#MarineConservation

[noaasanctuaries]

Check out the latest poster in our 50th Anniversary #SaveSpectacular poster series!

Our new poster features Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, a coral reef ecosystem that encompasses 3,801 square miles of water surrounding the archipelago formed by the Florida Keys. The sanctuary is home to nearly 6,000 marine species, making it one of North America’s most diverse communities of underwater plants and animals.

Take a look for yourself, and download the poster today!

[benlowy]

Everyone has a case of the Monday’s. With @lukemydiveguru and @sonyalpha in Los Islotes Mexico #sonypartner #sonyalpha #sealion #marineconservation (at Los Islotes, La Paz) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpL79THM3M-/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[lastingocean]

It’s World turtle day!

Here are some interesting facts about the status of sea turtles globally:

As we mark world turtle day here are some interesting facts about sea turtles:

There are only 7 species of sea turtles

6 of these species are classified as endangered with human actions being their largest threat.

These threats include(poaching,vessel collisions,habitat loss,pollution,bycatch)

All species are protected under the Endangered Species Act(ESA)

Together with marine mammals,they make up 38% of the listed endangered marine species

It is estimated that only 1 in 1000 hatchlings make it into adulthood (quite sad considering that their populations are declining globally)

The temperature of sand in nesting beaches affects the gender of sea turtles . The warmer the sand the higher the ratio of female turtles and vice versa.

Apart from increasing temperatures, the amount of plastic trapped in the sand also has an effect on the gender ratio as plastic traps and retains heat .

The fact that most of these threats are human induced means it much more easier to eliminate them compared to issues like climate changes. Changing human behaviour is key in the successful conservation of sea turtles.

[geograffity]

Dive Deep, Save Oceans: Cape Verde's Freediving & Conservation Connection

Discover the captivating world of freediving and marine conservation in Cape Verde! 🌊🐢 Dive into this exciting journey as we explore:

Cape Verde's diverse marine biodiversity 🐠

Human impact on ocean life 🎣

Freediving's role in raising ocean awareness 🏊‍♂️

Sustainable tourism & community involvement 🌱

How you can contribute to ocean protection 🌎

Dive in and make a difference! 💙 Read the full article here: Freediving and Conservation in Cape Verde

[theartisanfartisan]

Just keep swimming! This adorable baby seal seems to be enjoying the clear blue waters as it glides gracefully just at the surface. Let's do our part to keep our oceans clean and safe for all the amazing creatures that call it home. 💙🌊 #underwater #conservation #underwaterphotography #marinelife#sundayvibes #sundayfunday #babyseal #oceanlife #naturelove #savetheocean #beautifulworld #sealife #marineconservation #artificialintelligence #generativeart #aiartwork #midjourney #aiartcommunity #midjourney #ai (at Pacific Ocean) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp-LDWJuba7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[davidwfloydart]

A female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighted down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her body, her tail, her torso, a line tugging in her mouth. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She then came back to each and every diver, one at a time, nudged them, and pushed gently, thanking them. Some said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The guy who cut the rope out of her mouth says her eye was following him the whole time, and he will never be the same. #whalerescue #fishermansnet #greywhale #oceanlife #marineconservation #marinewildlife #compassion #gratitude (at Catalina Foothills, Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfJxQZ5J-g06nsr-zD9GkOgIQGCIu_v1OBBnPw0/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[realbsogood]

The Marine Conservation Society has been chatting with Dr Peter Richardson, our resident turtle expert, to find out all about marine turtles 🐢

What do they do all day? Where can you find them? Why should you report any sightings?

To learn more about these fascinating creatures read our blog here

http://www.mcsuk.org/.../what-do-turtles-do-all-day-and.../

Peter Richardson 📷

[jimabernethy]

#Repost from our Totally Awesome Vegan Conservationist at...@oneprotest —— Help us ensure that the five students responsible for killing a shark and hanging the body from rafters at Ponte Vedra High are held accountable for their actions. OneProtest's founder, Adam Sugalski, was called to do another interview yesterday. Please sign & share our petition to raise awareness and get justice for the shark. https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2022/05/06/petition-seeks-criminal-charges-against-students-who-hung-dead-shark-from-rafters-at-ponte-vedra-high/ . . . #Shark #Sharks #sharkwatch #SharkLover #SharkWeek #SharkLife #Florida #FloridaLiving #FL #StJohns #MarineConservation #School #highschool #OceanConservation #SaveOurSeas #SaveSharks #AnimalAdvocacy #OneProtest #wildlife #savesharks #oceanadvocate #fishfeelpain (at Ponte Vedra High School) https://www.instagram.com/p/CdV_04_una9/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[leonys1713]

The Blue Glaucus: A Dazzling Marvel of the Sea

[fancy-dapper-fox]

April Post on Heavy Topic

Hello, Today I am posting about how Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing affects Coral Reef Health. I will also be briefly touching on how law enforcement “compliance” plays into this. I am in a Marine Science Club and am using the club’s monthly project of creating a post about tropical conservation concerns as an opportunity to share information I’ve researched. If anyone reads my post and has additional info, please share! Also, the information I give is really summaries of what I’ve looked into so I will be providing links to my sources. 

So the first thing I want to talk about is what exactly coral reefs are and what makes them so important. According to the International Coral Reef Initiative there are over 100 species of coral reef (that we’ve discovered so far) and despite how they cover less than 1% of the ocean floor they support an estimate of over 25% of all marine life. The coral reefs support that marine life by providing suitable habitat areas – they minimize waves and current impact and provide safe breeding and resting grounds. Something to also remember is that they don’t just support marine life, they also support human life – mainly people who live on coastlines and rely on income from fishing and tourism (I’ll touch more on this later). The human reliance on the coral reefs can be positive as it helps monitor marine life and prevent overpopulation but it can also bring a harmful issue – IUU. 

So what exactly is IUU? The International Maritime Organization (IMO) describes it as “IUU fishing takes advantage of corruption and exploits weak management regimes, in particular those of countries lacking the capacity and resources for effective monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS). IUU fishing threatens marine biodiversity, livelihoods, exacerbates poverty, and augments food insecurity.” and the U.S Department of State office of Marine Conservation gives a very important point that “IUU fishing can take on many forms, ranging from small-scale vessels misreporting their catch or straying into a neighboring country’s waters, to coordinated efforts by transnational crime syndicates. IUU fishing can also undermine port and maritime security, as criminal elements may use similar trade routes, landing sites, and vessels as used for smuggling migrants, and trafficking arms, drugs, and other contraband.” 

To make this information a bit easier to understand: IUU fishing uses law enforcement gaps to overfish and opens routes for even more criminal activity. IUU fishing affects the environment and all living things in it (even humans are not immune to this activity). 

Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated fishing threatens the reefs health because most illegal fishers are not concerned about the damage they do – they destroy coral to get to fish, they spill chemicals by accident near the reefs, they deplete the areas of algae which is a plant coral has a symbiote relationship with. 

All this IUU and the damage that happens during it creates a domino effect of health problems for the coral reefs making them inhabitable which drives the marine life away which in turn ruins the environment. 

Something I want to note really quick is a vocab term that is coming up --- MPA's : Marine Protected Areas

“Many MPA experts consider insufficient enforcement to be one of the primary drivers of non-compliance in MPAs (Iacarella et al. 2021), and gaps in enforcement often result from a deficient budget (Kuempel et al., 2017). Non-compliance is likely to become an increasingly widespread problem for MPAs if we prioritize MPA coverage over MPA quality. A 2017 study examining data of hundreds of MPAs from every temperate and tropical ocean basin found that 65% of managers describe their budget as inadequate and 91% describe their staff capacity as “below optimum” (Gill et al. 2017). Therefore, to make MPAs as effective as possible, we must focus on adequately financing and staffing them to facilitate high enforcement and compliance levels.” This quote is from The Marine Conservation Institute. Even thought the information is a bit dated I thought it was a good idea to include this piece of information. Now when I ay law enforcement “compliance” I am specifically talking about certain people in the law enforcement departments compliance to remain ignorant towards the importance of monitoring MPA. A lot of times patrols don’t deem certain areas to be of importance or law enforcers like judges don’t see that protecting “some plants and fish” is important enough to dish out punishment to IUU people. 

So because of negligence, ignorance, or even just minor oversights a lot of IUU people get away with their illegal activity. 

I'm of course not going after or attacking every single law enforcement official because quite a few of them do take their work seriously but realistically it only takes a few "bad" law enforcers to creates gaps in the system that illegal fishers can take advantage of.

Not to mention there are publicized cases on law enforcement officials who have been suspected or confirmed of taking bribes so that people slip through the cracks of the justice system.

Now I'm going to talk a bit more on how/why humans are affected by the decline of Coral Reef Health:

Coral ecosystems protect coastlines from storms and erosion, provide jobs and income to local economies from fishing, recreation, and tourism. And in addition to that they are a source of new medicines, and they have cultural significance.

The continued decline of coral reef ecosystems will have significant social, cultural, economic and ecological impacts on people and communities in the U.S. and around the world.

Of course, not all hope is lost - it's not all doom and gloom.

There are many conservation projects + programs being worked on to help the coral reefs. There is the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program, The Ocean's Harmony no-profit organization and many more.

There are even volunteer programs: (These are just a few, I will attach a link with a list of more)

Coral Reef and Diving Project – Thailand 

Coral Reef Restoration in Bali

Great Barrier Reef Conservation in Australia

Caribbean Reef Diving Project in Carriacou, West Indies

Island Volunteering Project in the Maldives

Coral Reef Restoration Volunteer (Volunteer world website)

And you don't have to volunteer or work in the marine science or conservation field to help!

You could repost/like/share info on online platforms. You can fact check articles you read. You can involve yourself in voting for environment protection bills. You can watch live videos of researchers (Like nautiluslive on Instagram) You can go to community events. Report suspected IUU when you see it (Stay safe though). You could buy books, clothing, art, jewelry (like fahlo) to support conservation programs financially. You can teach your kids, friends, family (pets?) to spread awareness. YOU CAN EDUCATE YOURSELF.

Before I end my little ted talk I do want to bring attention to one more group who has worked hard on the conservation of Coral Reefs:

The Queensland Indigenous Women Rangers Network (QIWRN).

Ever since they launched in 2018 the organization has worked as representation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Queensland. They have worked on their conservation efforts as rangers, mapping land and tracking changes within the local ecosystems.

I hope everyone who reads this find it inspiring and educational.

Sources: 

NOAA's Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) - Who We Are 

Understanding Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing | NOAA Fisheries 

Coral Reefs: Status, Risks and Outlook | World Resources Institute (wri.org) 

Why are coral reefs dying? (unep.org) 

Four reasons illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing affects us and what we can do about it | FAO Stories | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing (imo.org) 

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing - United States Department of State 

Saving the Coral Reefs: 9 Innovations in Coral Reef Restoration (treehugger.com) 

Meet the Indigenous Women Leading Conservation Efforts in the Great Barrier Reef | Condé Nast Traveler (cntraveler.com) 

Benefits of coral reefs | ICRI (icriforum.org) 

Coral reefs: Essential and threatened | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (noaa.gov) 

Restoring Coral Reefs | NOAA Fisheries 

Projects - Oceans' Harmony (oceansharmony.org) 

The Top 7 Coral Reef Conservation Volunteer Projects | WorkingAbroad 

▷ Coral Reef Restoration 🐚| Reef Conservation 2024 | Volunteer World 

[noaasanctuaries]

One of the most significant marine conservation initiatives in the world—restoring sensitive habitats and managing resources in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary—is one step closer today as NOAA released a proposed rule and draft revised management plan, together known as the “Restoration Blueprint.”

The resources in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary—corals, seagrass, mangroves, and historical shipwrecks—are increasingly under threat.

The decades-long declines in the health of the marine habitats in Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is a community-wide problem, and the solution requires many levels of collaboration and community involvement. After listening to broad public input and the best available science, NOAA has put forth a proposed plan to move these efforts forward, and now wants to hear what you think about it. There are several ways to weigh in on the #RestorationBlueprint.

Find out more here: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/news/jul22/restoration-blueprint-florida-keys.html

[benlowy]

Diving under an oil platform, you never know what you are going to see. Yes they are artificial structures drilling for oil - but coral grows everywhere and they attract small fish and… bigger fish that eat small fish. Somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. #gulfofmexico #sharks #marineconservation #sonypartner #sonyalpha https://www.instagram.com/p/CpQZFyuuoph/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[bettreworld]

Carbonomics: Transforming the oceans with Dr. Linwood Pendleton

[handsupvolunteers]

Marine conservation is a highly ranked volunteer opportunities in Mexico to save the underwater species from becoming endangered. Let us check the initiatives.