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Vice President of Oceana, South America Alex Muñoz Wilson weighs in on the incredible work being done at Desventuradas and the effect it will likely have on the future of conservation in Chile.
The team discovers a robust population of lobsters weighing over 15 pounds!
Enric Sala and cinematographer Manu San Félix meet a particularly friendly lobster while exploring an underwater kelp forest.
Even in some of the most remote waters on Earth, human trash can be a surprisingly effective camouflage.
The top predator at the Desventuradas Islands is not the typical reef shark, or a grouper with a huge mouth able to swallow a diver. It’s something much cuter.
Three lucky team members take the sub and become the first humans to view this seamount exclaiming, “This is the exact definition of exploration!”
National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala is setting off on his first big expedition of the year: to explore the remote islands of Desventuradas, hundreds of miles off the coast of Chile. Jen Casselle is a veteran member of Enric’s Pristine Seas project, and is a Research Biologist at the Marine Science Institute, University of California…
The strange and beautiful mola mola surprises the team, and sea lions come a-courting on the most romantic day of the year.
National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala is setting off on his first big expedition of the year: to explore the remote islands of Desventuradas, hundreds of miles off the coast of Chile. Follow his adventures throughout the month. 13 February 2013 The Argo, our ship, was anchored on the northern side of San Ambrosio Island, sheltered…
Unable to find any underwater photos from these islands, Enric Sala and team describe what may be the first time humans have ever swum beneath these waves.
National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala is setting off on his first big expedition of the year: to explore the remote islands of Desventuradas, hundreds of miles off the coast of Chile. Follow his adventures throughout the next month.
National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Enric Sala is about to set off on his first big expedition of the year: to explore the remote islands of Desventuradas, hundreds of miles off the coast of Chile. Follow his adventures throughout the next month.
Exploring an uncharted seamount off the coast of Gabon we found a rocky oasis in the middle of a muddy desert, full of fish including large groupers.
This is the first photo taken by a silky shark. Read how it happened…
Sharks! Finally, after two weeks of diving and looking for them unsuccessfully, silky sharks appeared in a place we were not expecting them.
The research vessel of the Waitt Institute for Discovery was anchored over a bottom of 52 meters off the Loango National Park in Gabon, a park known for his surfing hippos, and beach-roaming elephants. But we were probably the first to dive in these waters. We never could have expected what was going to happen.
We dove under an oil tanker off the southern coast of Gabon. It was a massive ship, with a hull that looked like a gigantic wall.
We are diving off the coast of Gabon, under eerie oil platforms. Here there is amazing marine life, like the jellyfish in the photo, with dozens of silver little fish among its long tentacles. Dive with us and discover why these places need to be protected.
We did the first three dives of our Gabon expedition. The oil company TOTAL kindly authorized us to dive on several of their oil rigs, and we were quick to jump in the water. These were the first scientific dives on oil rigs in Gabon, so we were very excited.
We have taken too many fish out of the sea, faster than they can reproduce. We will run out of fish – and the livelihoods they support – unless we do something. Fortunately, there is something we can do, now, with proven results. Watch Mel, a ‘very weird’ fish who will show you how we can have our fish and eat them too.
California state leaders have built a network of investment banks for the benefit of all their citizens. It is a truly remarkable achievement – only that the investment is in fish, which in turn will bring money to users of the California coastal ocean in a sustainable way. This is an example that should be followed by all coastal states in the United States.
Who hasn’t dreamed of finding a map of an island with an ‘X’ pointing to the location where a fabulous treasure was buried by some long-gone pirate? If you are one of those dreamers, you are lucky, because today the Waitt Foundation and Marine Conservation Institute are presenting a global map of ocean treasures (www.MPAtlas.org)
After three weeks of diving and exploration, discover what we discovered in these remote and beautiful islands and atolls.
There is silence on the “Claymore II” except for the deep noise of the engine, the wind and the rain, and the rolling waves crashing on the side of the ship. Foul weather has called an end to our expedition a day early.
After rough weather and not seeing a lot of fish we headed out of the lagoon against the oncoming waves, zigzagging at high speed while trying to miss the shallow rocks and corals, and trying not to capsize.
