Blog
International Climate Organization’s Stark Warnings Require Urgent Action
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report builds on 30 years of warnings from climate and marine scientists who conclude that the ocean is beginning to crumble under an onslaught of needless stressors from overfishing to pollution, compounded by climate breakdown. The atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere (the ice-covered areas of the planet) and biosphere…
Read MoreHow Fishing Communities Use Locally Managed Marine Areas to Combat the Effects of Climate Change
Blog by: Arianna Trapp, Blue Parks Science Intern Featured Image: Fishing in Fiji by Tom Vierus Most large, well-known marine protected areas (MPAs) are located in developed, financially stable countries where central governance and ample budgets for management are common. However, the top-down, centrally managed structure of many of these MPAs doesn’t work everywhere, particularly…
Read MoreAre Fish Aggregating Devices just a FAD?
Blog by: Lindsay Brubaker, Blue Parks Science Intern Featured Image: A view from below of a fish aggregating device (FAD). Wade Fairey Fish Aggregating Devices—called FADs—result in five times more bycatch than other fishing methods, and lost FADs become ghost gear, costing millions of dollars in cleanup efforts in fragile ecosystems. These floating ocean objects…
Read MoreThe Scoop on Spillover: How Blue Parks are Bigger than Their Boundaries
Blog by: Allie Smith, Blue Parks Science Intern Featured Image: Hammerhead Shark by Shane Gross What we’ve seen in marine protected areas is promising: evidence that these reserves not only support the ecosystems within their boundaries, but also benefit surrounding marine and human communities. Though hard to quantify, the “spillover effect” has been documented in…
Read MoreDeep Sea Takes CENTER STAGE in Ever Worsening Climate and Biodiversity Crises
Featured Image: Crossota millsae. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration. The future of the deep sea hangs in the balance As communities around the world are reeling from the impacts of escalating climate change and the mostly unchecked loss of biodiversity, the destruction of the…
Read MoreScientists call partially protected areas the “Red Herrings” of marine conservation
New Studies Explore the Effectiveness, or rather Ineffectiveness, of Partially Protected Marine Areas By Eleri Griffiths, Blue Parks Intern Marine protected areas (MPAs) are vital tools for protecting, conserving, and restoring marine ecosystems. Leading experts in marine science and conservation across the globe are advocating for protection of 30% of the global ocean by 2030…
Read MoreGreen Light for Chilean Conservation: The President of Chile Makes Piedra del Viento an Official Coastal Marine Sanctuary
Blog written by Juan Buttazzoni, Director of Fundación Rompientes Marine Conservation Institute has partnered with Chile’s Fundación Rompientes to help turn a threatened stretch of central Chile’s coastline into a Blue Spark. Now, with a formal presidential designation, we celebrate the news and look ahead to the next steps for this new marine protected area.…
Read MoreJune Is Abuzz with Ocean Celebrations…but how can you really make a difference?
Oceans are here, there and everywhere in the month of June. June 8th is World Ocean Day, June 8 to June 12 is the UN World Ocean Week, and in the US, the entire month of June has been designated by President Biden as National Ocean Month. The attention is well-deserved: oceans constitute about 70%…
Read MoreProtecting what you love: 6 virtual ways to explore the Ocean
“People protect what they love.” – Jacques Yves Cousteau World Ocean Day is coming up — a day when people around our blue planet celebrate and honor our one shared ocean, that connects us all. World Ocean Day is certainly a day for engagement, and we invite you to honor the ocean with your own…
Read MoreHow filmmaking could help save the ocean
https://marine-conservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Whiskey-Sky-blog.mp3 Meet Chris Chen and Maria Bernal-Silva, the creative forces behind Marine Conservation Institute’s new organizational video Earlier this year, Emmy-nominated video editor Chris Chen of Whiskey Sky Media listened in on a conversation that would lead to an extraordinary project. In his San Diego home, Chris leaned in and dialed up the volume on…
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