#Wildlife

Article·6 min read

The struggle for our blue heart / Max Bello

Max Bello

Many of us are deeply disconnected from the ocean, the origin of our very existence. Stuck as we are to land, it’s become easy to see the ocean as an endless dumpster for our wastes, a source to feed all our wild consumption. But collective movements give us hope, and creating and expanding strong marine protected areas can bring back the richness and abundance of ocean life.

Image © Cristina Mittermeier

Max Bello

Dec 22, 2020

Image © Cristina Mittermeier

Where the land meets the shore in the Tuamotus, French Polynesia · Cristina Mittermeier

Our relationship with the ocean and the life it holds is broken. No one I know would go to Africa, look at a rhinoceros, and immediately think of a barbecue.

Corals around the world are bleaching (turning white) because of rising ocean temperatures · Cristina Mittermeier

International ocean policy advisor Max Bello diving with his camera · Andy Mann

If these highly and fully protected areas in the ocean are well funded, well managed, and large enough to safeguard the processes and ecosystems that make them unique, they can bring back the richness and abundance of ocean life.

Highly and fully protected areas in the ocean can bring back the richness and abundance of ocean life · Andy Mann

In Timor-Leste, local communities use a form of cultural protection called Tara Bandu to help fish populations recover and prevent overfishing—similar to how a modern marine protected area works · Cristina Mittermeier

Galápagos and the marine life it holds shows us what we all need to know about the global ocean: no one ecosystem is ever isolated.

A shiver of scalloped hammerhead sharks swims in the waters surrounding Galápagos · Cristina Mittermeier

The struggle is for our blue heart, for our existence itself.

Contributors

Max Bello

International Ocean Policy Advisor

Max Bello is an international ocean policy expert who has worked in the environmental arena for over two decades to advance marine conservation priorities. He has worked directly with governments in Latin America and around the world to establish marine protected areas. Of note, he was instrumental in securing protections for over 2 million square kilometers of countries’ territorial waters. Max’s current work at Mission Blue is focused on securing and elevating global marine conservation targets, engaging local and national governments in protecting their own waters, and advancing marine conservation priorities in various international multilateral fora.

Petitions to create sanctuaries

Urge France to Effectively Protect its Maritime Spaces

Tell World Leaders to Protect 30% of the Ocean by 2030

Protect the Ocean by Supporting the High Seas Treaty

Protect Antarctica to Secure the Largest Act of Ocean Protection in History

Projects in #Wildlife

Preserving lowland peat swamp forests and mangroves in Indonesian Borneo

Village communities are saving forests and wetlands that are one of the largest natural carbon stores in the world, as well as protecting and rehabilitating critically endangered orangutans.

Project·8 min read

Growing maricultured corals in Indonesia

Reef education specialists are planting 20,000 corals grown in rope-and-rack nurseries to restore ocean habitats and build on locally led marine innovation.

Project·5 min read

Rebuilding the reef in French Polynesia

Island innovators are restoring 40,000 “super corals” to the reef to save wildlife habitat and spread global awareness.

Project·4 min read

Long reads in #Wildlife

10 years of diving with the wonders of the open ocean / Jorge Cervera Hauser

Since starting to regularly venture out into the pelagic zone 10 years ago, Jorge Cervera Hauser has filmed and photographed some of the most fascinating marine species on the planet. He spoke to us about finding new ways of doing conservation and working alongside fishing communities in Mexico to develop open ocean ecotourism.

Article·6 min read

The Cocos-Galápagos Swimway / A route for life

For 20 days, a team of expeditioners set out to tag sharks along the Cocos-Galápagos Swimway, all in the effort of protecting marine species from human pressures. For one grant-winning participant, it was a novel experience and a renewal of hope.

Article·9 min read

Protecting Costa Rica’s waters through research, advocacy, and the courtroom / Randall Arauz

As a scientist, activist, and environmental policy plaintiff, Randall Arauz has seen how doing diligent research in the field is a pathway to enacting change in the courtroom. With his attention now focused on the Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, he’s looking to once again use data-driven science to preserve this jeopardized ecosystem and the small-scale fishers who depend on it.

Article·5 min read

The secret life of Antarctic krill / Rodolfo Werner

Krill, a small shrimp-like crustacean, underpins the food web of the entire Antarctic marine ecosystem. Yet climate change and the concentration of krill fishing in just a few areas are a threat to their existence, and therefore to the existence of all species in Antarctica.

Article·11 min read

Provinsi Konservasi / The jewel in the crown of biodiversity

In 2015, West Papua declared the world’s first conservation province. There’s so much we can celebrate about and learn from this visionary legislation rooted in ancient wisdom.

Article·10 min read

Rays of hope for Lofoten / Uniting against oil drilling in Norway’s fjords

The cold fjords surrounding Lofoten in Norway display an orca ballet, and a remarkable feeding behavior that few have ever seen. In 2019, the courage of young people protected this area of natural beauty from oil drilling.

Article·11 min read

The mako shark / Mindless man-eater or magnificent predator?

When we think of sharks as mindless killers, we forget their vital place in the ocean ecosystem. But targeted for their prized fins and meat, mako sharks desperately need protections from us.

Article·12 min read

Titouan Bernicot / Defender of the Reef

Titouan Bernicot discovered at age 16 that the beautiful and vital corals surrounding his island home of Mo'orea were dying. Taking it upon himself to restore the reef, he founded the nonprofit Coral Gardeners. Here he tells his story.

Article·12 min read