fbpixel award Archives - Mission Blue

Blog Archives
9th Annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards Coming Up

The 9th Annual Awards event weekend will take place May 20 – 21, 2016 in beautiful Monterey, California. 
Mission Blue founder and National Geographic Society Explorer-in-Residence Dr. Sylvia Earle will be master of ceremonies for the Peter Benchley™ Ocean Awards – the world’s preeminent honors for ocean conservation that will recognize a diverse group of global leaders for 2016.

Often called the ‘Academy Awards for the Ocean,’ the Peter Benchley™ Ocean Awards will honor a diverse group of eight ocean leaders including the President of Palau, a New York Times investigative journalist, a French sailing expedition, and the Mayor of a San Diego border town.
Past winners have included four Heads of State, U.S. Secretaries of State and Defense, senators, leading marine scientists, journalists, explorers, youth leaders and citizen activists.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, Partner Stories |

Leave a comment
Film Festival Honors Conservation Leaders

Last Friday, international filmmakers, scientists and some of the world’s most respected conservation leaders gathered for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival Red Carpet Gala & Awards Ceremony to honor five distinguished guests. Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Birute Galdikas, Dr. Patricia C. Wright, His Royal Highness Prince Khaled bin Sultan and Nan Hauser each received a Lifetime Achievement Award during one of the premier conservation galas of 2014 at 583 Park Avenue in New York City.

Sylvia Earle both received an award and presented one to HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan for his international efforts to conserve coral reefs. In his acceptance speech, the prince spoke of the wonder he experienced during his first scuba dive and shared his inspiration for founding the Living Oceans Foundation, which co-hosted the gala and works tirelessly for “the conservation and restoration of living oceans and pledges to champion their preservation through research, education and a commitment to Science Without Borders.”…

Posted in mission blue, Partner Stories |

1 Comment
Leaders in Ocean Conservation Gather for Retreat

Last weekend, HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco convened a summit on sea level rise and ocean acidification – two of the most pressing environmental issues caused by our carbon dioxide emissions – alongside partners from The Annenberg Retreat at Sunnylands and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. The three-day retreat had a special focus on catalyzing leadership strategies to adapt to these ecological changes, with a special focus on the Pacific.
“The focus [of the retreat] is on solutions,” said Margaret Leinen, director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. “We already see acidification taking place. We already see sea level rising. So how are we going to adapt to that? I think it’s really a question of putting good science together with good strategies.”…

Posted in mission blue, Partner Stories |

2 Comments
Benchley Awards honor ocean heroes

By Courtney Mattison
During the 6th Annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards at the Carnegie Institution for Science last week, the word excellence was not used lightly. From the bold actions of Senegalese President Macky Sall expelling foreign fishing vessels for over-exploiting Senegal’s waters to young Sean Russell’s work to mobilize youths over marine plastic pollution, the ocean conservation efforts celebrated Wednesday night were truly exceptional.
Noting that until recently there were no high profile awards to celebrate achievements specifically within the ocean and coastal community, the Blue Frontier Campaign began honoring ocean leaders at its 2004 Blue Vision Conference in Washington, D.C. After Peter Benchley – author of Jaws and keynote speaker at that initial event – passed away, his widow and fellow grassroots environmental activist Wendy Benchley agreed to let the Blue Frontier Campaign title the annual awards in his honor.…

Posted in mission blue |

Leave a comment