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Behind the Scenes: The Azores Hope Spot Summit

Header image by Nuno Sá
By: Shannon McIntyre Rake, Hope Spots Program Manager

My name is Shannon McIntyre Rake and I am the Hope Spots Program Manager for Mission Blue. As many readers of this blog will already know, Hope Spots are special places in the ocean where Mission Blue works with local champions to promote the creation and enforcement of marine protected areas. The Azores is one such Hope Spot and that’s where this story starts, as we arrived there to meet the local champions and get an update on their conservation efforts. The trip would turn out to be unforgettable with the President of the Azores announcing an expansion of the Azorean marine protected area, as well as the opportunity to witness first-hand the cutting edge of local marine science efforts.…

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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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Gathered Foods, Makers of Good Catch® Plant-Based Seafood, Joins Dr. Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue Nonprofit in New Initiative to Help Preserve Key Ocean Ecosystems

Plant-based seafood leader to support Mission Blue with ongoing sponsorship and consumer call to action to help shift the decline of marine wildlife.
 
Austin, TX (June 8, 2021) – In honor of World Ocean Day, Gathered Foods, makers of Good Catch® plant-based seafood, today announced a new partnership with Mission Blue, an organization led by oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, that inspires action to explore and protect our ocean. With a common goal of protecting the world’s waters, Good Catch will become a corporate sponsor of Mission Blue to bring awareness and support for ocean conservation to the forefront. Together, Good Catch and Mission Blue will be initiating consumer campaigns to call for greater protection of Mission Blue Hope Spots, which are designated conservation areas protected by Mission Blue programs and government partnerships.…

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Panama Achieves 30×30 Ocean Protection Goals in Newly Expanded Cordillera de Coiba Marine Protected Area

Header image by Max Bello.
Spanish translation can be read at the bottom of the page.
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA (June 8th, 2021) –
On June 8th, 2021, Laurentino Cortizo, President of Panama and Milciades Concepción, Minister of Environment signed the decree that protects the Coiba Ridge, a move that will triple the Cordillera de Coiba marine protected area. With this act, Panama is set to be ahead of the 30% by 2030 goals (30×30) and become a true Blue Leader – a country that officially “highly and fully” protects 30% or more of its oceans. Panama will finalize the management plan to address the regulation of the new expanded MPA by the fall. 
 

 
Dr. Sylvia Earle, Founder of Mission Blue, says, “Congratulations to President Laurentino Cortizo and the country of Panama for protecting this special part of the blue planet.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, sylvia earle, 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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Pacific North West Protectors: Guardians of the Kelp

Written by Madison Churchill; photos by Hannah Gabrielson

Donned in thick neoprene and extra-long fins, we dive below the surface. One breath at a time takes us deeper into an underwater world, bringing everything into focus with each descent. We are freediving at Lime Kiln State Park on San Juan Island, a historically thriving kelp forest that’s now under threat. What we see now is alarming. One dip beneath the surface reveals a barren of sea urchins as far as the eye can see. These spiny invertebrates serve their function in small numbers, but when left unchecked, can devour kelp like no other. Some stalks of kelp have been spared and continue to grow, but there’s been a clear shift. Something is out of balance.…

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Salish Sea Declared a Hope Spot in Celebration of New Marine Animal Hospital

Header image: Photo of K21, an adult male from the endangered Southern Resident killer whale population, taken off the Seattle waterfront. Photo credit: John Durban.  
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON (2020)

The Salish Sea has been declared a Hope Spot by international nonprofit Mission Blue in recognition of SeaLife Response, Rehabilitation, and Research (SR³) and their partners’ conservation goals to protect the local marine biodiversity. SR³ is kicking off their celebration as the Hope Spot Champions with the opening of a new marine animal hospital in Seattle, coming soon.
 
 
Connecting the waters between Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, Canada, the Salish Sea is bursting with iconic and beloved creatures like the endangered Southern Resident killer whales and humpback whales. As the original inhabitants of the sea, these mammals called the region home thousands of years before human beings walked to draw borders between countries, build ports, and develop commercial fishing to feed the rest of the two-legged world.…

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How Cape RADD is Training the Next Generation of Scientists in the False Bay Hope Spot

Featured image by Jason Boswell
In November 2019, Cape RADD (Research and Diver Development) became the newly-appointed Champions of the False Bay Hope Spot. Run by a small team of passionate marine biologists and conservationists, Cape RADD serves as a platform for researchers in the False Bay area of Cape Town, South Africa. Read on to learn more about the important work they are doing in South Africa!
 
 
Inspiring the next generation of marine scientists
Cape RADD’s team of scientists aim to better understand the underwater world by using a variety of sampling techniques including transects, quadrats, remote underwater video and mark-recapture to monitor long-term changes to biodiversity in the area. They conduct a number of research projects including kelp forest grazer density and distribution, fish and shark population estimates, microplastic pollution, and more.…

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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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Kangaroo Island North Coast Hope Spot Highlights Need for Greater Protection

KANGAROO ISLAND, SOUTHERN AUSTRALIA (AUGUST 10TH, 2020)

Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third-largest island, and one of immense biological significance. A plunge beneath Kangaroo Island’s crystalline waves reveals a bursting rainbow of life – lucky divers can spot animals like striped reef fish, radiant sea stars, enigmatic jellyfish, pods of 100 dolphins and several threatened and endangered species. However, not unlike many other marine ecosystems, it faces the threat of ever-growing human interference.
 
 
Kangaroo Island North Coast has been declared a Hope Spot by international marine conservation nonprofit Mission Blue in recognition of the Hope Spot Champions’ goals of increased marine protection for the island’s surrounding waters and the expansion of ecotourism and research tourism in the area. Mission Blue also recognizes the need to protect Kangaroo Island from a proposed timber port project.…

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

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