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Successful Coral Restoration Efforts Celebrated at Newly Declared Ocean Cay Hope Spot in the Bahamas

Ocean Cay is a former industrial island located 22 miles south of Bimini, The Bahamas, and 65 miles southeast of Miami, Florida. Since 2015, through multi-disciplinary and institutional collaborations, the MSC Foundation and MSC Group have restored the island to re-establish its ecological balance after years of destructive activities. The Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve has been recognized by the government of The Bahamas as an area of high biological productivity and biodiversity and as such, has been recommended for ‘Marine Protected Area’ status. The MSC Foundation and its partners are hopeful that their marine conservation work can take the recognition process over the finish line to achieve official protection. 
International marine conservation nonprofit Mission Blue has declared Ocean Cay a Hope Spot and Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC Foundation Board Member and Chair of the Executive Committee – as the Hope Spot Champion in recognition of the Foundation and its partners’ programs to restore the area to its natural state to achieve a balanced ecology that can be maintained for generations to come.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, Uncategorized |

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Bahamas on the Cusp of Making Long Island a Marine Protected Area

LONG ISLAND, BAHAMAS (August 14th, 2018) – Long Island in the Bahamas has been declared a Hope Spot by international non-profit Mission Blue in support of the Bahamian government’s tentative plan to proclaim a marine protected area in the area. Long Island Marine Management Area (LIMMA) has been a source of food, recreation and economy for Long Islanders since the settling of the local communities. Establishment of the 257,000 acre Long Island Marine Management Area would repair and protect the population of marine species important to the local and global economy, such as the endangered Nassau Grouper and the Queen Conch, and would aim to provide a sustainable balance between culture, economics and conservation.
“The Long Island Marine Management Area (LIMMA) contains a rich biodiversity of habitat, ranging from mangroves and sea grasses, blue holes to coral reefs and deep water sites; habitat that is critical to the life cycle of the biodiversity of the Long Island fisheries and associated bird and marine species.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, mission blue |

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Dive into the World of Sharks with Sharks4Kids

Mission Blue is proud to partner with Sharks4Kids! 
By: Jillian Morris

At Sharks4Kids, our goal is to create the next generation of shark advocates through education, outreach and adventure. We take students underwater to see sharks first-hand and combine all three aspects of our program to provide an incredible, eye-opening experience. 
We spend a lot of time in the Bahamas which is considered a sanctuary for sharks and the “shark diving capital of the world.” It’s extremely important for local students to see these remarkable animals up close and understand why sharks are valuable not only for the environment, but also the economy. Kids are the future guardians for these animals and making a connection to them is critical for future conservation efforts.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, Partner Stories |

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Dodging Disney: Bahamians Seek Science to Save the Egg Island Hope Spot

By: Shilpi Chhotray, Mission Blue Communications Strategist

“Tourists from around the world come to see an untouched Bahamas. Meanwhile, the government says that cultivating high-volume, high-impact deals with cruise lines will bring local jobs. In reality few locals are hired to staff the cruise lines’ “private islands” and these fantasy terraforming projects naturally conflict with efforts to promote local, more lucrative eco-tourism. If Egg Island is designated a marine protected area, the community will see pretty quickly that the income-earning opportunities for eco-tourism far outstrip the earning potential of the average cruise port employee.” Theo Linn is an American attorney and resident of Russell Island, the closest community to uninhabited Egg Island. He recently assisted Bahamian colleague, Holly Peel, in a major battle against Disney Cruise Line. …

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, Partner Stories |

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Explore Life Beneath the Waves

Covering more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, the ocean remains one of the most uncharted and undiscovered ecosystems on the planet. Home to the majority of life on Earth, the ocean acts as its life support system, controlling everything from our weather and rainfall to the oxygen we breathe. Yet despite the ocean’s vital importance, the ocean is changing at a rapid rate due to climate change, pollution, and overfishing, making it one of the most serious environmental issues we face today.

Google is committed to exploring and preserving the ocean. Today, in time for World Oceans Day on June 8, and in partnership with XL Catlin Seaview Survey, NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and the Chagos Conservation Trust, you can explore brand new Street View imagery of more than 40 locations around the world, including the American Samoa and Chagos Islands and underwater dives in Bali, the Bahamas and the Great Barrier Reef.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

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Bahamian Community Doing Good For Ocean Conservation

By Joseph Ierna Jr., Ocean CREST Alliance
We have badly managed our ocean for decades through overfishing, pollution, climate change and development. We have all been part of the ongoing decline of our ocean in some manner, and we can all be the solution to its repair.
On Long Island in the Bahamas, the “Long Islanders” are trying to restore a once-rich ecosystem while sustaining their economy and their direct ties to the sea. This delicate balance is not easy to maintain, but it is necessary to return our ocean to its former glory. In an ongoing process to establish a large marine protected area (MPA), the small 4,000-person community of Long Island Bahamas is making good progress in establishing protection for 215,000 acres of coastal waters.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

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Ocean CREST Alliance ~ Bahamas Hope Spot within a Hope Spot

This week we’d like to introduce our new partners, The Ocean CREST Alliance, located on Long Island in Mission Blue’s Bahamian Reefs Hope Spot. They’ve been working on ocean issues from marine protected areas to education and we’ll let them tell you all about the scope of their grassroots efforts to protect their corner of the blue, as well as to develop methods for protecting their waters that can be mirrored elsewhere.  ~ Ed.
Charting a new course for sustainable MPA operations
Our Long Island Marine Managed Area (LIMMA)  initiative plays a significant role nationally and internationally in the design and development of sustainable Marine Protected Areas (MPAs.) We collaborate locally with the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to help bring the Bahamas’ goal of 20% protection by 2020 to fruition. …

Posted in Partner Stories |

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Photo of the Day ~ High Five for Sharks

Possibly our favorite shark photo – Eli Martinez receives a stylin’ High Five from a smiling lemon shark named Taxi off the Bahamas. We love it because it shows what many shark/human interactions are really like. That said, sharks are individuals, and you’ll want to exercise reason and caution dealing with any wild animal.
To keep things in perspective, you are more likely to be killed by a vending machine than by a shark – and even more shocking, by your family toaster!
Photo: Paul Spielvogel
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Posted in Multimedia, Photo of the Day |

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Photo of the Day ~ Great Hammerhead

Up close and personal in the Bahamas with a Great Hammerhead (Sphyrna mokarran.) Many theories have been put forward about the function of the hammer – amongst these, the most popular are that it helps the great hammerhead to scan larger areas of the ocean floor for food, and that it maximises the area of the sensory organs (known as the ampullae of Lorenzini) that can detect chemical, physical and thermal changes in the water, as well as electric fields.
Photo: (c) Bill Eastwick…

Posted in Multimedia, Photo of the Day |

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Support San Salvador Land and Marine Park!

Next month, Mission Blue Founder Dr. Sylvia Earle will be taking part in the Bahamian National Natural History Conference in Nassau. But did you know that although the Bahamas has been a model area for protection, part of the Bahamian Reefs Hope Spot remains unprotected?
Recently Living Jewels, a grassroots organization from San Salvador reached out to us about their work over almost a decade to establish a national land and sea park through the Bahamian National Trust.  A final version of the proposal is in preparation and they are optimistic that it will get final approval soon. 
On the island of San Salvador, the farthest island in the Bahamas from the US, the youth are deepening their connection to nature by experiencing in their own blue backyard, which is abundant with coral reefs and mangroves. …

Posted in mission blue |

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