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Holistic Reef Replenishment on Tetiaroa

 
Coral reef ecosystems are among the most biologically diverse and complex marine ecosystems in the world. Corals provide a bio-calcified foundation that serves as habitat for multitudes of fish, invertebrates and algae, constituting a network of interacting species responsible for the overall health and functioning of the reef. Elimination or reduction of species due to global climate change, pollution, and/or unsustainable fishing practices upsets the intricate balance of biological interactions and endangers the resilience of the reef. Sadly, most coral reefs worldwide are experiencing some combination of stressors, with the result of loss of biodiversity, function, and ecosystem services that much of the world’s human population relies upon.
Restoration attempts of degraded reefs are complex and require restoring all components of a healthy reef community.…

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Dive into the Underwater World of Coral Reefs with the New Coral Reef Ecology Curriculum

Mission Blue is proud to announce a partnership with the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation to bring marine science education to students around the world through the Foundation’s new Coral Reef Ecology Curriculum. This custom-built online platform contains educational videos, interactive exercises and games designed to educate people about life on coral reefs. It is free to anyone with an internet connection. Try it now to be one of the first people to get full access to this state-of-the-art educational resource.
‘Our curriculum provides an exciting opportunity for students, teachers, and the general public to explore the natural world of coral reefs’ says Amy Heemsoth, Director of Education at the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation.
The Coral Reef Ecology Curriculum uses marine science, conservation, and coral reefs as examples to teach broad themes relating to the natural world and our environment.…

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Menjangan Island Coral Reef Conservation

Mission Blue is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Biosphere Foundation! Here’s a word from them on their collaborative work to conserve coral reefs around Indonesia’s Menjangan Island in the Coral Triangle Hope Spot.

Menjangan Island lies off Bali’s northwest shore and is sacred with four Hindu temples and a statue of Ganesha, the god of new beginnings.  People come from all over Bali on holy days to make offerings and prayers at the temples.
Its fringing coral reef is unusual, almost a diversity anomaly for the region, with a wealth of hard corals, sea fans and soft corals.
On paper, the reefs are protected since they lie within Bali Barat National Park (BBNP), but in actuality, they are suffering from an array of negative impacts, such as anchor damage, over-fishing, trash, and climate change.…

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Unlocking the Secrets of Coral Reef Resilience

Here’s a word from our new partners at the Central Caribbean Marine Institute!

At the Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) we are creating a hopeful future for coral reefs, vibrant ecosystems that have been the heart of healthy oceans for more than 200 million years. CCMI is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 to protect the future of coral reefs through research, conservation, and education.
In 2005 we opened the flourishing Little Cayman Research Centre (LCRC). At the groundbreaking for the center, HRH The Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and CCMI Royal Patron dedicated the site “to sustain biodiversity so that the children of the world may forever discover the treasures of the sea.”
The reefs around Little Cayman truly are treasures of the sea and they offer insight for coral reefs globally.…

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Ocean art documentary highlights humanity’s ties to coral reefs

By Courtney Mattison
A new documentary is making a splash at film festivals around the country and it’s heading to California. Angel Azul – a feature length environmental documentary from Passelande Pictures directed by Marcelina Cravat – explores the plight of Caribbean coral reefs through the work of renowned sculptor and reef conservationist Jason deCaires Taylor.

Angel Azul takes viewers from Taylor’s dry, cavernous concrete sculpture studio 20 minutes down the coast from Cancun to the warm azure waters offshore, where the artist has installed hundreds of life-size statues in the seafloor to serve as artificial reefs that aggregate fish and provide safe spots on which baby corals can settle and grow. Taylor’s hauntingly beautiful works also draw tourists away from the natural reefs nearby, which are struggling to survive the panoply of threats imposed by climate change, disease, nutrient pollution and other human-caused impacts.…

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Art brings the coral reef crisis above the surface

By Courtney Mattison
Coral reefs have captivated my imagination for as long as I can remember. I am happiest when the exotic forms, vibrant colors and often-venomous appendages of the animals that inhabit a tropical reef dance through the window of my scuba mask as I slowly hover above. Maybe it’s because I’m relatively small and I respect small creatures that can build big beautiful things, but I feel like I relate to corals – arguably one of the least relatable animals – on a very deep level.
I often feel like a coral, working in my studio using simple tools and my hands to methodically sculpt and texture clay to construct large, delicate, stony structures that mimic the prolific reef-builders.…

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Exploring the Gulf of Mexico Deep Reefs with Megan Cook

By Megan Cook, Mission Blue Young Explorer
Megan will rejoin the E/V Nautilus in the Gulf of Mexico in late July further exploring hydrocarbon influx sites.  Participate as the team explores the Gulf of Mexico Deep Reefs Hope Spot by sending in questions to www.NautilusLive.org or by following on Twitter or Facebook. ~ Ed.
Where is your favorite coral reef? I’m willing to bet you answered somewhere tropical and warm, where the sunshine glitters into clear, shallow water bathing polyps and divers alike.  Nearby there might be a beach scene where drink umbrellas wouldn’t be out of place. That would have been my answer too, until last month… 
Descending to the seafloor took the ROV Hercules over an hour. From the control van of the E/V Nautilus, I sat with my watch team from the Corps of Exploration as HD video poured in from the ROV Hercules.…

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Photo of the Day ~ Belize Reef, Mesoamerican Reef Hope Spot

Facebook follower Tony Rath sent us this vision of paradise from a Belize Reef, part of Dr. Sylvia Earle’s Mesoamerican Hope Spot.
“Sometimes I come across a photo that makes me look twice. At first I thought ‘this looks like a heck of a low tide, all that coral is exposed.’ But looking closer, I noticed a slight break of waves over the top of some of the coral heads.”
“In fact, the water is so clear, that it is an illusion that the coral heads are above water. This photo provides a clear view of what our barrier reef in Belize is – not rubble and dead coral skeletons – but a living, growing, healthy organism.”
Credit: Tony Rath Photography / http://www.facebook.com/belizephotography…

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