MPA Day is coming up on August 1 so I've been seeing a lot of "Save the Date" images across my feeds. Even though the day has only been celebrated for the past five years, starting originally in South Africa, it's now recognized and celebrated around the world with various activities and educational platforms including the UN Ocean Decade.
Why are marine protected areas so important? The folks at Oceans Research delve into that question some here. National Geographic had something to say too.
You can look at this map to see activities near you and learn how to get involved.
The ocean is changing and understanding those changes starts with access to reliable, easy-to-explore data. The above image shows the sea surface temperature today, July 1, 2026 at the MyOcean Health interactive platform.
MyOcean Health, recently developed by the Copernicus Marine Service, brings together ocean health indicators in a simple, visual interface, making it possible to explore how our ocean has evolved over time. You can examine and track ocean surface temperatures, marine heat waves, sea level, ocean acidification, arctic sea ice extent, and antarctic sea ice extent all the way back to 1993.
The ocean absorbs most of the excess heat generated by climate change, stores carbon in its plants and animals, supports marine biodiversity, and influences weather and climate across the globe. Keeping track of its health is fundamental for protecting ecosystems, strengthening coastal resilience, supporting sustainable ocean management, and making informed decisions.
Whether you're a researcher, policymaker, student, or citizen scientist interested in climate and marine environments, the platform offers an accessible way to better understand what's happening beneath the surface.
The starting guide for anyone trying to work in oceans.
I like that this is a beginner’s map for breaking into ocean/climate work when there is no obvious career path. The author’s main point is to not wait for the perfect “ocean job” title; build fluency in the ecosystem, learn the vocabulary, follow where money/policy/innovation are moving, join the networks, and position your existing transferable skills as ocean-relevant. And yes, sometimes that means reaching out to others even when it feels like an awkward cold call.
The ocean needs people who can design programs, build partnerships, translate science and data into action, communicate and tell stories, understand (and create!) policy, implement projects, and raise funding. Many of these roles do not require a marine science degree and anyone in the blue or green economy will tell you they need people with skills across the board. I think this just happened across my timeline at just the right time as a good reminder.
See the stunning photos that captured the hearts of judges, staff and fellow ocean lovers and won Ocean Conservancy's annual Photo Contest.
Winners from Ocean Conservancy's annual photo contest have just been announced today. The above image of a giant male cuttlefish titled, "The Lone Ranger" taken by Rowan Dear was picked as the Staff Choice Winner.
After viewing all the winners and honorable mentions, scroll all the way to the bottom and you can see all the previous winners of the last four years.
Swampy mangrove forests are staging a surprise comeback - which is good news for coastal communities and the climate.
Always good to start the week off with some good news! This is impressive recovery by any standards and good news not just for people living in these coastal areas, but for all of us. We already know mangroves store up to five times as much carbon as land forests, create and sustain the livelihoods of communities that live in their borders, and are home to an incredible variety of biodiversity. We rely on them much more than we realize.
Here's a direct link to the study if you want to dig further into the study itself.
This trailer just popped up in my LinkedIn feed so thought I'd share. Open Planet Studios has a new "visionary feature documentary" coming to theaters on June 26 and then later this year to YouTube. I do enjoy my nature documentaries, or really documentaries of any kind. I like that this one has a hopeful tone woven into the stark narrative about the current state of our planet.
I'll update this when the film posts to YouTube.
Happy World Oceans Day! Let's celebrate the beautiful, blue life source of our planet with three good news stories from earlier this year!
🐟 New Zealand announced five new marine reserves, the biggest expansion in over a decade!
The newly designated 308-square-kilometre network, co-managed alongside Kāi Tahu iwi, safeguards marine habitats for endangered species
February 6, 2026
Known collectively as Te Au Roa o te Rakihouia, the new network increases mainland New Zealand’s total marine reserve coverage by almost 50% and honors Indigenous community advocates and partners! The coastal waters serve as vital breeding and feeding grounds for numerous threatened and iconic species, as well as house diverse habitats from giant kelp forests to offshore canyons to crucial coral reefs!
🪸 Scientists can now predict coral bleaching months before it happens!
Researchers develop an early-warning tool that predicts coral bleaching five to six months in advance by tracking climate patterns.
March 6, 2026
Researchers developed an early-warning system capable of predicting bleaching events five to six months before they occur by tracking large-scale climate patterns months before peak summer heat hits. Drawing on decades of data and climate science, the framework can potentially be adapted for use across other regions, providing conservation groups, governments, and restoration groups time lead time to prepare responses for vulnerable coral reefs!
🐬 Papua New Guinea announced a marine protected area nearly the size of the UK!
The largest “no-take” marine protected area in Melanesia will safeguard gray reef sharks, manta rays, green turtles, dolphins and seabirds,
May 13, 2026
The Pacific Ocean area is designed to protect one of the world’s most biologically diverse and least explored ocean regions from fishing and destructive activities, housing some of the most unique species found nowhere else on Earth. Functioning as a “marine highway” of underwater mountains, ridges, and canyons connecting shallow waters to the deep, the sanctuary will host a diverse range of marine life, from seabirds to whales, to dolphins to sharks, and even endangered species!
The United Nations released their Third World Ocean Assessment which provides the most comprehensive global evaluation of the state of the ocean to date.
It's been five years since the last Assessment and over 650 international experts collaborated to highlight the impacts of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and other issues negatively affecting marine ecosystems. They also identify priorities for action in the assessment because there is work we can do here, now.
This is an incredible resource and reference for advancing sustainability and the objectives of the UN Ocean Decade.
The Decade Collaborative Centre for Coastal Resilience released the first of four episodes in the Green Tides: Resilience Conversations series exploring the challenge of resilient coastal areas in an uncertain climate future.
You can watch the first episode highlighting why coastal resilience matters here.
You can also find the episodes on Spotify or Apple or other podcast outlets.
Still relevant, six years on. You can listen to Amanda read her poem here.
The sea sings out to its many saviors:
Teenagers with fists thrust into the air at climate strikes,
Scientists converging around their data,
A child who stoops to scoop up a piece of trash.
The sea sings out for its singular subjects:
Arching whales that wave from their waves,
Turtles that teeter down their shining shores,
Coral reefs shining brightly as cities.
The sea sings out its suffering,
Knowing too much of waste, screeching sounds
And pernicious poison, its depths bruised by
Atrocities in the Atlantic,
Misery in the Mediterranean,
Its tides the preservers of time past.
The story of the ocean and the story of humanity
Are one and the same, a Great River that
Knows no borders and notes no lines,
Only ripples.
While we might call it the Seven Seas,
Today we sing out your true name:
The one ocean.
For no matter how we try to separate your waters,
You are the colossus that connects us.
Water makes up 70% of Earth,
70% of the human heart,
And 70% of the human being,
All of us, bodies of water,
For we, too are oceans,
Or at least beings bobbing in the same boat.
To stand up for for our ocean
Is to stand up for our own ship
The sea is a restless, strong collective of many pieces.
So are we.
The ocean can recover.
And so will we.
Let us not divide the tides,
But discover all they have to teach us–
Green meadows of sea grass that survive pathogens,
Blue-bloodied marine snails that can fight off viruses.
There are more lessons to learn,
Still more work to be done.
So we lift our faces to the sun.
May the seas help us see healing and hope,
May we sing out the ocean’s survival and revival.
Being the people of this blue planet is our most
Profound privilege and power,
For if we be the ocean’s saviors,
Then it is surely ours.
Biodiversity is the bedrock of resilience, and kelp forests show why.
Just in time for World Oceans Day on June 8, TIME's new Oceans Issue highlights the forests and jungles and life! that live below the surface of the sea.
Thank you, TIME, for reminding us our stories above the oceans are inextricably tied to those below it.
I originally started this post with a recent podcast highlighting life under the ocean. My thinking was that Earth is the blue planet and over 70% of us is covered in water and that water provides over half our oxygen and we need to understand and protect the microorganisms deep below the surface that create that oxygen, and and and etc.
But I can't help looking at the images from the Artemis II mission and just gazing at them over and over. I don't know that I would make it as an astronaut because my earthgazing would have superceded all my work tasks every day. I love a good dashboard cleanse, especially mid-week or even mid-day.
Look at all that blue. Look at it. Look at us.
One week ago, Ghana officially declared its first ever Marine Protected Area (MPA).
Covering over 700 square kilometers and 21 communities in the Greater Cape Three Points Area of Ghana's Western Region. This incredible achievement reflects years of collaboration and shared purpose between partners.
