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New Blue Park & Blue Sparks Join the Growing Network of Highest Quality Marine Protected Areas
Featured Picture: 2020 Blue Park Award winner, Abrolhos Marine National Park in Brazil. Photo: Eco360 [Seattle, WA] Marine Conservation Institute and its international panel of marine science advisors today announced Abrolhos National Marine Park has been designated as the newest Blue Park for achieving the highest science-based standards for marine life protection and management. Abrolhos joins a growing network of 16 Blue Parks around the…
Read MoreCall of the Deep: Exploring the Wonderful, Wacky Deep Sea
Featured Picture: Staff scientist Samuel Georgian takes a turn piloting the ROV Beagle (Marine Applied Research and Exploration) during an expedition off the coast of California. The Last Frontier “There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath…” -Herman Melville…
Read MoreRed Fish, Blue Fish: How does the ocean fit into America’s election results?
For voters with environmental values, there are probably as many different ways to interpret this election as there are fish in the sea. Some of us are elated that four years of Trump’s attacks on the environment, climate, and truth will end on January 20th. Others feel disheartened that President Trump still attracted an historic…
Read MoreAnnouncing the NEW updated Marine Protection Atlas: an immersive visual tool for exploring ocean conservation
Marine Conservation Institute has been on a decade long quest to answer two simple questions: ‘How much of the ocean is protected by marine protected areas? And how effective is that protection?’ Dive into our latest version of the Marine Protection Atlas to browse for answers! Why the World Needs an Independent Marine Protected Area…
Read MoreOcean Based Climate Solutions Act
Photo Credit: NOAA In response to impacts from climate change on the oceans, including, intensified storms, ocean warming that is bleaching shallow corals in the Florida Keys and Pacific marine monuments, problems with shell forming organisms like crabs and mollusks, and threats from rising sea levels to coastal communities in the US, House Natural Resources…
Read MoreZombie Worms and Friendly Stars: How Deep-Sea Symbiosis (Friends with Benefits) Allows Species to Thrive in a Challenging Environment
Featured Image: Octopus Cluster, Davidson Seamount. Credit: Ocean Exploration Trust/National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The deep sea is a harsh place to live. Lacking the sunlight-fueled productivity that drives shallow-water food webs, the deep sea is extremely limited by available food, leading to slow growth rates, low reproduction, and a reduced ability to recover from disturbances.…
Read MoreFinding Refuge: A Conversation with Award-Winning Wilderness Photographer and Filmmaker Ian Shive
We sat down (virtually) with renowned photographer, filmmaker, and conservationist Ian Shive to chat about hope, wild places, and his upcoming book, Refuge. Among other adventures, the book captures the extraordinary marine life in the Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll Marine National Monuments and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument—the protection of which Marine Conservation Institute fought for nearly a decade.
Read MoreCrisis in the Canopy – Endangered Birds Link Wildfires to the Sea
“For me, marbled murrelets have always embodied the dynamic connection between land and sea. I first encountered them as a kayak guide in Southeast Alaska, where the tiny birds would rise with a string of bubbles to the surface, then flap wildly to gain air, buzzing away like pudgy little helicopters.”
Read MoreIf not now, when? Conserving Seamounts on a Global Scale
Seamounts are massive underwater volcanoes that occur across the planet. They attract and support large numbers of animals including fish, sharks, sea turtles, seabirds, and marine mammals at the surface and shelter an incredible array of deep-sea life, including cold-water corals and sponges that build crucial structures, or ‘homes’, for large amounts of marine life on the bottom. These habitats are the ‘old-growth forests’ of the ocean – they are long-lived, slow growing, and extremely slow to recover following disturbance from activities like bottom trawling or seabed mining. Of the 10,000 plus seamounts known to exist, only around 10% are protected from some type of destruction. Marine Conservation Institute has a campaign to protect the 60 seamounts off the coast of California and is working with partners to protect many more around the world.
Read MoreDon’t believe the hype: a reality check on COVID-19 and marine protected areas
By: Christina Hoenow, Marine Protected Area Researcher In the months since the world came to a screeching halt due to COVID-19, you have likely seen articles announcing that “nature is healing” and photos of wildlife returning to areas typically crowded with tourists like the canals of Venice. While COVID-19 has shown us that a plummeting…
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