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Marine Protection in the Spotlight at Our Ocean Conference

By Courtney Mattison Hope was in the air during this week’s Our Ocean Conference in Valparaiso, Chile, where over 400 government leaders, researchers and ocean conservation advocates gathered for two days to make and support commitments to protect marine biodiversity. Seeking solutions to illegal fishing, marine plastic pollution, ocean acidification and climate change, Our Ocean 2015 focused on encouraging the use of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a tool to regulate harmful human activities that threaten ocean health.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet led the way in announcing the establishment of the Nazca-Desventuradas marine park—which will cover a surface area of more than 297,000 square kilometers (over 114,000 square miles) surrounding the San Ambrosio and San Felix islands—and a commitment to create a second marine protected area encompassing over 600,000 square kilometers around Easter Island.…

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Happy Holidays from Sylvia Earle and Mission Blue!

Dear Friends,
It has been a truly amazing year and I would like to thank you for playing an important role in the growth and success of Mission Blue!
Harrison Ford recently narrated the voice of the ocean in an online video. He growls, “I am the ocean. You need me. But, I don’t need you.” If only this were true! The fact is now we are at a critical point in  time when the ocean does need us. We must wake up and understand what the ocean delivers: most of the oxygen in the atmosphere, a great sink for carbon dioxide, the majority of biodiversity — the ocean maintains a planet that works in our favor. Sadly, our collective actions — overfishing,  pollution, resource extraction — have driven this great system into a real crisis that is unfolding in this very moment in time.…

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World’s Largest Protected Area Declared in U.S. Waters

By Courtney Mattison
“The United States does not have an Amazon basin, but it has the watery equivalent, a paradise of turtles and sharks, seals and dolphins, coral reefs and giant clams, frigate birds and boobies.”[i] Last Thursday, the environmental community rejoiced as President Obama announced that the U.S. would protect this natural treasure by expanding the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument and creating the largest protected area anywhere on Earth. Building upon the 83,000 square miles of U.S. territory designated for protection by President George W. Bush in 2009, Obama’s executive action increases the reach of this cluster of remote Pacific reserves southwest of Hawaii to 491,000 square miles – three times the size of California and six times larger than the monument’s previous size.…

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Is education the key to saving our oceans?

by Olivia and Carter Ries 
There’s nothing quite as inspiring as young people with a mission, and Olivia and Carter are always in motion – fighting the good fight. So listen up, these kids have some things they want us to know.
First, we’ll hear Olivia’s reflections after having attended John Kerry’s historic ‘Our Ocean 2014’ Conference this month.
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As we attended the ‘Our Oceans’ conference at the State Department recently, it became apparent that there are a whole lot of people and countries who care for the future of our oceans.  We heard experts from around the globe way-in on such issues as Ocean Acidification, Overfishing/Illegal Fishing and even about the issue of Marine Debris and Plastic Pollution. 
We were all so excited to see the level of participation from so many countries and the sincere compassion participants demonstrated as they mapped out their plans to help our oceans.  …

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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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Kerry Conference Calls for Global Action to Save Oceans ‘Under Seige’

“Increasingly, the ocean is threatened. The world’s oceans, as vast as they are, as much as they elicit a sense of awe for size and power, are under siege.”
This week’s State Department ‘Our Ocean’ conference hosts leaders of governments, businesses and NGOs from across the globe and aims to deliver hard-hitting messages about the need for closer co-operation to overcome the challenges facing our ocean – and ourselves.
The summit is built on three pillars: sustainable fisheries, marine pollution and ocean acidification. Speakers include Dr. Margaret Leinen from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, President Anote Tong of Kiribati and actor and philanthropist Leonardo DiCaprio.
On June 17, National Geographic will host a screening of the Mission Blue film for the ‘Our Ocean’ delegates and invited guests.…

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Mission Blue Film Screens at ‘Our Ocean 2014’

Sheldon Whitehouse, the outspoken ‘blue’ senator from the Ocean State of Rhode Island kicked off the evening by introducing Bob Nixon and Fisher Stevens before the Mission Blue Screening at National Geographic HQ in Washington, D.C.  Netflix made it possible for delegates to have a rare opportunity to see the film before its formal release on August 15th.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Photographs (c) Deb Castellana …

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Leaders Gather at the Economist’s World Ocean Summit

In late February, representatives from government, business, academia, think tanks, and NGOs converged on a cliffside hotel overlooking Half Moon Bay outside of San Francisco. The location was appropriate as it looked out on a picturesque corner of what they’d come to discuss: the vast oceans that wrap over 70% of the planet. This was The Economist’s annual World Ocean Summit, hosted in association with National Geographic. With 250 attendees and backed by a strong call to action in The Economist’s February issue, the event sought to gather the most influential marine thinkers and policymakers in the world and discuss what can be done to begin healing and sustaining Earth’s most crucial ecosystem. As John Kerry neatly stated in his opening remarks, the challenge is no longer diagnosis, but action.…

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From the Desk of Sylvia Earle

Dear Friend of the Ocean,
Recently, while diving in the warm waters of the Western Caribbean, I was reminded of the critical importance of our work.  When I made my first dives there some 50 years ago, the reefs were vibrant and decorated with schools of brightly colored fish.  As I kicked my way down to 60 feet below the surface, it didn’t take long to realize that so much has changed…and not for the better.
Jacques Cousteau once mused on our complex relationship with Nature,
“For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive. In this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.”
Cousteau said these words last century.…

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US Department of State Galvanizes Commitment to Ocean Policy

Last week, in preparation for an International Oceans Summit planned for this fall, Dr. Sylvia Earle was invited along with other ocean experts to The Department of State in Washington, DC to advise Secretary John Kerry on current threats facing our planet’s ocean and to discuss ways to promote international actions needed to move toward a sustainable future. 
As a result, Mission Blue Founder and President, Sylvia Earle has been named to the Steering Committee of Secretary Kerry’s Ocean Initiative – great news for the ocean! 

“World Oceans Day appropriately demands our focus on protecting our planet’s most critical resource and we reaffirm our responsibility to ocean conservation as environmental stewards,” said Kerry in a State Department Press Release.
The United States, working domestically and with partners around the world, is taking significant action to strengthen ocean policy and conservation.…

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