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A Voice for the Ocean: Counting Forgotten Species in the Galápagos

Featured image: Galápagos horn shark © Avi Klapfer
By Courtney Mattison

Before humans ever made landfall in the Galápagos Archipelago in 1535, only 300 years before Darwin’s fateful voyage, whale sharks migrated through the northern islands among oceanic manta rays and schools of hammerheads while green sea turtles munched on algae growing between barnacles the size of tennis balls on the rocks below. Sea lions and fur seals sunbathed on shore, reclining among marine iguanas, crimson Sally Lightfoot crabs, frigates and blue-footed boobies. Despite the challenges of tourism, commercial fishing and climate change, the Galápagos of today looks surprisingly similar. It’s tempting to assume that these islands and surrounding waters are relatively pristine given their remote location and UNESCO World Heritage status, and in some ways they are.…

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

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The Invaluable Goliath Grouper – Our Coastal Southeast Florida Hope Spot Needs Your Help!

By: Angela Smith, Shark Team One

Goliath groupers are considered a keystone species since they are essential to a healthy reef and their presence and behaviors increase diversity within an ecosystem. The goliath grouper is also a vulnerable species and to give you an idea of how rare goliaths are, during a five-year Reef Visual Census (RVC) study from 2012 to 2016, assessments of reef fish abundance conducted by multiple regional academic institutions and government agencies found only 38 goliath groupers in the southeast Florida region (St. Lucie Inlet to Government Cut). Data from that project’s counterpart in the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas indicated that abundances were similar. Yet state policymakers are currently considering a tag lottery to kill 100 goliath groupers per year for a four-year period!…

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

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Cause for Hope: Kimbe Bay’s Youth Marine Conservation Program Preserves One of the Most Biodiverse Reefs on the Planet

Featured image by Grant Thomas
(Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea) 

Kimbe Bay’s marine conservation history dates back to 1983 when couple Max and Cecilie Benjamin first opened Walindi Plantation Resort along its shore. The resort quickly established itself as a premier dive spot– the area possesses one of the highest biodiversity in tropical fish and coral in the world. The Benjamins noticed, however, that the state of the world’s reefs had begun to decline. In 1997, they opened Mahonia Na Dari, or ‘Guardians of the Sea’, right next door. Today, Mahonia Na Dari along with James Cook University run the Marine Environment Education Program (MEEP) in which local students of all ages are equipped with the training, tools and knowledge to conserve the Bay’s marine environment for their community and the world.…

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

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