National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

ONLY ONE MONTH LEFT until #NationalMarineSanctuaryDay! 🌊 Join the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation on October 23 for a celebration of our protected waters in the #ocean and Great Lakes. National marine sanctuaries were first conceived when environmental crises in the 1970s caught public attention and highlighted the urgent need for conservation action. Over 50 years later, national marine sanctuaries continue to help communities confront today's #conservation challenges, like #ClimateChange, #biodiversity loss, and systemic inequity, and help us strive towards solutions- together. #NationalMarineSanctuaryDay launches a campaign of sanctuary stories. This year, the focus is on stories of youth leadership and activism for our ocean and Great Lakes, expanding access to sanctuaries for #tourism and recreation, and arts and culture inspired by our protected waters. Learn more about how YOU can celebrate sanctuaries with us at https://lnkd.in/ggYzdbpb! #NationalMarineSanctuaryDay

NEW RESEARCH shares insights into the secret life of sperm whales! 🐳 #DidYouKnow that sperm #whales are the loudest animals on Earth? Acoustic data recorded in #MontereyBay National Marine Sanctuary by MBARI researchers and collaborators from the Naval Postgraduate School and the University of Washington's Center for Ecosystem Sentinels shows they are more common offshore of California than previously thought! Learn more about this new research: https://ow.ly/RRCb50TBk1M #WhaleWednesday

It's time for #TrashTalkTuesday! This summer, we welcomed four NEW #BlueStar dive operators to the #GoalCleanSeas Florida Keys community: Conch Republic Divers, Captain Hook’s Dive Center, Captain's Corner Dive Center and Southpoint Divers. Thanks to a generous award from the FISH AMERICA FOUNDATION, these 4 dive shops with the help of 349 participating professional and recreational divers removed 1,456 pounds of #MarineDebris and 6,463 feet of fishing line and rope from reefs and wrecks in #FloridaKeys National Marine Sanctuary. We have also seen an exciting shift in the program to engage more locals and tourists! In 2024, Goal: Clean Seas operators engaged a whopping 146% more recreational divers per trip than in previous years, thanks in part to this generous funding from FAF and a shift to a more regenerative #tourism focused approach.    "We believe that knowledge is a very powerful tool in the fight for the protection of our beautiful #CoralReefs. When people understand how big the marine debris problem is, what effects it can cause, and what types of debris are causing the greatest threat to the reefs, they are now empowered to make changes in their daily lives to reduce the intensity of their own footprint," says Cortney Benson, the Marine Debris Removal Stewardship Coordinator at the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. "Add to that knowledge, an opportunity to get their hands dirty and remove the debris from these vital marine habitats themselves, and you now have passionate environmental stewards who will be eager to spread their awareness to others!" All marine debris removal work was conducted under permits from Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. Read more from Cortney on our blog: https://lnkd.in/edubM7ds 📸: Kurt Tidd

NEW FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: #ApplyNow for the 2025 #OceanOdyssey Marine Debris Prevention Awards for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility! The 2025 Ocean Odyssey #MarineDebris Prevention Awards for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Accessibility, a partnership between the NOAA: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program and the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, is now accepting proposals through November 20! The program will award up to $100,000 for projects between $5,000-$10,000 to support communities that are underserved, underrepresented, or overburdened by marine debris and promote initiatives that prevent the adverse impacts of marine debris. Read more about the opportunity here: https://lnkd.in/eSZ57tpi #DEIJA #OceanJustice

Exciting news for #ClimateWeekNYC! The White House has named Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary as one of the most significant #climate accomplishments in the Biden Administration’s effort to protect the #ocean and lands across America under #30x30.   This is a reaffirmation of the administration’s commitment to the proposed sanctuary, which is the first-ever Tribally nominated national marine sanctuary in U.S. history!   Once designated, the sanctuary will protect 4,543 square miles of Central California's coastal waters, ensuring the preservation of culturally significant sites and ecosystems like sea otters, leatherback turtles, and more. Read the full statement: https://lnkd.in/eNqnYu3T #ChumashSanctuary #CHNMS #AmericaTheBeautiful

For #HispanicHeritageMonth, the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is celebrating the voices of leaders on the frontlines of sanctuary protection and ocean justice! "Growing up as a Mexican-American in Watsonville, California, my journey has been deeply shaped by my heritage and the dreams of my immigrant parents...While my hometown was predominantly Latino, there was a noticeable lack of representation and role models who made significant changes within our community. This gap in representation fueled my desire to be the change I wished to see," says Emely Cortez-Torres, Bilingual Education Specialist at the #MontereyBay Sanctuary Exploration Center. Hear more from Emely about embracing her roots and how her heritage inspires her to create change, on the blog: https://lnkd.in/eYc8rw36

Calling all ocean lovers at #ClimateWeekNYC! 🌊 Join the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation tomorrow at an exclusive event! Our President & CEO Joel R. Johnson will be part of a live taping of #TheCatch fisheries podcast with Foreign Policy, in partnership with the Walton Family Foundation. Over the years, there has been a concerted effort to protect endangered species and ocean ecosystems from threats such as #ClimateChange, #IllegalFishing, and other forces. A key initiative, the establishment of #MarineProtectedAreas, requires a delicate balance between the interests of ocean conservationists and local communities. How can marine protected areas be designed more collaboratively with fishing communities to foster ocean #stewardship? How have similar competing priorities been addressed successfully in different regions? Moreover, how can marine protected areas promote food security and #justice for coastal communities? Joel R. Johnson will be joined by Jim Leape from the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Editrudith Lukanga from EMEDO Tanzania and AWFISHNET SECRETARIAT, Matt Rand from The Pew Charitable Trusts, and Monica Medina with Conservation International. Learn more and register: https://lnkd.in/g_wkRM7H

#OnThisDay in 2000, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary was designated! Thunder Bay was the first national marine sanctuary designated in the #GreatLakes, and protects one of the nation’s best-preserved, nationally-significant collections of #shipwrecks. Dive into a day in #ThunderBay for #WreckWednesday: http://ow.ly/wzKF50KRFkW

They might be called national marine sanctuaries...but #DidYouKnow sanctuaries aren't ONLY found in the ocean? #MallowsBay National Marine Sanctuary is located in the #PotomacRiver, a major tributary of the #ChesapeakeBay, the largest estuary in the United States. Estuaries are often economic centers of coastal communities and oceanic food webs, providing habitat for more than 75% of the U.S. commercial fish catch at some point during their life cycles. Estuaries also support transportation and trade in the form of shipping and recreation. Millions of people visit estuaries each year to boat, swim, fish, and view wildlife, contributing billions of dollars to coastal economies each year. #WadeIn and learn even more about estuaries for #EstuariesWeek: https://lnkd.in/eeZuNVaB 📸: National Aquarium

#APPLYNOW! The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation in partnership with #FloridaKeys National Marine Sanctuary is requesting proposals for Digital Content Creation for Regenerative Tourism Training! The awardee will develop and maintain digital and educational training material content for a regenerative #tourism training program which will be utilized in online learning platforms. Regenerative Tourism is a travel practice that aims to help the environment, communities, and cultures that tourism impacts to grow and recover. Regenerative tourism seeks to create a positive impact by restoring and revitalizing a destination's natural and cultural environments. Due to a changing global climate, regenerative tourism is vital to the economy and marine environment in the Florida Keys. The Florida Keys regenerative tourism program aims to empower local businesses to embrace a regenerative tourism business model, while also inviting locals and visitors to participate in existing regenerative tourism opportunities that contribute to their time in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Proposals are due by 11:59 PM on September 30. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/eCYJAWfX