Mission Blue turns hope into action to save the ocean
The global initiative identifies ‘Hope Spots’ that are critical to the ocean’s health and supports local conservationists to protect these areas, of which there are six spread along South Africa’s coast
If you’re not familiar with Mission Blue, it’s a global initiative to protect the ocean, spearheaded by marine biologist Dr Sylvia Earle. It brings together an international coalition to raise public awareness, access and support for a worldwide network of marine protected areas called Hope Spots.
There are 159 Hope Spots around the world that have been scientifically identified as critical to the health of the ocean and are championed by local conservationists whom Mission Blue supports with communications, expeditions and scientific advice.
Hope Spots are critical to the health of the oceans. Some are already formally protected, whereas others still need defined protection. Under Earle’s leadership, the Mission Blue team has embarked on a series of expeditions illuminating these vital ecosystems.
Earle’s Netflix documentary, Mission Blue, tells the story as she travels the globe on an urgent mission to shed light on the dire condition of Earth’s oceans.
She told Daily Maverick: “Imagine if we did not know what the problems are. We now have the best chance ever to reverse the trajectory. What we do now or what we fail to do right now in the 21st century will have an impact of either securing a long and enduring place for ourselves within the natural systems that make earth habitable, or we will lose the chance and our fate will be like the fate of so many other species that ultimately just slip into infinity.”
There are two ways that Hope Spots are beneficial. They provide a mechanism to safeguard places and they enable recovery through a process to reach an official designation for protection. Hope Spots don’t necessarily start out with official protection, but they lead to securing official safeguards for those areas.
The other element of Hope Spots is that they are energising, motivating and educational because, as Earle says, “people are the problem, but they’re also the solution”.
“When hope leads to action, then it becomes real. It can happen on a global scale like when nations came together in 1986 to declare a moratorium on the commercial killing of whales. Today, there are more whales than there were when I was a child. Recovery is possible if you haven’t killed them all.”
Earle recently visited South Africa, which is home to six Hope Spots along its coast: False Bay, the Cape Whale Coast, Knysna, Plettenberg Bay, Algoa Bay and Aliwal Shoal.
These areas cover a notable stretch of the South African coast and serve as a launch pad for further ocean conservation in the region.
The False Bay Hope Spot was in the spotlight recently when the Two Oceans Aquarium joined Cape Research and Diver Development (RADD) as a champion of the spot.
In celebration, Mission Blue hosted a workshop on 9 February at the Two Oceans Aquarium to highlight the work being done in False Bay and to ignite interest in and action around the South African Hope Spots.
The aquarium’s conservation and sustainability manager, Helen Lockhart, explained that False Bay had a rich marine biodiversity and was home to more than 3,500 endemic species. These include endangered African penguins; various species of shark, including shysharks and catsharks; a variety of seabirds such as African oystercatchers, kelp gulls and cormorants; octopi; and many invertebrates.
“It is frequented by white sharks, orcas, southern right whales and various dolphin species and Cape fur seals. Many species use False Bay as feeding and breeding grounds as well as nurseries. And, of course, there are the magnificent kelp forests of False Bay, which provide shelter and food to marine life,” Lockhart said.
Some of the work being done in False Bay include regular beach clean-ups, which connect people to the ocean and show them that they can be part of the solution in addressing problems such as litter.
Aquarium research teams also conduct projects such as acoustic telemetry tagging on
False Bay sharks and rays, and their educators inspire thousands of schoolchildren every year by exposing them to the marine life of False Bay.
Cape RADD founder Mike Barron said there is an urgent need for climate action, citing ocean acidification, pollution and overfishing as major threats to ocean health, including on the False Bay coast.
According to Groundup, the City of Cape Town is exploring solutions to stop the practice of discharging untreated sewage into the Atlantic Ocean along the coastline. But its primary sewage treatment facility near Strandfontein is exacerbating pollution in False Bay because of its failure to adequately treat sewage.
This is just one continuing cause of pollution along the False Bay coast that is having a damaging impact on its marine life and ocean health, making the need for conservation efforts even more necessary.
Barron said: “The message we’re trying to shout about is very difficult, and it’s easily overlooked and ignored by corporations and industry, unless we can get to policy and legislation level. We’re at a stage now that global warming is raising its voice itself and we can’t ignore it any more. It’s reaching a tipping point, but that tipping point might just be the wake-up call.”
Lockhart said plastic is one of the big issues that Two Oceans staff encounter along South Africa’s entire coast in their work with sea turtles.
“So many of the turtles that come into our rehab facility have ingested plastic. We see it in animal entanglements, ghost fishing gear. In terms of False Bay, I think the plastic issue is a major one, and then also unsustainable fishing practices.
“One of the big challenges is climate change and the impact that it’s having on ocean acidification and the changes that are occurring within the kelp forest and animals that we’re seeing there,” she said.
Lockhart said the staff become very despondent at times. “I’ve been doing this work for 30 years, and we are still talking about the same things and we’re still facing the same challenges. Some challenges are worse in some instances. But there’s no other way; it is about keeping going and doing the work we do.”
Earle’s vision is that the Earth becomes a Hope Spot – all of it. What Blue Mission is doing with champions and communities is connecting the dots to make this network a global network of hope.
“It’s a transition of protecting spaces and species, but overall it’s to change the way we
think,” she said.
It can happen on a global scale like when nations came together in 1986 to declare a moratorium on the
commercial killing of whales