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Gills Club Interviews Dr. Sylvia Earle

Our partners at the Gills Club recently interviewed Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle. Learn more about the Gills Club and their amazing work on their website.

Why did you start studying marine biology?
My first encounter with the ocean was on the Jersey Shore when I was three years old and I got knocked over by a wave. The ocean certainly got my attention! It wasn’t frightening. It was more exhilarating than anything else. And since then life in the ocean has captured my imagination and held it ever since. I started out as a kid and never did grow up. The best scientists and explorers have the attributes of kids. They ask questions and have a sense of wonder.…

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Protecting Sharks and Marine Ecosystems

From our new partners at Shark Team One:

Shark Team One is proud to partner with Mission Blue!
For millions of years sharks have inhabited our planet’s oceans. However today, due to factors such as overfishing, finning, bycatch in commercial fisheries and habitat loss over a third of all shark, skate and ray species are threatened with extinction. In response to the rapid decline of elasmobranchs around the world, Shark Team One has mobilized to create a team of scientists, conservationists, divers, filmmakers, photographers, partner organizations, ocean ambassadors and concerned citizens who are fighting to help save sharks and our oceans.
Headquartered in South Florida, Shark Team One brings shark conservation awareness to local, national and global stakeholders, schools, colleges and government institutions via conservation initiatives, partner programs, educational seminars and outreach events.…

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Nurturing Conservation in the Water

Mission Blue is excited to partner with Blue Ventures, a science-led social enterprise that works with coastal communities to develop transformative approaches for nurturing and sustaining locally led marine conservation. In cooperation with their many partners, the Blue Ventures team works in places where the ocean is vital to local people, cultures and economies, and where there is a fundamental need to support human development. Over the last decade, their models have guided national fisheries policy and been replicated by communities, NGOs, businesses, donors and government agencies along thousands of kilometers of coastline. Blue Ventures have created the largest locally managed marine protected area (LMMA) in the Indian Ocean, catalyzed a sea change in community-led fisheries management, established sustainable aquaculture and ecotourism businesses, and developed new approaches to financing and incentivizing marine conservation.…

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Conservation, Education and Research in French Polynesia

Mission Blue is excited to partner with Te Mana o Te Moana! Veterinarian Dr. Cécile Gaspar founded Te Mana o Te Moana – meaning spirit of the oceans – in 2004 to preserve our marine environment for future generations through three key actions: Conservation, Education and Research. For over ten years now, this Tahitian nonprofit has developed actions and programs in these three fields throughout French Polynesia. Coral reefs, sea turtles, marine mammals and sustainable practices are some of Te Mana o Te Moana’s main priorities, but it is constantly looking to develop its actions in any field that can have an impact on the health of our planet. The foundation also works with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Reef Check – two other Mission Blue partners.…

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South Africans Unite Around Hope Spots

While 12 percent of the land on Earth is protected, less than 3% of the ocean has meaningful protection from fishing, pollution and resource extraction. Dr. Sylvia Earle, founder of global initiative Mission Blue, visited South Africa last month in a whirlwind tour of that ravishing marine environment to help generate community support for more ocean protection. And what a success it was. In partnership with the Sustainable Seas Trust, Dr. Sylvia Earle and the Mission Blue team visited six different communities along the South African coast and engaged local ocean lovers, community leaders and citizens to declare their waters a Hope Spot, special conservation areas that are critical to the health of the ocean — Earth’s blue heart.
And what began as an idea of conservation, was quickly embraced by the communities.…

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Mission Blue Film Goes Global on Netflix

We’re tremendously excited to announce that the Mission Blue Film is live on Netflix! While Dr. Earle has been spreading her message of hope for years, we believe that in the coming days this message — our Mission Blue — is going to leap to the next level of awareness in the global public consciousness.
With the documentary, directed by Bob Nixon and Fisher Stevens, available in 40+ countries, we anticipate that Dr. Earle’s simple message of ocean conservation, of respect for our planet and what sustains us, will reverberate through the homes and hearts of Netflix’s global audience. We hope that a public awakening to the dire state of our ocean — and what we can do to save it — will propel personal decisions and public policy that favors the future of our ocean and ourselves.…

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Can California save the ocean?

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.…

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Sharks: The True Coastguards of Our Planet

By Mera McGrew
In a recently released four minute video, biologist Austin Gallagher takes viewers on a journey underwater to get up close and personal with sharks. With incredible images collected over three years from around the globe and through the evolution of his personal relationship with the ocean, Gallagher introduces the rest of us to the true coastguards of our planet — sharks.
“When you are so moved by something and truly love it, you want to tell the world,” Gallagher explained when asked what inspired him to make the film.
For many, sharks are associated with fear and Gallagher is on a mission to turn that fear into fascination. With local and global pressures threatening shark populations, Gallagher hopes to highlight the beauty, inquisitiveness and importance of sharks.…

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