Jetgala - MAR-MAY 2023

62 S GROWING HOPE The work of Mission Blue in marine exploration and protection in the Galápagos Islands, with continuing support from Rolex through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, aims at expanding the global network of ‘hope spots’ Sylvia Earle and Salome Buglass descend in the DeepSee submersible in search of deep sea kelp that may be new to science, during the Mission Blue Galápagos expedition in 2022. Images courtesy of Rolex M arine conservation non- profit Mission Blue is in a longstanding undertaking to grow the network of Hope Spots in oceans across the globe. Conceived in 2010 by Mission Blue founder and renowned oceanographer, RolexTestimonee Sylvia Earle, Hope Spots are marine locations with abundant biodiversity that creates a fertile testbed for reversing human damages to oceans across the globe. In short, the protection of Hope Spots is crucial to the health and future of oceans – a condition with great repercussions on life on Earth. To date, Hope Spots are clearly identified and protected, but Mission Blue is working to have more such sites added to the current list thereby expanding the protection of oceans and marine biodiversity against pollution, over-fishing, and the ravages of climate change. The initiative brings attention back to the Galápagos archipelago, a group of volcanic islands and islets that lies about 1,000km from continental Ecuador.This was among the sites that Earle visited as early as 1966, one that by 2010 she declared a Hope Spot.