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Everything Sharks! A Virtual Event with Eastern Tropical Pacific Shark Experts

August 25th, 2023 at 11:00am PDT (GMT – 7:00)
Everything Sharks! A Virtual Event with Eastern Tropical Pacific Shark Experts, Hosted by Mission Blue and MigraMar
 

 
Our Speakers:
Moderator – Max Bello, International ocean policy expert, Member, MigraMar
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Alex Hearn – President, MigraMar, and Professor Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Hope Spot Champion, Galápagos Islands Hope Spot, Cocos-Galápagos Swimway Hope Spot
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Sandra Bessudo – Marine biologist, Founder and Director of Malpelo Foundation, Hope Spot Champion, Malpelo Island Hope Spot, Member, MigraMar
 

 
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Ilena Zanella – Founder, Misión Tiburón, Hope Spot Champion, Golfo Dulce Hope Spot, Member, MigraMar
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James Ketchum – Director of Marine Conservation and Co-Founder of Pelagios Kakunja, Hope Spot Champion, Gulf of California, Member, MigraMar
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Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, sylvia earle, Uncategorized |

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Panama Achieves Nearly 60% Ocean Protection with Newly Expanded Banco Volcán Marine Protected Area

Featured image: Whale shark by Cristina Mittermeier

PANAMA CITY, PANAMA (March 2, 2023) –
On March 2, 2023, during the opening ceremony of the 2023 Our Ocean Conference, Laurentino Cortizo, President of Panama, and Milciades Concepción, Minister of Environment, signed the decree to substantially expand the limits of the Banco Volcán Area of Managed Resources (Banco Volcán AMR) to further protect and steward important marine ecosystems, endangered flora and fauna, and important fishing resources found within Panama’s territorial waters in the Caribbean Sea. The expansion increases the size of the Banco Volcán AMR from approximately 14,200 sq km to over 90,000 sq km, with at least half of the total zone designated as a fully protected marine area where no extractive or environmentally damaging activities will be allowed.…

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

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Research Expedition in the Galápagos Marine Reserve Focuses on Overlooked Species and Habitats

English and Spanish versions below
Image: Dr. Sylvia Earle is about to go in the submersible for an exploratory dive in the twilight zone a couple of miles off Wolf Island © Rolex/Franck Gazzola 
The Galapagos Islands Hope Spot, Ecuador (August 16th, 2022)

A multi-institutional team of scientists led by legendary oceanographer and National Geographic Explorer, Dr. Sylvia Earle (Mission Blue) carried out a two-week expedition in the Galápagos Marine Reserve on board the M/V Argo to rediscover and evaluate some of the largely overlooked habitats and species in the reserve, as the Reserve approaches its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2023. “Galapagos will always be a special place,” explained Dr. Earle. “It was here that I discovered cold water kelp communities on the equator fifty years ago, and it was Galápagos that, years later, inspired our Mission Blue Hope Spots initiative.”…

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The First Scientific Expedition to Panama’s Unexplored Cordillera de Coiba Hope Spot Sets Sail

Scientists, students and communicators from Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Spain will spend twelve days on the high seas exploring the biodiversity of Panama’s Cordillera de Coiba seamounts. 
Panama, April 27th, 2022

Last year, Panama expanded the Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area from 17,223.52 km2 to 67,908.98 km2 in a move that brought the country to meet its 30×30 conservation goals. Now, an international scientific expedition made up of researchers and students from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), MigraMar, the International Maritime University of Panama (UMIP), the University of Costa Rica and the Ministry of the Environment will set sail on the first mission to explore the seamounts of this protected area. 
 
 
The scientists will conduct daily dives to depths of up to 450 meters, using a manned submarine, and deploy baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs) several times a day to document the important biodiversity inhabiting the seamounts in the Cordillera de Coiba, located over 60 miles south of the Coiba National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.…

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Dr. Sylvia Earle Celebrates Expanded Marine Protected Area in the Galápagos Islands Hope Spot

By Avrah Sellar, Mission Blue

Today, January 14th, 2022, the President of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, signed an official decree enhancing the marine protected area (MPA) around the Galápagos Archipelago in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. The decree will expand protections by 60,000 square kilometers (23,166 square miles); half of which will be fully protected where no extractive activities are allowed. The new protected area known as La Hermandad, “the sisterhood,” will extend to the maritime border of Costa Rica offering an opportunity for multi-national cooperation to manage marine life like sharks, sea turtles and whales which migrate across countries waters.
 
 
Present at the ceremony was Dr. Sylvia Earle and Max Bello, Global Ocean Policy Advisor for Mission Blue, who attended at the invitation of the President.…

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Scientists Detected the First Documented Journey of Scalloped Hammerhead Shark from Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica to Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Spanish version below.
A scalloped hammerhead shark (Sphyrna lewini) travels more than 1,200 km from Golfo Dulce, Costa Rica’s South Pacific, to the iconic Darwin Arch in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Evidence of connectivity between a coastal nursery area and an essential ocean habitat thanks to a collaborative tagging effort.

By Alex Hearn, President of Migramar and Champion of the Galapagos Islands Hope Spot and the Cocos-Galapagos Swimway Hope Spot
DECEMBER 3, 2021 – Like the jaguars that inhabit the tropical rainforests of different Central American countries, scalloped hammerhead sharks transit through large marine areas of Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador. Such is the case of “Banco”, a male scalloped hammerhead shark tagged at the Golfo Dulce Shark Sanctuary in southern Costa Rica in August 2017 that was detected 1,200 km at the Galapagos Marine Reserve in
Ecuador four years later in March 2021.…

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Tiger Shark Makes Historic Journey From the Galápagos Marine Reserve to Cocos Island National Park

Discovery highlights need to create a marine “superhighway” connecting the two UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
JUNE 21, 2021 –
Scientists uncovered a new example of migratory movements between Galapagos Marine Reserve and Cocos Island National Park on a research trip this year, supporting global efforts to improve the conservation of migratory marine species. The research trip was supported by philanthropist and ocean advocate, Dona Bertarelli, and her family. The discovery is featured in a film by Sails of Change & Only One Collective which urges viewers to sign a petition calling on the governments of Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama to establish the world’s first multinational network of marine protected areas.
A female tiger shark – tagged on an expedition led by non-profit organization OCEARCHwith MigraMar, Galapagos National Park Directorate and Charles Darwin Foundationscientists in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands seven years ago – surfaced at Costa Rica’sCocos Island in February, almost 700 kilometers to the northwest.…

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Cocos Island Hope Spot Champion Randall Arauz Pushes for Improved Marine Protections

Header photo by Cristian Dimitrius
Traducción al español al final.
COCOS ISLAND, COSTA RICA (May 27th, 2021)
Costa Rica has long been recognized around the world for its conservation efforts to protect its wildlife both on land and under the sea. Scientists estimate that approximately 5% of the world’s biodiversity is nestled in the country’s dense rainforests and beneath the surface of its 581,725 km2 exclusive economic zone (EEZ). However, a closer look reveals that out of Costa Rica’s 20 marine protected areas (MPAs), very few provide tangible protection for marine species. In fact, the vast majority are Multiple Use Marine Areas (MUMA), which are under-patrolled and allow for destructive fishing practices that damage the environment and have led to the further depletion of marine species that are vital to the continuance of sustainable food sources.…

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The Pandemic Put Tourism to the Galápagos Islands on Pause. As a New Hope Spot, What’s In Store for a More Sustainable Future?

Featured image: Kip Evans
GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, EASTERN PACIFIC OCEAN (OCTOBER 29TH, 2020)

Tourism has been the main industry in the Galápagos Islands for the 25,000 people who live across the five inhabited islands. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the flow of tourists has stopped – along with many islanders’ source of income. Scientists and conservationists have long considered the protection of the Galápagos Islands to be in need of a second look thanks to recent studies that show complex migration patterns connecting sharks and other creatures of the Galápagos to Cocos, Malpelo and Coiba islands. During a time of global shut-down and rapid change, now may be time for momentum towards greater protection for not only the Galápagos Islands but of the entire Eastern Pacific Ocean.…

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Worlds First Marine Migratory Species Hope Spot Declared Between Cocos and the Galápagos Islands

The Spanish version can be read below

THE EASTERN TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN (MAY 12th, 2020) –
What could become one of the first bi-national marine protected areas in the world has been declared a Hope Spot by the organization Mission Blue. This initiative connects the UNESCO biosphere reserves of two countries, highlighting the need to implement cutting-edge solutions to protect highly migratory species, such as sea turtles and sharks in the Eastern Tropical Pacific.
 

 
Known as the Cocos-Galapagos Swimway, this Hope Spot is a 120,000-kilometer migratory underwater highway that connects the National Parks of two sovereign nations – Costa Rica’s Cocos Island National Park with Ecuador’s Galapagos Marine Reserve – both of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
 

 
Dr.…

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