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Unforgettable Cabo Pulmo

By: Shilpi Chhotray

What happens when fishers give up their fishing poles in the name of conservation?
An iconic example is the Cabo Pulmo Marine Park- 17,570 acres of protected water in Baja Mexico’s East Cape. I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting Cabo Pulmo last December after hearing so much about local fishers collaborating with biologists, conservationists, government staff and divers from around the world to create a no-take marine reserve, providing us hope for life in the sea. There’s a reason Dr. Sylvia Earle holds up Cabo Pulmo as a model to the world:

“I love how this community celebrates the living value of the creatures that occupy the ocean in your neighborhood. It’s a matter of respecting them as neighbors.…

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Dive into the World of Sharks with Sharks4Kids

Mission Blue is proud to partner with Sharks4Kids! 
By: Jillian Morris

At Sharks4Kids, our goal is to create the next generation of shark advocates through education, outreach and adventure. We take students underwater to see sharks first-hand and combine all three aspects of our program to provide an incredible, eye-opening experience. 
We spend a lot of time in the Bahamas which is considered a sanctuary for sharks and the “shark diving capital of the world.” It’s extremely important for local students to see these remarkable animals up close and understand why sharks are valuable not only for the environment, but also the economy. Kids are the future guardians for these animals and making a connection to them is critical for future conservation efforts.…

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Underwater in the Galápagos: A Lesson in Human Connection

By: Danielle Epifani, Mission Blue Communications Assistant 

After months of reporting imagery and articles of undersea life, I had the unique opportunity to join a seven day liveaboard with the Aggressor III, as a Mission Blue Hope Spot reporter. Throughout my childhood, I alternated between swimming in the ocean of Southern California, my neighbor’s pool, and the crystal clear lagoons and reef passes of my ancestral islands, in French Polynesia. I thought I had experienced the sea: it’s wonder, beauty, and the urgent need for marine protection.
Learning to scuba dive in one of the world’s legendary dive sites had not quite registered with me. However, the unfathomable statistic that the ocean has lost 90 percent of its big fish, ignited a sense of urgency.…

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Dr. Sylvia Earle: Can Marine Migratory Species Thrive in the Face of Consumption?

We are proud to collaborate with James Ketchum, shark expert at UC Davis and core member of the MigraMar network. MigraMar is committed to conducting scientific research to better understand and safeguard healthy populations of marine migratory species in the Eastern Pacific. For the past decade, James has studied shark ecology in the Gulf of California and shark movement patterns in Malpelo Island in Colombia and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. He is hopeful that his work will provide answers to where, why, and how sharks move and develop an alternative method for marine conservation with application to other regions and environments. Learn more about the important work of MigraMar from Dr. Sylvia Earle below!
By: Dr. Sylvia Earle 

Our Earth is defined by an ocean that was once considered unfathomable in its depths and diversity.…

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Letter to FedEx: Stop Shipping Shark Fins!

To:  Fred Smith, CEO, FedEx <>
CC: Carmine Echols, Assistant to the CEO <>
CC: Melissa Charbonneau, Director of Communications, FedEx <>
CC: David Cunningham, President, FedEx Asia Pacific <>

3875 Airways, Module H3
Department 4634
Memphis, TN38116

Dear Mr. Smith,
We are writing to inform you that we can no longer patronize FedEx, as we have done exclusively for the last 5 years, due to FedEx’s unfortunate policy that allows for the shipment of shark fins. As you may know, shark populations have been drastically depleted worldwide due to the legal and illegal shark fin trade. We believe that each individual and organization on the planet has a responsibility to do whatever is in their power to end this barbaric and senseless killing of one of the most ancient animals on Earth.…

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The Cayman Islands: A Haven for Sharks & Rays

George Town Harbour, Grand Cayman is one of Mission Blue’s 14 new Hope Spots!
By: Laura Butz

The Cayman Islands has built its name and reputation primarily on being a renowned diving destination.  Pioneers in our local diving community over the last few decades contributed to building our diving industry into the premier operation that it is today.  They recognized the exquisite beauty our underwater landscape had to offer and have since then made it accessible for locals and tourists to recreationally experience and explore the beauty that lies below the surface for themselves.  With a desire to showcase our natural resources comes with a commitment to preserve them.  Our duty towards conservation for both land and the ocean is beneficial not just from an environmental perspective but also an economic one. …

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The Marvels of the Underwater World in South Africa

Mission Blue is proud to partner with Geo Cloete!
By: Geo Cloete, Artist

The ocean already beckoned me to spend my life with it long before I saw it for the first time. I was born miles away from the nearest coast. Yet deep in inside me, I knew that my life’s calling was linked to the ocean, and so I followed the long and winding road to where it meets the blue yonder.
I remember the day I arrived at the ocean crystal clear; paddling out, the sense of having arrived at home, was overwhelming. And when the ocean wrapped its arms around me, with a perfect wave, I knew that I was not only home… but I had also been warmly received.…

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President of Colombia to Expand Protection in the Malpelo Hope Spot

By: Shilpi Chhotray, Mission Blue Communications Strategist

Over 300 miles off the Pacific coast of Colombia lies Malpelo Island whose clear waters are teeming with colorful marine life. The driving force behind the success of the Malpelo Hope Spot is the community of ocean advocates and citizen scientists promoting its protection. Sandra Bessudo, Marine Biologist and Founder of the Malpelo Foundation, is at the heart of Malpelo and its strongest spokesperson. “When I first started going to Malpelo in 1987 and saw what was happening: anchors in the coral, sharks on the deck of the boat, I thought we must do something“. Since then, she’s worked with divers, scientists, and even multiple Colombian presidents to enforce protection of the island.
On September 9th, Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos pledged to more than double the size of the Malpelo Flora and Fauna Sanctuary.…

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CITES Paves the Way- Global Protection for Sharks and Rays

BREAKING NEWS: The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) approved new global protections for a host of vulnerable shark and ray species — thresher sharks, silky sharks and mobula rays — by establishing their status under the CITES Appendix II listing. Under this listing, countries are required to ensure their trade does not endanger these species in the wild and comes from sustainably managed fisheries. 
Populations of thresher sharks, silky sharks and mobula rays have declined by 70 percent or more in many parts of their range due to the lucrative market for shark fins, considered a delicacy in Asian cuisine, and ray gill plates, which are sought after for a health tonic in Asian medicine. 
Elizabeth Murdock, director of NRDC’s Pacific Ocean Initiative states, “The demand for silky shark and thresher shark fins and for mobula ray gill plates is completely unsustainable and it is driving these vulnerable species towards extinction.…

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NGO’s Unite Against Shark Fin Trade!

Mission Blue is proud to stand with 80 other NGO’s in support of the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act. On September 22, 2016, the letter below was sent to Congress urging support and passage of this important Act.

Dear Senator/Representative:
We, the undersigned organizations, representing over one million Americans, submit this letter urging Congress to support and pass the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act (SFTEA) of 2016 (S. 3095/H.R. 5584). Sharks have been swimming in our oceans since before dinosaurs walked the earth. For over 400 million years, they have played a vital role in maintaining healthy oceans, but today, sharks are disappearing as a result of bycatch and overfishing, largely fueled by the shark fin trade. The demand for shark fins has led to the practice of finning – the act of cutting the fins off a shark and discarding its body at sea to drown, bleed to death, or be eaten alive by other fish.…

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