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Mission Blue and One Ocean Foundation Call for Enhanced Protection for Marine Mammals off Italy’s Coast with Hope Spot Declared at Canyon of Caprera

Featured image: Striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) © Luca Bittau
(SARDINIAN COAST, ITALY, MEDITERRANEAN SEA) –
Just about 15-30 nautical miles off the coast and under the waves of northeast Sardinia is the Canyon of Caprera, where the waters reach more than 1,000 meters deep and are teeming with marine life. The area is known as a brilliant habitat for marine mammals, including Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus) and the critically endangered Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus). The Canyon of Caprera is currently recognized as an Area of Interest (AoI), however, One Ocean Foundation is committed to seeing an elevation in its protection status backed by a wealth of data from their research, including visual surveys, acoustic monitoring and environmental eDNA sampling that demonstrates the biologically important life within these waters.…

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Mozambique and South Africa Unite: Maputaland Hope Spot Showcases Powerful Binational Collaboration for Ocean Protection

Straddling the border between Mozambique’s tropical coast and the subtropical east coast of South Africa are waters vibrant with biodiversity and buzzing with collaboration. Below the surface are more than 1,300 species of fish, including the “living fossil” coelacanth, four different sea turtle species, 50 species of sharks and rays, a large diversity of whales and dolphins, and much more. Up on land, Grant Brokensha, owner of The Bigger Picture Films and South African and Marcos Pereira, Co-Founder and director of Fundação Likhulu and Mozambican are two passionate individuals who have reached across their country’s borders to work together to safeguard their shared blue backyard. 
 
 
International marine conservation non-profit Mission Blue has named Maputaland a Hope Spot with Brokensha and Pereira as its Champions in celebration of their deep commitment to their communities and dedication to fostering a healthy future for both the wildlife and human inhabitants.…

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Prince William Sound is Alaska’s First Hope Spot!

Prince William Sound lies in the heart of the southcentral Alaska coastline, encompassing 3,500 miles of intricate coastline. With a dramatic landscape of fjords, islands, and over 150 glaciers, Prince William Sound is home to a vibrant diversity of wildlife. Over 220 species of birds share the Sound with brown and black bears (Ursus arctos, U. americanus) and an array of marine mammals including orca (Orcinus orca), minke (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae).
 

 
Prince William Sound is a resilient ecosystem and holds significant historical, cultural and spiritual value. Past impacts include logging and mining activities, whaling and sea otter trades, the 1964 earthquake, and notably, the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, from which recreation and wilderness values as well as some seabird and marine mammal populations are still recovering.…

Posted in Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, hope spots, mission blue, Multimedia, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, Uncategorized |

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St Helena Island Recognized as Mission Blue Hope Spot

In the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean between Angola and Brazil lies a remote volcanic island of a mighty 47 square miles (121.7 square kilometers). Discovered uninhabited in 1502 by the Portuguese, St Helena Island became a British Overseas Territory in 1659 and is now home to 4,439 residents (2021 Census). Due to its remote geographic location and small population, the island has not suffered the environmental degradation commonly seen in other blue places around the world. Recognizing this, the St Helena National Trust, and local and UK governments are working in tandem to maintain a vibrant and healthy future for both the island’s wildlife and human inhabitants.
 

 
 
International marine conservation non-profit Mission Blue has named St Helena Island a Hope Spot in honor of the island’s ongoing initiatives to manage and monitor its marine environment as well as to grow a sustainable economy.…

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Mission Blue Welcomes Rob “Waldo” Martin as New COO

Mission Blue is thrilled to welcome Rob “Waldo” Martin to the team as its new Chief Operating Officer. 

 

Waldo shares, “I am truly honored to join the Mission Blue team. Sylvia’s vision and Mission Blue’s work are deeply inspiring, and I am excited to embark on this journey.”
 

Waldo joined the foundation in August 2023 following a 31-year career in the Royal Canadian Air Force and almost ten years in the private/non-profit sector.
While in uniform, Waldo gained global leadership experience in operations, team development, policy advising, and strategy formulation. His last assignment was at NORAD and USNORTHCOM, where he served as a strategic advisor to the Commander and as Chief of Staff, Operations Division. A former fighter pilot, he is a veteran of Operations Allied Force (Kosovo) and Iraqi Freedom.…

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Verde Island Passage Named a Hope Spot Highlighting Community Reef Monitoring Program

Featured image: Coastal community drone © Joal Ascalon
(VERDE ISLAND PASSAGE, CORAL TRIANGLE, PHILIPPINES)

The Verde Island Passage (VIP) is a major waterway that separates southern Luzon Island from northern Mindoro Island in the Philippines, extending from Lubang Island in the west to Tablas Island in the east. Its 1.14 million hectares of coral reef, mangrove, and seagrass habitats possess a remarkable abundance of marine life, provide livelihoods to millions of people through fishing and ecotourism, serve as a major step commercial shipping channel, and houses significant industrial complexes along part of its shoreline.
Dr. Terrence Gosliner, Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, California Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Wilfredo “Al” Licuanan, Distinguished Full Professor in the Department of Biology and a University Fellow at De La Salle University (DLSU) and their partners are seeking the inclusion of the Verde Island Passage as a National Integrated Protected Area System of the Philippines and declaration as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area of the International Maritime Organization. …

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Successful Coral Restoration Efforts Celebrated at Newly Declared Ocean Cay Hope Spot in the Bahamas

Ocean Cay is a former industrial island located 22 miles south of Bimini, The Bahamas, and 65 miles southeast of Miami, Florida. Since 2015, through multi-disciplinary and institutional collaborations, the MSC Foundation and MSC Group have restored the island to re-establish its ecological balance after years of destructive activities. The Ocean Cay MSC Marine Reserve has been recognized by the government of The Bahamas as an area of high biological productivity and biodiversity and as such, has been recommended for ‘Marine Protected Area’ status. The MSC Foundation and its partners are hopeful that their marine conservation work can take the recognition process over the finish line to achieve official protection. 
International marine conservation nonprofit Mission Blue has declared Ocean Cay a Hope Spot and Pierfrancesco Vago, MSC Foundation Board Member and Chair of the Executive Committee – as the Hope Spot Champion in recognition of the Foundation and its partners’ programs to restore the area to its natural state to achieve a balanced ecology that can be maintained for generations to come.…

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Recording & Resources: Diving in Deep, Mining the High Seas – A Panel Discussion with Dr. Sylvia Earle

Thank you for joining us for Diving in Deep: Mining the High Seas – A Panel Discussion with Dr. Sylvia Earle on June 20th, 2023! 
To stay up-to-date on future Mission Blue virtual events, bookmark our Events page and subscribe to our monthly newsletter!
In this roundtable discussion, moderator Carl Lundin, Advisor, Mission Blue, guided the conversation with Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Sandor Mulsow, Vasser Seydel, and Sian Owen about deep-sea mining in the high seas, and what we are risking by exploiting this largely unexplored living system.
 

You can also view “Deep Trouble” with Dr. Sylvia Earle and Yo-Yo Ma below:

Our Panelists:
Dr. Sylvia Earle, Founder of Mission Blue and National Geographic Explorer in Residence

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The Northeast “Whale Capital” of Iceland Recognized as Mission Blue Hope Spot

(NORTHEAST ICELAND) –
Mission Blue has named Northeast Iceland a Hope Spot in recognition of the area’s rich diversity of marine life, the brilliantly unique ecosystems they reside in, and the work of Hope Spot Champions Belén García Ovide, Dr. Charla Jean Basran, and Eva Björk Káradóttir to encourage formal protections for them. The Northeast Iceland Hope Spot is being honored on the evening of June 5th at the Explorers Club in New York, New York, as part of World Ocean Week celebrations with Dr. Sylvia Earle. 
 
 
Dr. Earle, Founder of Mission Blue, says, “In this area, just beneath the surface, [there is] a vibrant world of geothermal vents, upwelling currents, nutrient-rich waters, and a place where biodiversity proliferates in a dynamic environment.…

Posted in .Homepage, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Featured, mission blue, Partner Stories, Photo of the Day, sylvia earle, Uncategorized |

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Mission Blue Makes Waves at IMPAC5: A Celebration of Hope Spots and Indigenous Influence

Header image: Dr. Sylvia Earle, IMPAC5 keynote speaker © IISD/ENB 
(VANCOUVER, CANADA) –
From February 3rd-9th, 2023, the 5th International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) was co-hosted by the Canadian government and The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This conference brought together policymakers, conservationists, scientists, and stakeholders from around the world to exchange knowledge, experiences, and best practices in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Mission Blue was omnipresent at the Congress, with the Hope Spots program and the influential presence of Dr. Sylvia Earle.
 

 
The event underscored the importance of indigenous influence in ocean conservation, highlighting the invaluable knowledge and practices of indigenous communities. The focus on indigenous perspectives demonstrated a growing recognition of the vital role that traditional knowledge and practices play in marine conservation, acknowledging the need for greater collaboration and understanding between indigenous communities and the broader conservation community.…

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