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Double-hulled Sailing Canoe Crosses the Globe and Lands at False Bay Hope Spot in South Africa

Hōkūleʻa, the incredible wind-powered circumnavigation conducted by Mission Blue partner Pacific Voyaging Society, has recently reached the shores of South Africa, halfway around the world from her home in Hawaiʻi. On November 10th, the sailing canoe pulled into False Bay, a Mission Blue Hope Spot, after having rounded the southernmost point of Africa. Ranging from Cape Point to Cape Hangklip near Cape Town, South Africa, False Bay is an area of dense kelp forests. Part of the False Bay Hope Spot is reserved as a marine protected area and no take zone, creating a sanctuary for large reef fish, abalone and small sharks. Fishing pressure in unprotected parts of False Bay is significant and pollution is also an issue in the area.…

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South Africans Unite Around Hope Spots

While 12 percent of the land on Earth is protected, less than 3% of the ocean has meaningful protection from fishing, pollution and resource extraction. Dr. Sylvia Earle, founder of global initiative Mission Blue, visited South Africa last month in a whirlwind tour of that ravishing marine environment to help generate community support for more ocean protection. And what a success it was. In partnership with the Sustainable Seas Trust, Dr. Sylvia Earle and the Mission Blue team visited six different communities along the South African coast and engaged local ocean lovers, community leaders and citizens to declare their waters a Hope Spot, special conservation areas that are critical to the health of the ocean — Earth’s blue heart.
And what began as an idea of conservation, was quickly embraced by the communities.…

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Onward! Sylvia Earle Inaugurates Community Hope Spots in South Africa

Dr. Sylvia Earle was in South Africa last week as a guest of Mission Blue partner Sustainable Seas Trust to launch new Community Hope Spots off the shores of South Africa. All in all six Community Hope Spots were launched: False Bay (all of False Bay from Cape Point to Cape Agulhas); Cape Whale Coast (stretches from Rooi Els to Quoin Point and includes offshore islands, just over 200km of coast line and then out to sea); Knysna (includes the Knysna Estuary and marine coast and offshore waters), Plett Hope Spot (links the Robberg MPA to Tsitsikamma MPA), Algoa Bay and the islands (this sanctuary area includes the principal breeding colonies of the African penguin, now down to 2% of historical population levels) and the Aliwal Shoal area in KwaZulu-Natal.…

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Dr. Earle Visits South Africa to support Sustainable SeasTrust Tour

“No ocean means no life, no blue means no green,” said ocean conservation champion, Dr. Sylvia Earle at a public talk at the Lawhill Maritime Centre in Simonstown held on April 14. Apart from being an esteemed oceanographer, explorer, author, lecturer, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, founder of numerous research foundations and chairperson of the Advisory Council for the Ocean in Google Earth, Dr. Earle is also the patron of Grahamstown based charity, the Sustainable Seas Trust (SST). The SST along with the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) are currently on the SAMSA SEA Pledge Saldanha to Sodwana Tour.
For four weeks the team will be touring South Africa’s coastline and spreading the word of coastal conservation to everyone from young school children to the various mayors and dignitaries along the way.…

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