Ocean Stories

Roger Moenks is a celebrity and fashion photographer who has called New York City home for almost 20 years. In his ‘I am Eco-Warrior’ Video mini-series, he highlights the life’s work of individuals, from Ted Turner to Richard Branson and Sylvia Earle, who are working to protect the environment and save the planet.
In his 2012 book, ‘I Am Eco-Warrior,’ in-depth interviews reveal the stories of people who inspire and lead the world in the areas of environmentalism and corporate sustainability. Moenks hopes that by featuring these inspirational figures, he will encourage all of us to play a greater role in creating a better, more sustainable planet.

Sylvia Earle – i am eco warrior by Roger Moenks from Roger Moenks on Vimeo.…

Thanks to our Mission Blue partners at Marine Conservation Institute for this photo of the day! “Size does matter, if you’re a Gorgonian coral.” Two of their Board members spotted this 5.7m (18 feet and 8 inches to some of us) tall coral in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands! The diver image has been added for scale. More details here: goo.gl/jkQVI…

Today we’d like to introduce and welcome our new Mission Blue partner, Leofilm. It’s headed up by award winning Swedish filmmakers Joakim Odelberg and Emma Watson, who are dedicated to educating others about ocean health issues, especially the issue of ghost nets. In this, our third story featuring Mission Blue partners involved in the ghost net issue, we’ll learn that not only do Joakim and Emma make the films, but they are also committed to working with fishermen and stakeholders towards a solution to the problem – called the second worst crisis in the largely landlocked Baltic Sea next to chemical dumping.
“From the late 50’s when we began to use synthetic material in nets and other fishing gear, 62,000 miles of nets have been put out to sea in the Baltic – and many of them have been lost. …

National Geographic photographer Chris Rainier, speaks at the Explorers Club in New York on April 8th. ~ ed.
Exploring the mysteries of indigenous cultures–cultures that stand on a precarious edge of a primeval yesterday and a potentially tumultuous tomorrow–is a mission that Chris Rainier was born to. As a National Geographic photographer, photojournalist, and storyteller, Rainier travels to 14 or more countries each year. And unlike other globe-trotting photographers, Rainier’s travel often involve slogging through waist-deep mud, trekking through leech-infested forests, battling malaria, eating everything from insect larvae to bats, sleeping in tree houses, and, sometimes, watching thousands of dollars of camera gear sink to the bottom of a river when a canoe tips over.

After years of shooting in places on the map that are marked with a designation, “no data available,” it stands to reason that Rainier would have one or two favorite images.…

Bryant Austin creates the world’s only high-resolution, life-size photographs of whales. A photographer and marine mammal conservationist, Austin is passionate about exploring and creating connections between humanity and whales – what he calls “the greatest minds in the water.”
Austin’s just-released book, Beautiful Whale, catalogs his quest to “recreate the transcendent sensation one experiences floating an arm’s length away from the eye of an inquisitive whale.” This 124 page, 12 x 15 inch coffee table book published by Abrams features exquisite life-size (or “whale-scale”) photos of whales’ eyes, numerous full-body photo mosaics reproduced as 1:6 scale fold-out pages, and a foreword from Dr. Sylvia Earle.
Austin first became inspired to create full-body images of whales at sea during a dive in 2004 when, floating motionless in the water, he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder from a 45-ton female humpback whale.…

A giant isopod can be any of the almost 20 species of large isopods (crustaceans related to shrimp and crabs) in the genus Bathynomus. The species are noted for resemblance to the common woodlouse or pill bug, to which they are related. The few specimens caught in the Americas with baited traps are sometimes seen in public aquariums. They grow to between 7.5 and 14 inches and can weigh up to 4 lbs.  We think he’s kind of cute, in an alien kind of way!
In the bonus video below from the Sustainable Seas Expedition, shared by photographer Kip Evans, National Geographic & NOAA, Sylvia Earle dives deep off the Dry Tortugas in the Gulf of Mexico – and finds Deep Sea Isopods!…

The Blue Carbon Initiative has launched a new website to raise awareness about coastal ecosystems, blue carbon, and how they affect climate change.
Indeed, an important part of the climate change puzzle lies in our costal ecosystems. Beyond providing nurseries for fish and coastal protection from storms, these ecosystems also sequester and store blue carbon from the ocean and atmosphere. Coastal vegetation such as mangroves, seagrasses and salt marshes, sequester carbon up to 100 faster and more permanently than terrestrial forests. The carbon is stored in peat beneath these types of vegetation and typically are undisturbed for long periods of time.

The Blue Carbon Initiative does important work to preserve and promote blue carbon sinks around the world. By developing management approaches, financial incentives, and policy mechanisms for ensuring conservation, development and sustainable use of coastal blue carbon ecosystems, the initiative is making real headway.…

Humans have always wondered with fear and fascination, what lurks
beneath the surface in the depths of the sea. In this book, Erich Hoyt
explores the strange and hostile environment where what appears weird
is the norm. The photographers took long cruises across the oceans to
capture and record these little-known creatures.
Inside these pages you will look with fear and fascination at 52 of
the oddest animals you will ever meet — weird creatures such as the
carnivorous comb jelly, the lantern-carrying deep-sea dragonfish, the jewel
squid with giant eyes and the dancing jellyfish. Each of these has adapted
to a life in total darkness, exposed to incredible pressure and intense cold.
Many use light-producing organs and pigment cells to communicate, watch
for predators and attract and deceive their prey.…

In the first of our series, “Dear Dr. Blue,” Dr. Sylvia Earle answers a simple query from a reader, “What is this?” ~ Ed.
You squished a poor defenseless sea cucumber — a holothurian, member of a class of echinoderms that also includes starfish, sand dollars, brittle stars and sea urchins.  Like other echinoderms, these animals have 5 part radial symmetry and a water vascular system that powers tiny tube feet that cover the skin and make it possible for them to creep along whatever they are sitting on (yes a creepy critter!)
In cross section the five part arrangement is evident, and in their five frilly feeding arms that extend from the front end.  Like an earthworm, most sea cucumbers lumber along, artfully picking up yummy bacteria and algae rich sand, digesting the good bits and extruding the scrubbed material out the other end.…

The newly discovered Elephant Tang, or Zebrasoma flavescens elephantiasis, uses his long, proboscis-like snout to borrow deep into the reef in search of small crustaceans and other sustenance. The myriad of life forms created by evolution will never cease to amaze us!…