Bering Sea Archives - Mission Blue

Blog Archives

Regulators Empower Fishing Interests in the Bering Sea Hope Spot

We bring sad news today. At a recent meeting in Alaska, fishing regulators voted to kill the Bering Sea Initiative, which sought to bring protection from trawling to vast deep-water canyons that contained 50-85% of all the coral in the region. In partnership with Greenpeace, the Mission Blue community had petitioned the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (NPFMC) for years to consider the clear scientific evidence provided to them and make commonsense protections for the Bering Sea canyons. Their own scientists even concurred, specifically pointing out Pribilof canyon as a coral hot spot in the Bering Sea. Still, the Council rejected science, supported the fishing industry and trawling remains open for business in waters that contain cascading ridges of centuries-old corals, sea sponges and a host of other marine life – a silent, slow-motion underwater tragedy.…

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The Best Science on Alaska’s Bering Sea Canyons Just Got Better

by Jackie Dragon

Scientists have recently made critical new discoveries about some of the most ecologically significant waters in the United States: the Bering Sea canyons. With new information in hand, the case for Bering Sea conservation has never been stronger. 
In more good news for ocean conservation, scientists have recently made critical new discoveries about some of the most ecologically significant waters in the United States: the Bering Sea canyons. Two new studies have mapped the area and its teeming “Green Belt” like never before, pinpointing the locations of fragile coral and sponge habitat in need of protection.
With this new information in hand, the case for protecting these key regions in the Bering Sea has never been stronger.
Two Studies Confirm Importance of the Green Belt
The first new study, by the Marine Science Institute at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) and Greenpeace, found that the Pribilof canyon is the most significant location for deep-sea corals and sponges along the entire eastern Bering Sea shelf.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

Protect the Grand Canyons of the Ocean

By Courtney Mattison

Hidden below the surface of Alaska’s icy waters lie the world’s largest underwater canyons, both more massive than America’s Grand Canyon. Home to orcas, walrus and fur seals, albatross and kittiwakes, king crab, squid, salmon and coldwater corals, brittle stars and sponges, the continental slope and canyons of the Bering Sea (known as the Bering Sea “Green Belt”) are home to an immense diversity of wildlife. Spanning more than 770,000 square miles between Western Alaska and Russia’s Siberian coast, the Bering Sea is an area of immense ecological value is also the source of more than half of the seafood caught in the United States and is subject to devastating commercial fishing tactics. This week, Mission Blue is launching a petition to urge Alaska’s North Pacific Fishery Management Council to protect the Bering Sea canyons and Green Belt.…

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Bring Balance to the Bering Sea

By Jackie Dragon (Originally published January 16, 2015 on Greenpeaceblogs.org)
This week in Seattle billboards and posters are popping up with a message for companies that profit from the sale of our ocean wildlife. Greenpeace, Mission Blue, and Marine Conservation Institute — three organizations committed to protecting important ocean places — have joined up to tell supermarkets that we need their help to protect special ocean places, like America’s Grand Canyons in the Sea.
An American gem is hidden from sight beneath the chilly waters of Alaska in the Bering Sea. Zhemchug and Pribilof canyons — designated a Hope Spot by “Her Deepness,” Dr. Sylvia Earle in 2013 — are the world’s largest underwater canyons, both more massive than the Grand Canyon.…

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A Prolific Whaling Ship is Reborn in the Name of Ocean Conservation

The ship on the US commemorative stamp pictured above is the Charles W. Morgan, a whaling vessel that was built in 1841 and sailed the global ocean for 80 years hunting giant cetaceans. The ship is the world’s oldest surviving commercial vessel and had been under restoration for 6 years until it was re-launched in 2013. Only the USS Constitution, the 1797 Navy frigate afloat at Pier 1 in Charlestown, is older.
This past weekend, the Charles W. Morgan sailed around Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off of Massachusetts — not as a commercial interest to plunder the ocean, but as a beacon of ocean conservation. The ship held a lively crew of historians, scientists, authors and artists who were aboard to draw attention to the sanctuary’s efforts to study, understand and protect endangered whales.…

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A New Marine Preserve for the Bering Sea?

Today we’re featuring great news out of Juneau, Alaska! Our newest Mission Blue Hope Spot, the Bering Sea Deep Canyons is well on it’s way to protection after this week’s meetings with the North Pacific Fishery Management Council.
To give you the complete picture, we’re highlighting two blogs – from Phil Radford and Jackie Dragon of Greenpeace USA.  Read about how a coalition of organizations, together with 100,000 of you, and yes, even some big corporations spoke out, loud and clear – and succeeded in making a huge leap forward for the blue heart of our planet, and for us all.  
~ Ed.
A Breakthrough in How We Work to Protect Our Oceans
By  Phil Radford, Executive Director, Greenpeace, USA
The Bering Sea is known to scientists and conservationists as one of the most remarkable places on Earth — a home to sponges, coral, fish, crab, skates, sperm whales, orcas, Steller sea lions, and a vast array of other species all part of a delicate ecosystem extremely vulnerable to human activity.…

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A Reaffirmation of Hope at the Seattle Aquarium

In a fantastic event last night at the Seattle Aquarium, Sylvia Earle and Greenpeace’s Phil Radford announced the Bering Sea Canyons as the official 19th Hope Spot. The event attracted a large turnout and impassioned speeches in defense of the new Hope Spot. Moreover, a bonafide airship was in play to promote the event!

The Bering Sea isn’t just chilly…it’s also super cool: these 770,000 square miles of tempestuous waters off the coast of Alaska and Siberia are home to immense populations of fish, seabirds, marine mammals and ancient corals, as well as the Bering Sea Canyons, the largest and deepest submarine canyons in the world — larger than the Grand Canyon. This rich ecosystem has supported indigenous tribes for thousands of years and currently provides over half the seafood caught in the United States.…

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Protect the Bering Sea Canyons — The 19th Hope Spot!

Hope Spots are special places that are critical to the health of the ocean — Earth’s blue heart. The Bering Sea is one such area of immense ecological importance upon which the healthy ocean of tomorrow depends. Watch below to learn more…

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.…

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Photo of the Day ~ Bering Sea Hope Spot: Cold Water Corals

Bright red swiftia coral found during a Greenpeace Expedition to the Bering Sea’s Zhemchug Canyon, in Mission Blue’s new Hope Spot!
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…

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