Tonight, Greenpeace and Mission Blue, represented by Dr. Sylvia Earle and Greenpeace Executive Director Phil Radford, are meeting concerned citizens at the Seattle Aquarium to discover, explore and take action to protect the Bering Sea Canyons.  This important event is putting a 19th Hope Spot — the Bering Sea — on the map. To this end, ocean conservationists are putting pressure on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to do what’s right and protect this critical ocean ecosystem.

The science is clear; we can no longer fish as if the sea is inexhaustible; common sense must prevail now to protect healthy ocean ecosystems for the future. Anthropogenic pressures on our ocean are putting more stress on marine ecosystems than ever before. Trawling and other bottom-contact fishing gears damage seafloor habitat. Ecosystems are complex and in need of progressive management that moves beyond the single-species management of the past, and utilizes multiple tools that prioritize the health of the whole ecosystem. Climate change and ocean acidification further threaten fisheries and marine productivity, and make it even more difficult for fishery managers to make accurate projections.

Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens’), hauled out on Bering Sea ice, Alaska, June 1978. (Source: NOAA) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recent findings confirm that the Canyons contain unusually high densities of corals and sponges -animals that can live hundreds of years and provide important habitat for fish and crab species, and other marine life. Preliminary analysis conducted by NOAA indicates that the canyons contain a majority of the projected coral habitat in the Bering Sea. The canyons also stand out in NOAA’s risk assessment for Bering Sea coral habitats. Marine protected areas, especially fully protected no-take reserves, are proven and cost effective management tools that increase the amount, size and diversity of fish populations and preserve biodiversity.

Stakeholders have been urging the North Pacific Fishery Management Council to protect the Canyons for over a decade. In that time, new research has added urgency to this issue. Considerable damage has been done to vulnerable coral and sponge habitats, and the number and range of stakeholders urging protection for the canyons has grown

English: Hall Island, Bering Sea, Alaska (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

dramatically. Mission Blue adds its voices together with the many thousands of citizens who are calling on you anew to protect the Grand Canyons of the Bering Sea. We now ask the Council and NMFS Alaska Regional administrators to initiate a full impact analysis that considers a range of alternatives and begin scoping options for protecting the Canyons.

Much of the expedition was focused on studying the abundance and diversity of deep-sea coral within the canyons. The expedition revealed “significant densities of coral, higher than most places in the world,” said Robert J. Miller, a biologist conducting research for the Marine Science Institute at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Photo: Todd Warshaw/Greenpeace

During the 6^th Annual Peter Benchley Ocean Awards at the Carnegie Institution for Science last week, the word excellence was not used lightly. From the bold actions of Senegalese President Macky Sall expelling foreign fishing vessels for over-exploiting Senegal’s waters to young Sean Russell’s work to mobilize youths over marine plastic pollution, the ocean conservation efforts celebrated Wednesday night were truly exceptional.

Marine life artist Wyland designed the Peter Benchley Ocean Award logo and the award statues, which he engraves and donates annually.

Noting that until recently there were no high profile awards to celebrate achievements specifically within the ocean and coastal community, the Blue Frontier Campaign began honoring ocean leaders at its 2004 Blue Vision Conference in Washington, D.C. After Peter Benchley – author of Jaws and keynote speaker at that initial event – passed away, his widow and fellow grassroots environmental activist Wendy Benchley agreed to let the Blue Frontier Campaign title the annual awards in his honor. The “Benchleys” have become a premier award to celebrate outstanding achievements that “lead to the protection of our coasts, oceans, and the communities that depend on them.” They also serve as an opportunity for ocean leaders to acknowledge one another’s work in disparate fields of marine conservation, research and awareness and to unite in celebrating the wonders of our blue planet.

Wendy Benchley and David Helvarg welcoming the audience
(© Courtney Mattison)

As Master of Ceremonies, Dr. Sylvia Earle introduced a series of noteworthy presenters who granted awards to nine recipients in six categories on behalf of co-chairs Wendy Benchley and Blue Frontier Campaign founder David Helvarg. As previously mentioned, President Macky Sall of Senegal received the award for Excellence in National Stewardship for rescinding all foreign fishing permits in his nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and working to restore a sustainable domestic fishery for his people. His successful efforts are creating a marine resource management model for West Africa and the world.

President Sall receiving his award for Excellence in National Stewardship from Wendy Benchley during an earlier ceremony
(© Blue Frontier)

The award for Excellence in Science went to Dr. Boris Worm and Dr. Heike Lotze for their discoveries regarding the shifting abundance and diversity of marine wildlife. Both associate professors at Dalhousie University in Canada, this husband and wife team has made scientific contributions in the fields of marine ecology and fisheries conservation, particularly regarding human impacts on biological diversity and community structure in the ocean.

Dr. Boris Worm

Dr. Heike Lotze

U.S. Representative Ed Markey (D-MA 5th District) received the award for Excellence in Policy for his extensive efforts to protect the ocean from the impacts of climate change, overfishing and pollution. Congressman Markey has a strong record as an outspoken critic of offshore drilling, particularly during the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. As the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, he is a strong defender of the National Ocean Policy, the Clean Water Act, and legislation to address climate change, ocean acidification and overfishing.

Congressman Markey received his award during a dinner following the ceremony with David Helvarg, Dr. Sylvia Earle and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse in the background.
(© Mary Kadzielski, Blue Frontier)

The Excellence in Media award went to Nancy Baron and COMPASS for improving the ability of marine scientists to communicate their findings to the media and the public. Baron is the Ocean Science Outreach Coordinator for COMPASS and the lead communications trainer for the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program. Through these positions, she holds communications training workshops for governmental and nongovernmental scientists as well as graduate and postdoctoral students around the world. Baron has played a key role in enabling scientists and journalists to form strong relationships, ensuring that discoveries in marine science and climate research make it into the news and raise public awareness. As a testament to the importance of these partnerships, scientists and communications professionals founded COMPASS in 1999 to train marine researchers to effectively communicate to the media, the public and policymakers. Comprised of a team of science-based communications professionals, COMPASS works at the intersection of science, policy and communications to help scientists share their findings with society without advocating for particular policies or practices.

Nancy Baron accepting the award for Excellence in Media
(© Courtney Mattison)

Sean Russell

Sean Russell of “Stow It-Don’t Throw It” received the Christopher Benchley Youth Award for his exceptional work to address the issue of marine plastic pollution and mobilize young people for ocean conservation. Russell became aware of plastic pollution as a problem while a high school intern at Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida and founded his aforementioned statewide monofilament fishing line recycling program – a collaborative effort between youth and environmental groups that has since become a national endeavor. He also worked with Mote Marine Laboratory to lead the first annual Youth Ocean Conservation Summit in 2011.

Finally, the Hero of the Seas award went to Karen Garrison of the NRDC’s ocean program and Kaitilin Gaffney of the Resources Law Group for their joint work for over a decade that has helped lead to the creation of a world-class network of ocean wilderness parks off the coast of California. This particular award is intended to raise the profile of a grassroots leader, and this year’s recipients couldn’t be more deserving. Garrison’s work involves promoting state legislation, administrative advocacy and citizen action to improve fishery management and strengthened marine ecosystem protection along the West Coast. She is also a founding member of Save Our Wild Salmon and a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Marine Protected Areas. Ms. Gaffney works to develop and manage projects for ocean, coasts and fisheries programs through the Resources Law Group. Her previous position as Pacific Program Director at the Ocean Conservancy involved managing ocean governance, fisheries, marine protected areas and water quality activities throughout the West Coast.

Karen Garrison and Kaitilin Gaffney giving a touching acceptance speech for their Hero of the Seas award
(© Courtney Mattison)

Each of these awards represents a career of hard work and deep caring for the ocean. By encouraging the work of such an impassioned group of experts, the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards are keeping the bar set high for future leaders in ocean conservation.

Featured image (above): Benchley Awards recipients gather after the ceremony (© Courtney Mattison)

On Wednesday, members of Congress met with what was likely the largest ocean advocacy group to ever visit Capitol Hill during “Healthy Ocean Hill Day” – part of the fourth biennial Blue Vision Summit organized by the Blue Frontier Campaign in Washington, D.C. Groups of multi-generational ocean lovers ranging from two to 20 members met with over 100 Congressional offices and represented a growing constituency to turn the tide for our public seas. Called “seaweed rebels” by Blue Frontier founder David Helvarg, this empowered group was comprised of marine conservationists; businesses; scientists; recreational ocean users; youths; communicators; artists and others from dozens of states and overseas to help advance marine conservation and U.S. ocean policy.

Healthy Ocean Hill Day participants preparing for congressional meetings
(© Courtney Mattison)

The Blue Vision Summit began in 2004 as a way for ocean lovers and stakeholders to unite to address opportunities and challenges facing the health of our ocean and coasts. Each Summit includes a series of networking and educational events surrounding a day of meetings on Capitol Hill, where participants visit the offices of Congress members and convey their support for healthy oceans. The 2009 Summit introduced ocean issues to newly elected members of Congress and helped inspire the National Ocean Policy that is being implemented today. In 2011, an even larger group of attendees showed their support for restoration efforts following the Gulf oil spill and new findings on the increasing impacts of climate change. Now that the National Ocean Policy has entered its implementation stage, this year’s Hill Day participants helped familiarize Congressional members and staff with the policy and encouraged them to support its final implementation plan, the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing bill, and the Safety and Fraud Enforcement for Seafood (SAFE Seafood) Act.

Representative Kathy Castor speaking at Healthy Ocean Hill Day alongside a photo by Brian Skerry (© Mary Kadzielski, Blue Frontier)

The rest of the week’s events were held at the Carnegie Institution for Science and various receptions around the D.C. area. The Summit began on Monday with the Celebration of the Seas – a festive opening ceremony that featured ocean artists Wyland, Claudio Garzon, Asher Jay and Courtney Mattison on a panel moderated by cartoonist Jim Toomey, as well as an “Oceans in Focus” photo exhibit and film screening with shorts presented by One World One Ocean / MacGillivray Freeman Films, the San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival, filmmaker Gareth Burghes and Ocean Doctor David Guggenheim.

Tuesday was a day for strategy and skills development led by young and veteran ocean advocates. After motivating talks by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of RI on politics of the ocean and Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger on his work with the U.S. Coastguard, Erika Bergman of ExploreOcean gave an inspirational account of her experiences as a young submersible and submarine pilot and stressed the importance of getting young people under water to explore the deep sea. The morning continued with a panel that identified opportunities and challenges presented by ocean and coastal catastrophes – particularly the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill and Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina. Speakers Clay Maitland (NAMEPA), Debbie Mans (NY/NJ Baykeeper), Cynthia Sarthou (Gulf Restoration Network) and Eric Schwaab (NOAA) made recommendations for future success based on their firsthand experiences with these disasters.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse addressing Blue Vision Summit attendees
(© Courtney Mattison)

Tuesday afternoon featured three workshops on ocean-related media, policy and fundraising that included guest speakers Juliet Eilperin (Washington Post), Nancy Baron (COMPASS) and Dr. David Wilmot (Ocean Champions) among others. The following session on climate change informed the audience about the great extent to which the ocean is impacted by greenhouse gas emissions. As Mike Tidwell of CCAN put it, “By definition climate change is a blue issue.” And as a recurring theme for the conference, youth leadership was the focus of the final session on Tuesday, with seven young ocean advocates highlighting the importance of their generation’s involvement and how youth can work with adults to advance marine conservation efforts.

Dr. Sylvia Earle raised a glass to celebrate polar marine Hope Spots Tuesday evening (© Courtney Mattison)

To conclude Tuesday’s activities, Dr. Sylvia Earle hosted an evening celebration of Hope Spots in the Ross and Bering Seas at the home of artist and environmentalist Mara G. Haseltine with support of the William A. Haseltine Foundation for Science and Art. This event – titled “Polar Hope Spots: Preserving Marine Gems at the Ends of the Earth” – marked a growing collaboration between Mission Blue, the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) and Greenpeace and emphasized the immense value of Planet Ocean’s polar marine regions.

From left: Wyland, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Mara G. Haseltine, Jim Toomey
(© Courtney Mattison)

After a long day on the Hill on Wednesday, the Summit concluded with a celebration of this year’s eight Peter Benchley Ocean Awards Honorees and a final day on Thursday to recap and plan to build off of the week’s progress for the next two years, until Blue Vision Summit 2015 floods Washington once again!

Learn more about the Blue Frontier Campaign HERE. And stay tuned for an upcoming story on the Peter Benchley Ocean Awards!

Featured Image (top): Blue Vision Summit attendees – including Blue Frontier Campaign founder David Helvarg – on the steps of Capitol Hill (© Blue Frontier)

Photo (c) Jeff Rumans.

From Ecuador to Brunei, from the Bahamas to the Maldives, the people have spoken. And governments have listened. Now is the time for Hong Kong to wake up! The public is ready. The business sector is behind us. Now is the time for a total sale and possession ban on shark fin in Hong Kong. By doing so, Hong Kong will take a giant step to join the conservation efforts of numerous countries around the world who have enacted shark protection legislation. In Latin America it will join Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, Brazil and Chile. In the United States it will join California, New York, Hawaii, Washington, Maryland and Oregon. In the Pacific region it will join Palau, Tokelau, Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, and New Caledonia.

Banning shark fin from the streets of Hong Kong will be the single most important marine conservation achievement of the year. It will be an important step towards protecting the health of our oceans. It will also remove the stain on Hong Kong’s reputation as a world-class tourism hub.

SIGN PETITION HERE

Countries around the world have laws that ban the sale and possession of shark fin, and more than 50 Hong Kong conservation groups joined to called on the Hong Kong Government to listen and enact similar laws.

Companies like Cathay Pacific Airways, HSBC and others have banned shark fin from their operations. Also, from an authenticated recent survey, the majority of Hong Kong’s population has said no to shark fin – the environmental cost is just too high.

More than 10,200 tons of shark fin were imported into Hong Kong in 2011, and this trade has led to the direct threat of many species of sharks from around the world.

The message is clear: the time has come for the Hong Kong Government to enact laws to ban shark fin and related products from the territory.

SIGN PETITION HERE

Kiwa hirsuta was found on the floor of the 7,540-foot-deep (2,300-meter-deep) Pacific Ocean some 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) south of Easter Island. In many ways the newly discovered species remains a mystery. Its hairy pincer arms host colonies of bacteria, which it may cultivate for food, for protection from toxic fluids issuing from nearby volcanic vents, or as “sensors” that help the blind animal find a mate.

Photographer Unknown

Ghost nets are among the greatest killers in our oceans, and not only because of their numbers. Literally hundreds of kilometers of nets get lost every year and due to the nature of the materials used to produce these nets they can and will keep fishing for multiple decades, possibly even for several centuries.

When caught on a reef, nets do not only catch fish, turtles, crustaceans, birds or marine mammals, they also destroy hard and soft corals, wiping out complete ecosystems while swaying in the current. If caught on wrecks nets can suffocate a wreck and thereby render  hiding places for marine life useless, or even trap them inside.

Divers are all too familiar with this phenomenon, especially in well fished areas. The founders of Ghost Fishing were confronted with ghost nets while diving the many wrecks in the Dutch North Sea. In 2009 they joined a local team of divers who started to clean those wrecks. After some years of local efforts it was time to broaden the horizon and get in touch with like-minded groups all over the world. And so the Ghost Fishing foundation was born.

As of March 2013, Ghost Fishing is collaborating with 14 teams worldwide to work on projects, set-up new projects and documents those through visual media, educate divers, inform a wide audience and raise social awareness. The Foundation exchanges solutions and best practices and maintains a steady stream of information through social media, and a website that offers extensive information and possibilities for interaction.

Collecting ghost nets is also part of a broader mission in which The Foundation works towards sustainable recycling of the nets, that will be used as raw material for new products.

The Ghost Fishing foundation was started as a non-profit organization in November 2012 and has already presented itself at the Hylkesukelus 2013, a wreck diving seminar in Helsinki, Finland, Duikvaker 2013, The Netherlands where the message was well received and many valuable contacts were made. The next event will be Baltictech Conference 2013 in Poland where the most recent material of our work will be shown.

In 2013 we hope to participate in clean-up work in Krnica, Croatia, Portofino, Italy and if funding permits more plans will be set-up and executed.

As marine debris is rapidly becoming a greater problem, it is imperative to take real action as soon as possible. Ghost Fishing intends to collect funds to finance clean-ups, to sponsor gear, to train divers and to raise public awareness.

To learn more click on the logo below!

** All photos are copyrighted. Reproduction and other use is prohibited without express consent of Ghost Fishing**

If this video just whets your appetite for more like it did for us, click HERE for Joshua’s entire TED-Ed talk!

Originally ‘Conserving our spectacular, vulnerable coral reefs’ – Joshua Drew, PhD, Lecturer, Columbia University

Mauve stingers can move vertically, but are unable to propel themselves horizontally and so are carried by currents. They move up and down in response to migrations of their prey, zooplankton.

They are most venomous in the Mediterranean, but their sting is usually limited to the skin surface with local pain only.  In an unprecedented event on November 21, 2007, an enormous 10-square-mile swarm of billions of these jellyfish wiped out a 100,000 fish salmon farm in Northern Ireland.

Photo by Roland Bach
Mare Nostrum Photography