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Ocean Organizations Designate Seamounts off California Coast as Newest Hope Spots in Worldwide System

CALIFORNIA COAST, UNITED STATES (May 14, 2019) – Deep below the ocean’s surface, not far from the beautiful beaches of the California coast, where millions sunbathe, surf, and enjoy the majesty and tranquility of the sea, lies a world of underwater mountains, volcanoes and ancient islands called seamounts. These seamounts provide a home to biologically important treasures critical to the health of the ocean. Although virtually unknown to the Golden State’s nearly 40 million residents, the seamounts are home to creatures like the endangered blue and gray whales and sperm whales, sharks, rare deep‐sea corals that take hundreds of years to grow, and seabirds hunting high overhead for fish that aggregate near the seamounts. Unfortunately, the dozens of vibrant seamounts along California’s coast and across the globe face a risky future due to potential deepsea trawling, ocean warming and acidification, offshore drilling, and the rise of deep-sea mining, a practice that extracts minerals from the seamounts and seabed.…

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Gorda and Mendocino Ridges – California’s Test Cases for Deep-Sea Mining

By: Samuel Georgian, Marine Biogeographer at Marine Conservation Institute.

 
The Gorda and Mendocino Ridges are a complex series of oceanic ridges just off the coast of northern California and are home to unique deep-sea ecosystems including hydrothermal vents and cold seeps. Unfortunately, these areas may be at risk from future deep-sea mining efforts. It is critical that we enact protection for these diverse habitats before they are irrevocably damaged by commercial activities.
Hydrothermal Vents
Only discovered in 1977, hydrothermal vents are incredible deep-sea ecosystems that form due to the venting of extremely hot and mineral-rich fluids into the water column. Hydrothermal vents occur when fractures in the seafloor allow seawater and magma to meet, resulting in the venting of extremely hot (750°F and higher) fluids into the water column.…

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Bring Balance to the Bering Sea

By Jackie Dragon (Originally published January 16, 2015 on Greenpeaceblogs.org)
This week in Seattle billboards and posters are popping up with a message for companies that profit from the sale of our ocean wildlife. Greenpeace, Mission Blue, and Marine Conservation Institute — three organizations committed to protecting important ocean places — have joined up to tell supermarkets that we need their help to protect special ocean places, like America’s Grand Canyons in the Sea.
An American gem is hidden from sight beneath the chilly waters of Alaska in the Bering Sea. Zhemchug and Pribilof canyons — designated a Hope Spot by “Her Deepness,” Dr. Sylvia Earle in 2013 — are the world’s largest underwater canyons, both more massive than the Grand Canyon.…

Posted in mission blue, Partner Stories |

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Central American Dome – Playa Grande, Costa Rica Expedition

In January 2014, MarViva and Mission Blue launched a film expedition with Dr. Sylvia Earle to highlight our Central American Dome Hope Spot.  Partners supporting the expedition were LightHawk, The Baum Foundation, Bula Bula and National Geographic. The ecological and commercial value of the Dome’s resources were documented to raise awareness and support for the protection of its species and habitats. The film below, produced by Mission Blue and MarViva, takes viewers on a journey to learn about the Central American Dome (CAD) and why sustainable management of this High Seas Hope Spot is so important for the region:

In 2013, Dr. Sylvia Earle and Mission Blue declared The Central American Dome a “Hope Spot,” designating it as a special area critical to the health of the ocean.…

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Global Ocean Refuge System Launched by Marine Conservation Institute

Recently at the Third International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC3) in Marseille, France, Marine Conservation Institute announced a new effort to recover and maintain the diversity and abundance of marine life, the Global Ocean Refuge System or GLORES (pronounced glôr-ees).
Human activities are threatening our oceans and pushing many marine species toward extinction.  MPAs are the most cost-effective way to protect the diversity and abundance of ocean ecosystems, but less than 3% of the sea is protected (the area of stronger, no-take protection is lower, ~1% according to MPAtlas.org).  GLORES will be a worldwide system of protected areas to prevent mass extinction of marine life.  As the human population grows, climates change and oceans acidify, a diversified portfolio of protected places ensures us against these changes. …

Posted in Partner Stories |

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First-Ever National Ranking Shows Most Coastal States Failing to Protect Oceans

Seattle WA – Today two leading marine science and conservation organizations, the Marine Conservation Institute and Mission Blue, issued the 1st-ever quantitative, scientifically rigorous national ranking of states’ protection of their ocean waters.  SeaStates: How Well Does Your State Protect Your Coastal Waters? shows that most states and territories are failing to safeguard our nation’s marine life, seafood and coasts.
Oceans are crucial to our health and economy.  Coastal counties include only 5.71% of the area in the lower 48 states but generate 35.54% of the Gross Domestic Product.  Indeed, coastal counties generate $7,992 more GDP per person than inland and Great Lakes counties.
“Despite so many threats to their health, states are failing to protect our ocean waters,” said Dr.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

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Photo of the Day ~ Giant Gorgonian

Thanks to our Mission Blue partners at Marine Conservation Institute for this photo of the day! “Size does matter, if you’re a Gorgonian coral.” Two of their Board members spotted this 5.7m (18 feet and 8 inches to some of us) tall coral in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands! The diver image has been added for scale. More details here: goo.gl/jkQVI…

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A blog to save the Earth 8. Exclusive interview with the two-headed shark

Our guest writer today is Elliott A. Norse, founder of our partner organization, Marine Conservation Institute. ~ ed.
As an observer of the sea and its life, I always want to report on the latest ocean stories while they’re hot. Yesterday the media learned that a fisherman had found a two-headed pre-term bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas). Realizing that it had a most unusual perspective on the world, I managed to obtain the shark’s cell phone number and recorded the following interview.
EN: How do you want to be addressed?
Bull shark: We agreed to come out as what we are.  Heads matter more than bodies or tails, so we want to be addressed as SarahJean.
EN: How does it feel to be a shark?…

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