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Okeanos

Capacitor and The Aquarium of the Bay Proudly Present Okeanos
Capacitor presents “Okeanos Intimate” with Pre-show talks led by marine biologists and oceanographers. Mission Blue Founder, Dr. Sylvia Earle joins Okeanos LIVE on September 14th. Tickets available here: http://www.capacitor.org/okeanos-intimate/
WHEN: 8 Saturdays Beginning August 10th[Pre-Show Talk and Show at 7pm]WHERE: Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39, San Francisco, CA
“If I was to sum up the phrase ‘creativity for change’ I would use one word – Okeanos” ~David de Rothschild 
Imagine you could go to the aquarium and completely immerse yourself in the tank…without getting wet.  At the Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39, you can.  Beginning August 10th Capacitor, San Francisco’s dance/cirque company, dives into the deep to bring you Okeanos Intimate. …

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Big Things Come from Small Beginnings: The Mystery of the Sick Sea Lions

By Shari Sant Plummer, Mission Blue Board Director, President, Code Blue Foundation
On a cold, foggy morning along the Malibu coast, a small brown lump emerges from the sea and waddles ashore. I spot it from 100 yards away, but already my dog, Cooper, is at a full run toward the baby sea lion. I scream at him to stop, but it’s too late: The thin, frightened sea lion pup is heading back into the ocean. I finally catch up to Coop and pull him back, and we watch as the pup swims out through the waves. Though Cooper hadn’t touched him, the timid pup was easily threatened; animal lovers with cameras approaching other pups have been met with the same result.…

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Marie Tharp’s Big Map for a Big Ocean

What’s the tallest mountain in the world? Without the seminal work of Marie Tharp, this question may have remained unanswered. In the first half of the 20th century, Tharp worked together with Bruce Heezen to bring definition to the world of the deep blue, a topographic map of the world ocean. At a time when acoustical mapping techniques were extremely basic, Tharp brought the seafloor to life by illustrating the dramatic geographic features of the ocean for all to see.
The tallest mountain in the world is, of course, Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which beats Everest’s height when you consider that the mountain extends from the ocean floor. And speaking of revelations about ocean topography — known as bathymetry — we can’t discount the amazing work of Google in creating Google Ocean.…

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Bremerhaven Didn’t Go Our Way, But Hope is Alive

What a shame that proposals at the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) meeting in Bremerhaven for the two largest ocean sanctuaries in the world in the Antarctic Ocean were blocked by the Russian delegation. Instead of losing hope, let’s redouble our efforts and fortify the belief that we can protect these pristine waters for future generations. Our next big opportunity to apply positive pressure to the fate of the Antarctic will be in Hobart this October. Let’s pounce on the opportunity.
We at Mission Blue were blown away by the energy and dedication of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA) in their campaign to influence CCAMLR to create this important Marine Protected Area — Hope Spot — to build a healthy Antarctic Ocean for the future.…

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BRINK: It’s About Love

By Wallace J. Nichols, LivBlue.org
Feature Photo: Troy Mayne, OceanicImagery
The producer of the new Weather Channel series called BRINK asked about our team’s work over the past three decades to save Pacific sea turtles. 
I told him that it’s about love. Love for animals, special places, and people. That’s what makes the difference.
 
He listened, and nodded. In that New Yorker sort of way (as a native New Yorker, I can say that). But I could tell he knew exactly what I meant.
 
I guess it’s no surprise that they named their sea turtle episode “It’s About Love”.
 
Have a look, and check out the other 3 minute films about fellow scientists and advocates who love big cats, rhinos, bears, dolphins and seals.
 

Warning: Some of the footage in this short film dates back to nearly two decades ago when Lisa Landers joined us in Baja for a documentary she was making.…

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Carl Safina Reports from the Gyre

No Refuge: Tons of Trash Covers The Remote Shores of Alaska
A marine biologist traveled to southwestern Alaska in search of ocean trash that had washed up along a magnificent coast rich in fish, birds, and other wildlife. He and his colleagues found plenty of trash – as much as a ton of garbage per mile on some beaches.
by Carl Safina
I am back ashore after an unusual expedition that brought scientists and artists to witness and respond to beach trash on the shores of southern Alaska. I have good and bad news.
The expedition was called GYRE, partly because much of the trash spins out of the North Pacific Ocean gyre, and partly because of the trip’s message: what goes around comes around.…

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Two Minutes on Oceans: Marine Litter

Recently, famed cartoonist Jim Toomey teamed up with the United Nations Environment Program to create a series of six two-minute videos intended to raise awareness of the importance of the world’s ocean and the coastal environment. Today, the second video in the series was released (see below). The video highlights marine litter and discusses the hard facts about trash in our oceans.
From discarded fishing gear to plastics bags to cigarette butts, a growing tide of marine litter is harming our oceans and beaches worldwide. Using animation and humor, the video provides information about the growing problem of marine litter and offers simple actions that everyone can take to help make a difference.  
“As we strive to raise awareness of the importance of protecting our oceans, it is vital that we find different and unique methods of communicating scientific information to the public in a fun and engaging manner,” said the Director of UNEP RONA, Amy Fraenkel.…

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The Oceans’ Unsung Heroes — Invertebrates

By Mera McGrew
Invertebrates, animals without backbones, are some of the world’s most abundant creatures.  They can be found in nearly all ecosystems across the globe — swimming, flying, swarming, and floating. They thrive in NYC apartments, the depths of the ocean, and everywhere in between.
Making up an estimated 97 percent of all living species, invertebrates are truly nature’s unsung heroes, playing a key role in maintaining a healthy environment.  “If human beings were to disappear tomorrow, the world would go on with little change,” famed biologist E. O. Wilson once wrote. However, if invertebrates were to vanish, he said, “I doubt that human species could last more than a few months.”
Invertebrates form the basis of numerous food chains, play a key role in the reproductive cycle of many plants, are used to assess overall habitat quality, and outweigh all the fish in the sea by both species and mass.…

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200-Year-Old Oceanic Mystery Solved

The origin of Cerataspis monstrosa has been a mystery as deep as the ocean waters it hails from for more than 180 years. For nearly two centuries, researchers have tried to track down the larva that has shown up in the guts of other fish over time but found no adult counterpart. Until now.
George Washington University Biology Professor Keith Crandall cracked the code to the elusive crustacean’s DNA this summer. His findings were recently published in the journal “Ecology and Evolution,” and his research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. In it, Dr. Crandall, the senior author of the paper, explains how “monster larva” and the deep-water aristeid shrimp known as Plesiopenaeus armatus are one in the same: larvae and adult forms of the samespecies.…

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