisp, clear environment, both clean and uncontaminated. Yet if you strain your ears hard enough you might just hear it. Far off in the distance a glacier is giving rise to new life – a freshly carved iceberg begins its journey adrift.  

Photo (c) Duncan Young

Antarctica is like no other place on this planet. It’s here that the driest desert and the coldest temperatures combine to produce an inhospitable landscape, a windswept frontier of untamed wilderness. Yet compared with Antarctica’s relative desolation, the southern ocean teems with life.…

By Lazaro Ruda, The Living Sea
A fun follow-up from recent video of a jawfish with a surprise visitor (http://vimeo.com/67434232)! While the camera was busy recording a long stream of video, I was distracted by a second eel just a couple of feet away. 
Much to my surprise, the second eel followed in the footstep of the first and attempted to enter the jawfish’s burrow. At first, the jawfish pushed the eel away with its head; the same behavior as with the first eel in the video. The eel was reluctant to give in and eventually made its way in. The jawfish retreated under the sand, too.
Within seconds all three reemerged from the burrow and stayed together enjoying the cramped space for a few minutes before both eels eventually exited again.…

Canadian mining company Nautilus Minerals Inc. has staked its reputation on bringing off the world’s first deep sea mining (DSM) operation. The Bismarck Sea in Papua New Guinea has been marked out as the testing ground for this unprecedented technology. Many other companies − from Japan, China, Korea, the UK, Canada, USA, Germany and the Russian Federation − are waiting to see if Nautilus can successfully bring metals from sea floor to smelter before taking the plunge themselves.  They have already taken out exploration licences covering over 1.5 million square kilometres of the Pacific sea floor. In addition, exploration licences now also cover vast areas of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean sea floors.
This frenzy of DSM exploration is occurring in the absence of regulatory regimes or conservation areas to protect the unique and little known ecosystems of the deep sea and without meaningful consultation with the communities who will be affected by DSM. …

by Courtney Mattison
On June 13th, the National Geographic Society (NGS) awarded its highest honor – the Hubbard Medal – to Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle, film director and explorer James Cameron and legendary scientist and Harvard professor Dr. E. O. Wilson. As recipients of the Society’s oldest and most prestigious award, these three honorees go down in history among a truly outstanding group of scientists and explorers.

Hubbard Medal video profile on Dr. Sylvia Earle. A brief video on the accomplishments of each honoree accompanied the 2013 Hubbard Medal presentation ceremony. © National Geographic
The Hubbard Medal was named after Gardiner Greene Hubbard – the National Geographic Society’s first president and principal founder. The NGS Board of Trustees authorized the award in 1906 to “honor outstanding explorations or discoveries.”…