fbpixel endangered species Archives - Mission Blue

Blog Archives
Protect the Critically Endangered Goliath Grouper from Killing in Florida

In the earlier part of the last century, Atlantic goliath groupers were abundant from Florida to Brazil and throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. If you have been lucky enough to be in the water with these creatures, then you appreciate their unflappable personality and awe-inspiring size, which reaches up to 8 feet and 1,000 pounds. The goliath grouper has no natural predators besides large sharks and humans. We are writing with regards to the latter.
Goliath groupers reached commercial extinction in the late 1980s. For this reason, in 1990 a federal and state ban on killing them was implemented for U.S. federal waters and state waters of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, followed by a 1993 ban in the U.S.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories |

14 Comments
Finding New Homes Won’t Help Emperor Penguins Cope with Climate Change

Mission Blue is a proud supporter of the WHOI emperor penguin study in collaboration with WHOI and The French National Research Agency!

If projections for melting Antarctic sea ice through 2100 are correct, the vanishing landscape will strip Emperor penguins of their breeding and feeding grounds and put populations at risk.  But like other species that migrate to escape the wrath of climate change, can these iconic animals be spared simply by moving to new locations?
According to new research led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), they cannot. Scientists report that dispersal may help sustain global Emperor penguin populations for a limited time, but, as sea ice conditions continue to deteriorate, the 54 colonies that exist today will face devastating declines by the end of this century.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories |

Leave a comment
Coastal Southeast Florida Hope Spot: A Community in Action

By: Angela Smith, Shark Team One

For a number of years, I have worked with key stakeholders as well as educational and governmental groups on recommended management actions (RMAs) that propose an integrated approach for ecosystem and coral reef protection for the Southeast Florida region. The Hope Spot nomination in part was inspired by a particular action plan calling for no-take zones within a marine protected area. That RMA along with many others written by myself and other stakeholders were vetted and voted on during a process called “Our Florida Reefs,” a community planning process developed by the Southeast Florida Coral Reef Initiative (a National Action Plan to conserve coral reefs under guidance from the United States Coral Reef Task Force, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission).…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, Partner Stories |

1 Comment
Bearing Witness to a Gathering of Giants

Behind the Scenes with Mission Blue in the Revillagigedo Archipelago
By Courtney Mattison

Earlier this month, the Mission Blue expedition team joined forces with Fins Attached, the lab of Dr. James Ketchum of Pelagios Kakunjá and FUSION Media to explore the Revillagigedo Archipelago about 250 nautical miles south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Fondly referred to as “Revi” and Mexico’s “little Galápagos,” this open ocean oasis attracts some of the most impressive schools of shark and ray species on Earth. With waters teeming with giant oceanic manta rays, silky, silvertip, white tip, Galápagos and hammerhead sharks, and shoals of wahoo and jacks, the four volcanic islands of Socorro, San Benedicto, Roca Partida and Clarión were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site less than one year ago.…

Posted in .Homepage, Featured, mission blue |

Leave a comment
Reconnecting Humanity with Nature at the Biophilia Ball

In November last year, Synchronicity Earth hosted the Biophilia Ball – London’s largest wildlife party – at the Natural History Museum to honor 50 years of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ and raise funds for global science and conservation.
Biophilia is Synchronicity Earth’s initiative to reconnect human society with nature. Defined by E.O. Wilson as “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life,” the concept of Biophilia is more important now than ever in the face of global threats such as climate change and ocean acidification.
The Biophilia Ball connected environmental luminaries including Mission Blue founder Dr. Sylvia Earle with musicians, performers and artists for a spectacular evening of performance and masquerade that brought guests on a journey from the open ocean to the frozen arctic to the grasslands of Africa and highlighted the amazing diversity of life on Earth.  …

Posted in mission blue |

Leave a comment