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7 Women in Diving Everyone Should Know

By: Megan Denny

Assembling a list of the most important women in scuba diving history is no easy task. We began with dozens of women, but ultimately narrowed it down to the seven amazing divers below. We hope this list is merely a starting place that inspires you to learn more about women’s contributions to scuba diving.
Dottie Frazier
Our list begins with Dottie Frazier, a woman who can claim many “firsts” in scuba. She is widely recognized as the first female scuba instructor, the first female dive shop owner, and the first female hard-hat diver. Dottie Frazier also produced wetsuits and drysuits for the Navy, as well as recreational divers, and is one of scuba’s living legends. Listen to a 2016 interview with Dottie Frazier from the Scuba Guru podcast, or see historical news clippings of this amazing woman.…

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Cayman Islands: Coral Nursery Conservation Program

By: Laura Butz

The caribbean has already lost 80% of its coral reefs.
Grand Cayman Eco Divers in collaboration with the Cayman Islands Department of Environment and local dive establishments are working together to maintain coral nurseries and aid in conservation, sustainability and restoration of Cayman’s coral reefs. The program develops effective strategies for protecting and restoring damaged areas of coral reef with an emphasis on growing Staghorn coral in nurseries.  Coral fragments are grown on structures referred to as coral trees.  These “trees” are made from PVC and fiberglass rods.  The fragments of coral grow into colonies and after significant growth, they are removed from the tree and planted onto damaged coral reef areas to aid in their recovery.  The fragments are proven to provide a sustainable method in maintaining healthy reefs for the long-run. …

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Manta Rays and Microplastics

Understanding the Beauty and Vulnerability of Giant Mantas of the Revillagigedo Archipelago
By Courtney Mattison

For those who have spent time underwater with giant manta rays, the experience they recall sounds dreamlike and meditative. The Mission Blue expedition team felt this phenomenon firsthand at the Revillagigedo Archipelago, an open ocean oasis for giants of the sea. “The mantas are like sirens tempting you to go deeper and deeper following their seductive ocean acrobatics,” remarked Shari Sant Plummer after a day of diving with them at Roca Partida, the smallest of these four volcanic islands. She continued:

The mantas here seem to love divers! They want your attention and if you stop paying attention to them, they will remind you… They’re like my dog that comes and nudges my arm when I’m on the computer so that I’ll come play with him.…

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Stress, Starvation and Survival

Coral reefs around the world are dying off due to climate-related changes. How can we ensure these “rainforests of the sea” survive?
By: Dianna Bell, Earthwatch Institute

Underwater Ghost Towns
White ghosts rising from the sea floor. Snow-covered skeletons. Faded rainforests under the sea. Once vibrant and thriving coral reefs are suffering, and dying off at alarming rates.
“It’s devastating,” said Dr. Steve Whalan, one of the scientists on the Earthwatch expedition Helping Endangered Corals in the Cayman Islands. “If you’ve ever spent any time on reefs, they’re absolutely fascinating, remarkable systems visually. It’s awe-inspiring to see some of these systems in place when they’re not degraded. So to see them crash around you is very sad.”
The culprit of this destruction?…

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Smart Business Solutions: St. Vincent and the Grenadines Hope Spot

St. Vincent and the Grenadines was designated a Mission Blue Hope Spot at the IUCN Congress in Hawaii by Dr. Sylvia A. Earle on September 9, 2016. 
By: Shilpi Chhotray, Mission Blue Communications Strategist 

When someone says they are going to St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) you probably think of islands. But the marine environment — the big blue — in this southern Caribbean nation is 70 times greater in area than its land mass! Indeed, SVG is famous across the globe for clear blue waters thriving with marine biodiversity, including myriad species of cetaceans, coral reefs, seagrass, mangroves and, of course, a spectacular variety of fish, invertebrates and more. The cetacean megafauna is particularly diverse in these waters where at least 26 species of cetacean are thought to occur.…

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Searious Business Tackles Ocean Plastics

By: Willemijn Peeters, Ocean Ambassador of the Netherlands and Founder of Searious Business

Searious Business is a social enterprise with a strong mission focus. We develop front-end solutions that help prevent plastic pollution in our seas. Creating innovative, economically advantageous alternatives at the source, Searious Business collaborates with companies and others to strategically assess internal plastic use and reduce external impacts on ocean ecosystems.
The Issue
Plastic pollution is a global, growing problem. It impacts our ocean, our health, and our long-term wellbeing.
Searious Business Solutions
Our primary goal is to prevent plastics from ending up in our environment. As we work with business, governments, and various other organizations, we are always guided by these core principles:

Re-Think: We help establish inclusive, innovative, solutions-based thought processes.…

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Coral Reef Recovery in Fiji

By: Victor Bonito, Director, Reef Explorer Fiji

Over the last three years, coral reefs worldwide have suffered unprecedented damage to coral communities from abnormally warm seawater temperatures. When the US National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the third global coral bleaching event in October 2015, shallow reef areas along Fiji’s Coral Coast had already experienced two back-to-back years of widespread coral bleaching. Before we received the depressing news about our local reefs, we decided to take action and incorporate lessons learned from previous bleaching events and seawater temperature monitoring efforts.
In late 2015, our  Reef Explorer project team and local youth clubs established five new coral nurseries across our local reefs. We stocked the nurseries with a good diversity of coral species propagated from numerous donor colonies that we suspected had good thermal (heat) tolerance due to their size and placement on the reef. …

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Throwback Thursday: Subs for Science

As Alvin embarks on it’s first post refit explorations in the Gulf of Mexico, we look back to our own Sustainable Seas Expedition. Mission Blue Director of Expeditions and Photography, Kip Evans takes us on a magic carpet ride into the deep.   ~ Ed.
In 1977, Alvin, the first untethered manned submersible, was used to confirm theories of seafloor spreading along the Mid-Atlantic ridge. Much to the amazement of scientists, the area was home to a thriving community of organisms living in extremely hot, sulfuric rich water. This discovery, along with hundreds of others, has made Alvin and other manned submersibles, one of the most valid oceanographic tools in the world.
During the past 30 years there has been a lot of debate about the need for using manned submersibles.…

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Sylvia Earle at the National Aquarium: Hope Spots – A Plan for the Ocean

Last week, Mission Blue founder, Dr. Sylvia A. Earle launched the National Aquarium’s spring Marjorie Lynn Bank Lecture Series with her talk, “Hope: A Plan for Our Ocean.” 
Legendary oceanographer, explorer, author and lecturer, Dr. Sylvia Earle has pioneered the concept of embracing ocean “hope spots” around the world, aquatic treasures like America’s own National Marine Sanctuaries. Hope spots are special places that are critical to the health of the ocean, Earth’s blue heart.
Dr. Earle shared her experiences exploring inner-space to rally popular support for Hope Spots around the world. Some of these Hope Spots are already protected, while for others, it is imperative that they become protected.  
And now, Dr. Earle’s lecture in it’s entirety, with entertaining introductions from John Racanelli, CEO of the National Aquarium, Jason Patlis, CEO of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, and Mission Blue’s Executive Director, Jim Toomey! …

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Photo of the Day ~ High Five for Sharks

Possibly our favorite shark photo – Eli Martinez receives a stylin’ High Five from a smiling lemon shark named Taxi off the Bahamas. We love it because it shows what many shark/human interactions are really like. That said, sharks are individuals, and you’ll want to exercise reason and caution dealing with any wild animal.
To keep things in perspective, you are more likely to be killed by a vending machine than by a shark – and even more shocking, by your family toaster!
Photo: Paul Spielvogel
 …

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