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Successful Sustainability: Mohéli Hope Spot in the Comoros Archipelago Celebrates Effective Marine Conservation

Mohéli, Comoros (August 27th, 2020)

 In the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa lies the unspoiled paradise of Mohéli. With a land size of 211 km² and fewer than 40,000 inhabitants, the island is the smallest in the Comoros Archipelago. On April 19th, 2001, Mohéli Marine Park was created as the first protected area in the Comoros – nowadays reclassified as Mohéli National Park. This great step towards improved marine ecosystem conservation happened when local communities negotiated a collaborative arrangement with the government for both the creation and management of the park.
 
 
 
Mission Blue, international marine conservation nonprofit, has declared Mohéli a Hope Spot in recognition of the work that Mohéli National Park, Laka Lodge, their partners and entire island community have done to preserve the island and its marine life.…

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Gold Coast Bay Hope Spot Embraces Harmony Between City and the Sea

GOLD COAST BAY, AUSTRALIA (2020)

The glowing beaches and glimmering waters of the Gold Coast Bay have drawn both Australians and globe-trotting tourists alike to its shores for decades. The bay’s most popular attraction is perhaps the populations of Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) who congregate and migrate through. The huge mammal’s impact in the area stretches beyond the famous sight of their waving tails. Humpback whales carry with them microorganisms that connect several marine ecosystems on the coast, making them an important piece of the health of the country’s coastline.
 
 
The Gold Coast Bay has been declared a Mission Blue Hope Spot in support of the Hope Spot Champion, Olaf Meynecke of Humpbacks & High-rises Inc., and his partners’ goals of protecting the whales’ sensitive populations with unified conservation, boating and fishing regulations, and a strong ecotourism industry that prioritizes animal safety and public appreciation for the natural world.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Uncategorized |

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International Recognition of Timor-Leste’s Oceans of ‘Blue Hope’

Timor-Leste (June 8th, 2020, World Oceans Day)

The small island nation of Timor-Leste has been internationally recognized for its exceptional marine life and its commitment to ocean conservation and marine ecotourism. Mission Blue, international marine conservation non-profit, has recognized the northern waters of Timor-Leste in the newly designated Ombai-Wetar Strait Hope Spot. Hope Spots are special places critical to the health of the ocean that recognize, empower and support local communities and governments around the world in their efforts to protect the ocean.
 

 
Dr. Sylvia Earle, Founder of Mission Blue, said the Ombai-Wetar Strait Hope Spot recognizes the global significance of Timor-Leste’s oceans, particularly its coral reefs and marine wildlife – and the island’s potential for sustainable marine ecotourism development.…

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Little Cayman Hope Spot: Celebrating a Brilliant Example of Successful Marine Conservation

Cayman Islands (June 6th , 2020)

The smallest of the Cayman Islands is home to fewer than 200 people – and yet at roughly 10 miles long by one mile wide, Little Cayman has become known as a magnificent oasis in the Caribbean. Small but mighty, the island shines as a flourishing example of what protection for marine ecosystems can look like when conservation is prioritized. The island’s colorful reefs are considered some of the healthiest in the Caribbean and support a rich ecosystem bursting with creatures like sea turtles, sharks, stingrays and a rainbow of corals. Behind the scenes of the conservation of Little Cayman’s brilliant marine life is Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI). Their resilience, restoration and assisted evolution research efforts examine the features that enable corals to persist through time, despite changing conditions.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Uncategorized |

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New Hope Spot in Panama Champions a Push for a Healthier Environment

Featured image by Bocas del Toro Productions
 
BOCAS DEL TORO ARCHIPELAGO, PANAMA (February 10th, 2020) 

Over the last 30 years, Panama’s Bocas del Toro archipelago has gone from an unknown paradise to capturing the hearts of globe-trotting wanderlusters. This small archipelago is home to just 16,000 residents, and in 2012 they hosted 225,000 tourists. Compared to many favorite destinations across the world, this chain of islands is relatively new to the tourism industry – but many locals and conservationists are already feeling the unintended effects of the sharp rise of travelers and accompanying development.
 
 
Water conditions surrounding the islands continue to worsen. Sedimentation, eutrophication, hypoxic events and turbidity have impacted the abundance of many coral species and have made conditions difficult for regrowth.…

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

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A Conversation with a Shark Fisherman

Kip Evans: Tell me about yourself and what you do for a living.
Juan Lucas: My name is Juan Pablo Lucas and I’m a fisherman based out of Puerto San Carlos. I also live here, in La Paz, Baja California. I’ve been a fisherman my whole life. We were raised here when my mom and my dad took us over. During our childhood, we built small wooden or cork barges. We made small nets. We worked with basically what we saw around, you know? We did it because our parents did that…they made nets and fished. That was my life and I’ve been fishing ever since. We used to go for anything we could get, but now we have rules. We’re constantly trying to learn everything that’s going on in the protected areas.…

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Grand Cayman Port Controversy

In 2016, George Town Harbor was designated by Mission Blue as a Hope Spot. Mission Blue and the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) define Hope Spots as “areas in the ocean recognized by scientists for having unique ecological attributes that make them especially deserving of designation as marine protected areas.” These areas that are privileged enough to be recognized have qualities of ecological, biological, aesthetic, or socioeconomic significance.
Hope Spots were created to “encourage people to take responsibility and ownership of their environment” and now for the first time, the people of the Cayman Islands could have a direct say in the fate of their marine environment and the fate of George Town Harbor through a referendum. If you live in the Caymans, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation (GHOF) encourages you to take responsibility for your ocean and stand up for what is right with your vote. …

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, Hope Spot, mission blue, Uncategorized |

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What do you get when passion and private enterprise collide? A story of love, hope and the world’s richest reefs

The Mission Blue Council has just named the Misool Marine Reserve in South Raja Ampat, Indonesia as a Mission Blue Hope Spot. Misool is a shining beacon of hope inside the Coral Triangle, the most biodiverse marine ecosystem in the world. Here’s Misool’s story about how conservation and tourism can be the perfect marriage…
Back in 2005, when Raja Ampat was visited only by a handful of daring divers aboard their pirate-esque Phinisi schooners, Marit Miners and her future husband Andrew spent their third date, which lasted nearly a month, diving Misool’s undiscovered reefs. They explored the region’s maze of karst outcroppings and rugged islets.  During a surface interval between dives, the pair stumbled upon a secret beach which was home to an itinerant shark finning camp, clearly contributing to the estimated 100 million sharks killed each year to supply the shark fin soup trade.…

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Swimming Around The Campfire

Manta Ray Experience Highlights Need for Balance of Animal Safety and Tourism
By: Kristin Hettermann

Kona, Hawaii — We were the last guests of the evening at a campfire like no other. It was pitch black when we emerged to flashlights waving us back to our vessel, and as the final few boats brought their nightly activities to a close, we reluctantly came out of the water. A moment before, I had been surrounded by a dense school of Āholehole (Hawaiian flagtail), their mass producing a strobe-like effect that created the feeling of being on a crowded dance floor. Just below me, two mantas were doing barrel rolls just feet from my body, and another dozen circled the vicinity. What if they came a few feet closer and lifted me out of the water?…

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How Can Indonesia’s Coral Reefs Resist Climate Change?

Indonesia’s 17,000 islands are among the richest in the Coral Triangle. Conservationist Drew Harvell plunged into some of its best Marine Protected Areas to check the health and vitality of Indonesian reefs and here’s what she found…
By: Drew Harvell

As I awoke to the sounds of the mullahs’ calls for morning prayer in Makassar, Sulawesi Island,  I pondered barriers being crossed in my research project: cultural, gender and even scientific. Our goal is to save the spectacular biodiversity of Indonesia’s seas, which is threatened by an unholy trinity of coastal pollution, climate change and habitat destruction. We are working on coral reefs, which are the most biodiverse marine habitats. And Indonesia, within the Coral Triangle, is the beating heart of that diversity.…

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