Hope Spot Expeditions

In September 2019, the Mission Blue Expeditions team traveled to the Galápagos Islands, led by Kip Evans, Mission Blue Director of Photography and Expeditions. The Expedition team included Dr. Sylvia Earle, Mission Blue team members Kip Evans and Amanda Townsel, Ocean First team members Graham Casden and Klara Fejer, research scientists, and citizen scientists, all of who were able to embark on this expedition thanks to support from expedition donors, Seth Casden, Carol Hempf and Dr. Fisk Johnson.

The Mission Blue Expedition Team traveled to Malpelo Island Hope Spot off the coast of Colombia in August 2019 to collect data on sharks' migratory habits and document the unique triumphs and challenges involved in enforcing the local MPA and protecting the sensitive species that live there, including whale sharks, hammerhead sharks, and groupers. The trip offered opportunities to gain new insights about a place that has only been well explored for the past 30 years.

In November 2018, The Mission Blue team led by expeditions director Kip Evans embarked on an expedition to explore Palau with conservation partner Oceanic Society. We dove in the the nation’s vast protected areas to learn about the high biodiversity and threats faced by marine life. Throughout the expedition, the team met with local conservationists, political leaders and commercial operators and nonprofit organizations to discuss strategies to bring more resources. One of the goals of the expedition was to capture video and photo content, above and below the water, to tell the story of marine conservation gone right in the Republic of Palau. Dive in and enjoy!

The Mission Blue Expedition Team traveled to the northernmost inhabited region on Earth to document the negative effects of climate change faced there, including rapidly melting glaciers and polluted waters. Spitsbergen Island, as part of the Svalbard Archipelago, is one of the places on Earth that perhaps faces the most extreme effects of a warming planet. We met with local experts, field researchers, influencers and officials to gain a better understanding of the science and policy context affecting this region. This expedition was sponsored by Biotherm, Polar Bears International, IUCN, ScubaPro, and Gates Products – a huge thank you for their support!

The Mission Blue team conducted an expedition to document and raise awareness around the importance of MPAs and the negative effects of overfishing, illegal anchoring, and plastic pollution in the Balearic Islands Hope Spot. The expedition was co-organized with our partners at Asociación Ondine, Drifters Project, Plastic Pollution Coalition and Bonnie Lass Charters. Finally, a very special thanks goes to Biotherm WaterLovers for making this expedition possible through their generous support of Mission Blue's expeditions program.

Considered to be the most beautiful island in the world by Jaques Cousteau, the island of Cocos in Costa Rica is a sight to behold. Located 350 miles off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, lives a diversity of large pelagic species including sharks, rays, tunas, and dolphins. Sharks including hammerhead, Galápagos, silky, tiger, white tip reef and whale sharks are common sightings, making it a haven for scientists, divers, and marine enthusiasts alike. The iconic animals are known to migrate throughout the Eastern Tropical Pacific from the Galapagos to Columbia, Panama, and Costa Rica. Sharks are integral apex predators that shape the food web and maintain a healthy ecosystem for all marine life. Unfortunately, they continue to be hunted for their fins and exported to China in violation of international agreements, despite Cocos Island designation as a World Heritage Site.

Joining MarViva on an expedition to the Costa Rican Thermal Dome, a Mission Blue Hope Spot, we documented scientific research in the service of conservation. The Mission Blue team worked in the water and on board the two expedition vessels to document science such as the tagging and release of sharks and turtles. The trip was spearheaded by our outstanding partners at MarViva, a regional non-profit that is actively documenting biodiversity and human uses in the Dome and making the case for a regional management scheme for the Dome. Their work is a guiding light for marine conservation in the region and this expedition helped bolster their case for greater conservation of the Dome. In short, MarViva is putting the “Hope” in this “Hope Spot”.

Most landlubbers haven’t heard of the Revillagigedo Archipelago which contains Isla Socorro. But adventurous scuba divers dream about it. The island, sometimes called Mexico’s “little Galápagos”, is a shield volcano that emerged from the ocean floor 5,000 years ago and peeked above the waves 300 miles south of Cabo San Lucas. As the largest island in the Revillagigedo Archipelago, Socorro is an open-ocean way station along the migratory routes of large pelagic species like hammerhead sharks, giant oceanic manta rays and whale sharks. Blue whale sightings are not unheard of. To dive here is to dive among the giants of the ocean.

In 2009, Dr. Earle named the Gulf of California one of her top “Hope Spot” locations and vowed to help bring attention and support to the region. Through expeditions in 2010, 2015 and 2016, Dr. Earle and the Mission Blue team have developed close ties to community groups and policy makers in the Gulf of California with support from partners including the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation and the Mexican Fund for the Conservation of Nature, A.C. (FMCN). We look forward to continuing to shine a light on the beauty and value of this rich ecosystem and those who are working to protect it.

In November 2015 Dr. Earle and the Mission Blue team visited the Balearic Islands to launch it as the first Hope Spot in the Mediterranean in partnership with Asociación Ondine and Stefan Hearst. The Balearic Islands consist of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera. This archipelago is strategically located in the middle of the western Mediterranean, within the Balearic Sea, and subjected to the influence of currents from the northwestern Mediterranean and others of Atlantic origin. The Balearic Sea has a good representation of the habitats existing along the Mediterranean, as well as a high biodiversity.