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Mission Blue Shines at the Santa Barbara Film Festival

SBIFF Review: Opening Night Doc ‘Mission Blue’ Plumbs Depths of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle

 
You won’t be ordering fish off the menu soon after viewing Fisher Stevens’ new documentary “Mission Blue,” which world premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Thursday night. 
Both a profile of the life’s work of renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle and a call to reconsider our treatment of the deep seas she has dedicated her life to, the film will appeal to fans of “Blackfish” and the documentary work of James Cameron, who makes a few appearances here. (Press interview with director Fisher Stevens below.)
“Mission” toggles focus between Sylvia Earle’s trailblazing past as a kind of Sally Ride of the seas, as Earle was the first woman to dive to such depths in the ’60s, in a time where men like filmmaker Jacques Cousteau (a hero of Earle’s) dominated the underwaters.…

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Sylvia Earle – From the Red Carpet to the UN

Today, Dr. Sylvia Earle delivered a keynote at the United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, along with fellow Benchley Award winner Dr. Jane Lubchenco.
With a first premise that the ocean is essential for planetary survival, the bottom line is that all of the world’s population must start to really care about the ocean. The goal is to become ocean stewards, protecting its vital role in sustaining life on Earth, while at the same time promoting ‘blue growth’ to achieve prosperous and resilient communities.
The webcast is available in it’s entirety at the United Nations Web TV site.  Dr. Earle speaks during the second hour. 

 
All photos courtesy of Dr. Sylvia A. Earle…

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Leaping Mobulas and Turtle tracks

On Sunday morning I had the privilege of joining Dr. Sylvia Earle and director Kip Evans on a scientific aerial survey over Las Baulas National Marine Park and surrounding areas. The Lighthawk team did an amazing job during the flight giving us the opportunity of filming some great aerial footage.
We were looking for sea turtles swimming near the Marine Park, or perhaps their tracks on the sand, left the previous night after they had nested – lonely impressions on the sand showcasing the resilience of these marvelous creatures.

During the afternoon we switched our mode of transportation hoping to find them in the water. Dr. George Shillinger joined us aboard the Boos Adventures boat, providing valuable knowledge on sea turtle behavior.…

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Finding the Leatherbacks

This weekend our expedition team, including Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Erick Ross, Dr. George Schillinger and Kip Evans visited the turtles at the Leatherback Trust hatchery in Costa Rica.
The hatchery serves to give leatherbacks a better chance at overall survival. It begins by protecting the iconic creature’s eggs from predators, after which on-site biologists monitor the nests, checking nest temperatures which determine the sex of the turtles. When the turtles have matured, they are released to begin their migration offshore to the Central American Dome. 
Successful protection of 99% of the nests started in 1993 and the hatchery started to operate in 1998-99. Although at present, population numbers are decreasing, we can expect to see numbers of leatherbacks increasing in the next few years.…

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Central American Dome Expedition Team Arrives!

High seas ecosystems are intricately linked to those in the coastal regions. The Central American Dome Expedition mini documentary will highlight the need for more conservation policies in international waters and how they work alongside protection efforts on the coast.

Our focus is the largest sea turtle on earth, the leatherback.  These leviathans travel from Playa Grande in Costa Rica, out into the Central Pacific Dome region and continue their migratory route to South America. Ocean currents also transport leatherback hatchlings through the area.
Day 1:
Critically endangered, leatherbacks are priceless in the marine ecosystem. Egg harvesting and fisheries by-catch have drastically reduced their population during the past two decades.
We visited The Leatherback Trust’s team at Baulas National Park in Guanacaste to learn about conservation measures being worked on with local authorities.…

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Central American Dome Hope Spot Expedition Underway

This week,  MarViva and Mission Blue are launching a film expedition with Dr. Sylvia Earle to highlight our Central American Dome Hope Spot.  Partners supporting the expedition are LightHawk, The Baum Foundation, Bula Bula and National Geographic. The ecological and commercial value of the Dome’s resources will be documented to raise awareness and support for the protection of its species and habitats.
“The term dome refers to an oceanographic feature that results from cold, deep ocean water rising near the surface,” says Lance Morgan of The Marine Conservation Institute.
“The water itself doesn’t dome, but a cold water band shaped like a dome comes up from the bottom. As this nutrient-rich water enters depths where sunlight can penetrate it unleashes enormous plankton blooms, fueling the entire ecosystem. …

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Ocean Foundation Celebrates 10 years

We hope that you will join us in celebrating this milestone for our partners at the Ocean Foundation!
Mission Blue founder, Dr. Sylvia Earle appears in this inspiring video along side Alexandra Cousteau, Dr. Nancy Knowlton, and our Board Director, Ann Luskey to help The Ocean Foundation celebrate ten years of making a difference!  …

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Mission Blue 2013 Year in Review

As we look forward to 2014 it’s clear that there is much work to be done to protect our planet’s Blue Heart. Yet, we should also look back and realize the good work done in 2013 towards our critical mission of creating Hope Spots in the ocean — the seeds of tomorrow’s flourishing marine environment. Right now, we are in a sweet spot in time. The time to act is now.
If you have a few moments as the New Year rolls in, I invite you to read my article in The Virginia Quarterly Review to get a sense of what I mean by “sweet spot” in time. It is my great hope that you continue to feed Mission Blue with passion and inspiration into the New Year.…

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From the Desk of Sylvia Earle

Dear Friend of the Ocean,
Recently, while diving in the warm waters of the Western Caribbean, I was reminded of the critical importance of our work.  When I made my first dives there some 50 years ago, the reefs were vibrant and decorated with schools of brightly colored fish.  As I kicked my way down to 60 feet below the surface, it didn’t take long to realize that so much has changed…and not for the better.
Jacques Cousteau once mused on our complex relationship with Nature,
“For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive. In this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.”
Cousteau said these words last century.…

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The Lowdown on IMPAC 3

Fifteen hundred representatives from 87 nations came together last week to discuss our absolutely favorite subject:  Marine Protected Areas (MPA’s), or as we call them, Hope Spots. It went down in France with a delicately balanced soup of the relevant stakeholders: Marine Protected Area managers, scientists, politicians, local representatives, concerned civilians, business executives and more.
Getting together and talking is all well and good — but what happened? What were the visions put forward to save our ocean?
On the Mission Blue front, we were ecstatic to announce a new Hope Spot Map with 50 marine areas targeted for increased conservation. Ideally even larger swaths of the ocean would be completely protected starting tomorrow, yet these 50 Hope Spots offer a road map — a game plan — to concentrate conservation efforts in places that are critical to ocean health…critical to the future health of our entire planet, whose chemistry and biology is driven by our Blue Heart.…

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