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A Family of Farmers – a Conservation Vessel – a Purpose

Island Reach in Vanuatu
By Janis Steele
Island Reach is a volunteer ocean-going project run by a New England forest farming family headed by a couple of social scientists trained in Human Ecology and Cultural Anthropology. In collaboration with The Ocean Foundation in the US, we work in Vanuatu in the South Pacific aboard Research Vessel Llyr.

Vanuatu is one of our planet’s last great places of rich cultural and biological diversity. Lying on the eastern edge of The Coral Sea, this remote ocean state of 83 islands is home to a vast treasure trove of natural riches – from coral reefs to mangrove and rain forests – and an enduring interdependence between its people and their environment. This intimate relationship between Ni-Vanuatu (the people of Vanuatu) and their seas and islands finds expression in the densest language diversity on the planet, with over 120 languages in active use.…

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Why we need MPAs – Hope Spots for the Ocean!

“It’s not about what it is, it’s about what it can become.” Dr. Seuss
This Dr. Seuss quote from The Lorax captures the essence of marine protected areas (MPAs). Science shows that these underwater wildlife sanctuaries can sow the seeds of tomorrow’s healthier ocean. We need a healthier ocean to help ensure the survival of the global ecological and geological engine it drives – to help ensure our own survival on the planet. The creation of MPAs, or “Hope Spots” as Dr. Sylvia Earle calls them, is an actionable way to address the tremendous existential challenges the ocean faces.
Many successful MPAs range in function, from small marine parks supervised by indigenous communities to large designated cultural landmarks or protected sites.…

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World Parks Congress in Australia Unites Global Ocean Leaders

By Courtney Mattison
On a warm summer afternoon in Australia last Wednesday, thousands of environmental researchers, advocates, policy makers and business leaders gathered in a great hall within the Sydney Olympic Park for the opening ceremonies of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Parks Congress. Delegates from around the globe watched as world-class acrobats flew through the air and dancers in vibrant costumes portrayed a story about inspiring future generations to protect the environment. Aboriginal performances and protocols highlighted the rich cultural context of the host country of this meeting, which only comes around once a decade and is held in a different country each time.
IUCN President Mr. Zhang Xinsheng, Australian federal and state environmental ministers and Nelson Mandela’s grandson addressed the congress.…

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Coral Bay in St. John is Threatened by a Mega Marina

Click here to support The Fund for Coral Bay by Save Coral Bay
We’ve received lots of inquiries from residents and lovers of St. John and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the past weeks regarding a mega marina called Summer’s End that is pending approval for construction in Coral Bay. There is great concern for the environmental impact of the project on the local reefs and species (such as the endangered Green Sea Turtle), as well as belief that the regulatory bodies and government officials whose job it is to safeguard these habitats have vested interests in seeing the construction go through. We encourage our community to form their own opinions regarding this mega development in the pristine waters of St.…

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UN Conference in Samoa Unites World Leaders Behind Small Island Nations as Climate Change Looms

By Courtney Mattison
Equipped only with the tools of Polynesian ancestors and their unwavering conviction, the crews of the Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia traditional voyaging canoes sailed into Apia, Samoa on Sunday after navigating from Hawaii through Polynesia since May. The Pacific Voyagers and Nainoa Thompson – President and Master Navigator of the Polynesian Voyaging Society – were accompanied onboard the Hōkūle‘a for its most recent sail by ocean artist Wyland and Conservation International’s Greg Stone and were welcomed ashore by Dr. Sylvia Earle amid an impressive display of traditional Polynesian performers. Once on shore, the Samoa Head of State addressed his guests with a profoundly heartfelt speech expressing Samoa’s appreciation for its kinship with Hawaii, setting the tone for a four-day conference hosted by the United Nations on Small Island Developing States (SIDS).…

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A Time For Heroes

By Deb Castellana
Last week, 400 participants from 80 different nations answered US Secretary of State John Kerry’s call to come together for his Our Ocean 2014 Conference in Washington, D.C.  Dr. Sylvia Earle has been honored to serve on the steering committee of Mr. Kerry’s Oceans Group, and her work over the past several years helped make the conference the success it was.
Attending were heads of state, CEOs of large corporations like Bumblebee Tuna, NGOs, foreign ministers, scientists and celebrities. They gathered to collaborate on an action plan to insure that future generations will inherit a planet capable of sustaining human life. As Earle says: “No blue; no green. No ocean; no us.”
In his opening keynote, Mr. Kerry called for the creation of a global ocean strategy.…

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Bering Sea Hope Spot on the Edge

One Small Step forward for the Bering Sea Canyons Hope Spot, Two Giant Steps Back! 
It has been 10 months since the North Pacific Fishery Management Council indicated that they were willing to consider protections for the Bering Sea Canyons Hope Spot. In April, at the end of long week of Council conversations, they took their next, patiently awaited action on the canyons. While the Council did begin the process to consider management measures to protect coral habitat, they dealt a serious blow to protections by simultaneously dropping Zhemchug Canyon (the largest underwater canyon in the world) and all parts of the ecologically essential shelf-break (Green Belt) off the table.
Moving forward, the Bering Sea Canyons policy process will be limited to considering protections for significant concentrations of deep-sea corals in Pribilof canyon, period.  …

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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. …

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Sylvia Earle at the National Aquarium: Hope Spots – A Plan for the Ocean

Last week, Mission Blue founder, Dr. Sylvia A. Earle launched the National Aquarium’s spring Marjorie Lynn Bank Lecture Series with her talk, “Hope: A Plan for Our Ocean.” 
Legendary oceanographer, explorer, author and lecturer, Dr. Sylvia Earle has pioneered the concept of embracing ocean “hope spots” around the world, aquatic treasures like America’s own National Marine Sanctuaries. Hope spots are special places that are critical to the health of the ocean, Earth’s blue heart.
Dr. Earle shared her experiences exploring inner-space to rally popular support for Hope Spots around the world. Some of these Hope Spots are already protected, while for others, it is imperative that they become protected.  
And now, Dr. Earle’s lecture in it’s entirety, with entertaining introductions from John Racanelli, CEO of the National Aquarium, Jason Patlis, CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and Mission Blue’s Executive Director, Jim Toomey! …

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The Lowdown on IMPAC 3

Fifteen hundred representatives from 87 nations came together last week to discuss our absolutely favorite subject:  Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s), or as we call them, Hope Spots. It went down in France with a delicately balanced soup of the relevant stakeholders: Marine Protected Area managers, scientists, politicians, local representatives, concerned civilians, business executives and more.
Getting together and talking is all well and good — but what happened? What were the visions put forward to save our ocean?
On the Mission Blue front, we were ecstatic to announce a new Hope Spot Map with 50 marine areas targeted for increased conservation. Ideally even larger swaths of the ocean would be completely protected starting tomorrow, yet these 50 Hope Spots offer a road map — a game plan — to concentrate conservation efforts in places that are critical to ocean health…critical to the future health of our entire planet, whose chemistry and biology is driven by our Blue Heart.…

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