In the far East of the Pacific Ocean lies a sanctuary for marine life called Motu Motiro Hiva Marine Park. Created in 2010, this park bans exploitation of 150,000 square kilometres of ocean and surrounds a tiny, unpeopled island only 0.15 square kilometres in size (Wagner et al. 2021).
Read MoreDan is a well-respected leading global expert on ocean conservation. He is currently Emeritus Marine Vice Chair of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA). He is a member of WCPA Chair’s Advisory Group, and Chairs the Hope Spot Council and is an Emeritus Board Member of Mission Blue. He is also a founding Non-Executive Board Member of the Office for Environmental Protection, established in the wake of Brexit Under the Environment Act.
Read MoreFor the first time in five years, co-organizers Big Ocean and the Blue Nature Alliance are pleased to host this global peer-to-peer learning exchange of ocean managers and practitioners. Ultimately, the XChange aims to advance best practices in large-scale ocean conservation and create new peer-to-peer relationships that become resilient, reciprocal, and sustainable over time.
Read MoreThe Big Ocean App is a virtual doorway into a community of practice focused on Large-Scale MPAs (LSMPA). Our main objective is to raise the profile of best practice management and catalyze relationships between practitioners to build capacity and further professionalize the field.
Read MoreAulani Wilhelm is the senior vice president for Oceans at Conservation International. Her work bridges culture, community and science to drive innovations in ocean conservation.
Aulani has played a pivotal role in shaping the emerging field of large-scale ocean conservation, leading the design and establishment of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument in Hawaiʻi, and as founder of Big Ocean, a network of the world’s largest marine managed areas.
Read MoreThe waters surrounding Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean have long been recognised for their varied and abundant marine life (Ascension Island Government 2021 b). In recent years, threats to that abundance have led to efforts to conserve and protect the region’s environment.
Read MoreJames Ellsmoor is the founder and CEO of Island Innovation, a global network that connects island communities through digital communication and programming. Events like the Virtual Island Summit allow rural communities, organizations, and island stakeholders to connect in ways they wouldnʻt otherwise.
Read MoreHosted and facilitated by Big Ocean, this 2-day virtual gathering aims to share lessons learned and to address the priority needs of managers and teams working on-the-ground globally. Registration using Big Ocean’s Eventbrite page is required and will give you access to the recordings if you are not able to attend the live session.
Read MoreAlan Friedlander has been studying the world’s oceans for 35 years. He’s spent 10,000 hours below the surface – in Tonga, Hawaii, the Arctic. Almost anywhere with a body of water. His experiences in the Pacific led him to the University of Hawai’i where he received his Ph.D. and eventually went on to not only teach, but become Director of Fisheries Ecology Research Laboratory.
Read MoreTo celebrate 10-years of “thinking big,” the network has chosen to create a podcast series called How To Save and Ocean.The show celebrates and amplifies the work of a wide array of colleagues, practitioners, and partners as well as all-around ocean lovers to share messages of change, hope and innovation so that we can better care for our lands and waters. Many of the guests have also been instrumental in Big Ocean’s development.
Read MoreWhen Big Ocean launched as a network on 6 December 2010, the founding six sites represented all of the established, Large-Scale MPAs (LSMPA) globally at that time. These sites collectively represented the beginnings of what is now a legitimate and vital genre of marine conservation. "Ultimately, the management teams' willingness at these early-adopter sites to dream big and innovate has pushed the growth of the field globally," said network coordinator Naiʻa Lewis.
Read MoreDecember 4, 2020, marks the 20th anniversary of establishing the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve (NWHICRER), which sought to preserve the near-pristine lands and waters of the most remote 3/4 of the most isolated archipelago on Earth. Given legal standing in 2000, by U.S. President William Clinton, the Reserve is the predecessor to Papahānaumokuāklea Marine National Monument, established with contiguous boundaries in 2006 by President Bush George W. Bush.
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