Hope Spots are ecologically unique areas of the ocean designated for protection under a global conservation campaign overseen by Mission Blue, a non-profit organization founded by

Sylvia Earle Sylvia Alice Earle ( née Reade; born August 30, 1935) is an American marine biologist, oceanographer, explorer, author, and lecturer. She has been a National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998. Earle was the first female chief scien ...

with her 2009

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

prize wish. Hope Spots can be

Marine Protected Areas Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity for a conserv ...

(MPA) that need attention or new sites. They are chosen for their contributions to biodiversity, the

carbon sink A carbon sink is anything, natural or otherwise, that accumulates and stores some carbon-containing chemical compound for an indefinite period and thereby removes carbon dioxide () from the atmosphere. Globally, the two most important carbon si ...

, and important habitat. Hope Spot status is intended to alleviate the pressures human resource extraction places on the ocean by making the site higher priority to become an MPA, where resource extraction, like fishing and drilling, may be forbidden under law. There are 140 Hope Spots worldwide (as of June,2022). An additional 22 nominations for Hope Spots are currently under consideration and three nominations have been deferred. At the time of Earle's wish, less than 1% of the ocean was protected. Earle advocated for the creation of a system of parks like the

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

system in the United States. The goal of the Hope Spot campaign is raise public support, gain the attention of leaders and policy makers, and ultimately create enough Hope Spots to protect 20% of the ocean by 2020.

Nominations process

Since September 9, 2016, nominations for Hope Spots have been open to the public. Following the completion of the Hope Spot nomination form found on Mission Blue's website, a proposed Hope Spot is evaluated to assess its validity. The Hope Spots Council, composed of marine scientists and policy experts, examine new nominations twice a year and choose which sites to designate as Hope Spots.

Partnerships

Mission Blue has partnered with the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

(IUCN) and receives support from

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

Rolex Rolex SA () is a British-founded Swiss watch designer and manufacturer based in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in 1905 as ''Wilsdorf and Davis'' by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London, the company registered ''Rolex'' as the brand name of ...

, and

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

. To increase access and promote the campaign, Google has added Hope Spots to its platform enabling users to explore the sites. A Google-powered map of Hope Spots can be found on Mission Blue's website.

Council members

* Carl Gustaf Lundin * Dan Laffoley * Dr. Ameer Abdulla * William N. Kostka * Dr. Lance Morgan * Kathy Walls * Dr. Sebastian Troëng *

Sandra Bessudo Lion Sandra Bessudo Lion is a French Colombian marine biologist from the École pratique des hautes études (EPHE) in Paris. She is a professional diver and involved in the conservation of marine biodiversity and the environment. She is the founder a ...

* Rili Djohani * Dr. Claudio Campagna *

Kristina Gjerde Kristina Maria Gjerde is a High Seas Policy Advisor for the International Union for Conservation of Nature Global Marine and Polar Program. She works on the Global Ocean Biodiversity Initiative and won the 2018 Boat International Visionary Ocean A ...

* Sabine Jessen

Hope Spots

Atlantic Ocean

* Abrolhos Bank *

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is s ...

- nomination to be considered *

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory o ...

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay ( Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; kl, Avannaata Imaa; french: Baie de Baffin), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arct ...

- nomination under consideration * Bahamian Reefs *

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

* Cape Whale Coast (

Hermanus Hermanus (originally called ''Hermanuspietersfontein'', but shortened in 1902 as the name was too long for the postal service

) * Cashes Ledge *

Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone is a system of two parallel fracture zones. It is the most prominent interruption of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between the Azores and Iceland. It can be traced over more than 2000 kilometers, all the way from north-eas ...

* Chichiriviche de la Costa * Choroni & Chuao * Coastal Southeast Florida
Corales de Varadero / Varadero´s Coral Reef
* Cozumel Reef and the

Mayan Riviera The Riviera Maya () is a tourism and resort district south of Cancun, Mexico. It straddles the coastal Federal Highway 307, along the Caribbean coastline of the state of Quintana Roo, located in the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. H ...

* East Portland Fish Sanctuary * Egg Island *

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarcat ...

* Farm Pond - nomination under consideration * Gardens of the Queen * George Town Harbor,

Grand Cayman Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the territory's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles (121 km) southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles ( ...

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

* Gulf of Mexico Deep Reefs * Hatteras * Kosterfjorden/ Yttre Hvaler * Mesoamerican Reefs *

Molasses Reef Molasses Reef is a coral reef located within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It lies to the southeast of Key Largo, within the Key Largo Existing Management Area, which is immediately to the east of John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Par ...

- nomination under consideration *

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...

- nomination under consideration *

Mosquito Lagoon Mosquito Lagoon is a body of water located on the east coast of Florida in Brevard and Volusia counties. It is part of the Indian River Lagoon system and the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It extends from the Ponce de Leon Inlet to a point north ...

Patagonian Shelf The Argentine (sometimes referred to as Patagonian) Shelf is part of the South American continental shelf belonging to the Argentine Sea on the Atlantic seaboard, south of about 35°S. It adjoins the coasts of Uruguay, Argentina and the Falkla ...

Saint Vincent & the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

Marine Area *

Sargasso Sea The Sargasso Sea () is a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. Unlike all other regions called seas, it has no land boundaries. It is distinguished from other parts of the Atlantic Ocean by its charac ...

* Southeast Shoal of the Grand Banks * The North Atlantic Ocean within the New York Bight - nomination under consideration *

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...

- nomination under consideration

Arctic Ocean

* Central Arctic Ocean *

Gakkel Ridge The Gakkel Ridge (formerly known as the Nansen Cordillera and Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge) is a mid-oceanic ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary between the North American Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is located in the Eurasian Basin of the ...

* Marine Arctic Peace Sanctuary (MAPS) - nomination under consideration *

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

Indian Ocean

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...

* Atlantis Bank * Black River District Hope Spot *

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago () or Chagos Islands (formerly the Bassas de Chagas, and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 kilometres (310 mi) south of the Maldives archi ...

* Coral Seamount * Grand Récif de Toliara *

Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs, in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia, about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral ...

- nomination under consideration * Houtman Abrolhos Islands - nomination under consideration * Karai Challi Island - nomination deferred *

Knysna Knysna () is a town with 76,150 inhabitants (2019 mid-year estimates) in the Western Cape province of South Africa. and is one of the destinations on the loosely defined Garden Route tourist route. It lies at 34° 2' 6.3168'' S and 23° 2' 47. ...

Lakshadweep Islands Lakshadweep (), also known as Laccadives (), is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands in the Arabian sea, located off the Malabar Coast. The name ''Lakshadweep'' means "one lakh islands" in Sanskrit, though the Lac ...

* Maldive Atolls *

Mergui Archipelago The Mergui Archipelago (also Myeik Archipelago or ''Myeik Kyunzu''; my, မြိတ်ကျွန်းစု) is located in far southern Myanmar (Burma) and is part of the Tanintharyi Region. It consists of more than 800 islands, varying in ...

* Musandam Peninsula - nomination under consideration * Outer Seychelles * Plett *

Quirimbas Islands The Quirimbas Islands lie in the Indian Ocean off northeastern Mozambique, close to Pemba, the capital of the province of Cabo Delgado. The archipelago consists of about 32 islands, including Ibo, Matemo, Medjumbe, Quirimba, Metundo, Quisiva ...

* The

Agulhas Agulhas (''needles'' in the Portuguese language — or ) may refer to: * Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa * L'Agulhas, a town near the Cape * Cape Agulhas Lighthouse, located at the Cape * Cape Agulhas Local Municipality, the municip ...

Front * Walter's Shoal

Mediterranean Sea

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

* Grotte di Ripalta - nomination under consideration * Island of

Sardinia, Italy Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, afte ...

- nomination under consideration * Mushroom, Halat - nomination under consideration *

Syvota Syvota ( el, Σύβοτα, , before 1940: Μούρτος ''Mourtos/Volia'' ) is a village and a former municipality in Thesprotia, Epirus, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Igoumenitsa, of which it is a m ...

- nomination under consideration * Vatika Bay - nomination under consideration * Venetian Lagoon - nomination under consideration

Pacific Ocean

Beagle Channel Beagle Channel (; Yahgan: ''Onašaga'') is a strait in the Tierra del Fuego Archipelago, on the extreme southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina. The channel separates the larger main island of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego fr ...

- nomination under consideration *

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

Deep Canyons * California Seamounts and Ridges - nomination under consideration * Central American Dome * Chilean Fjords & Islands *

Chiloé National Park Chiloé National Park is a national park of Chile, located in the western coast of Chiloé Island, in Los Lagos Region (region of the lakes). It encompasses an area of divided into two main sectors: the smallest, called Chepu, is in the commune ...

Expansion *

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down the Australian northeast coast. Most of it is protected by the Fre ...

Coral Triangle The Coral Triangle (CT) is a roughly triangular area in the tropical waters around the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. This area contains at least 500 species of reef-building corals in ea ...

* Core of the

South Pacific Gyre __NOTOC__ The Southern Pacific Gyre is part of the Earth's system of rotating ocean currents, bounded by the Equator to the north, Australia to the west, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the south, and South America to the east. The center of ...

* Coron Bay - nomination under consideration * Golfo Dulce,

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

* Eastern Pacific Seascape * Emperor Seamount Chain * French Overseas Territories (

Wallis & Futuna Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fiji ...

) *

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

Gulf of the Farallones Gulf of the Farallones is a gulf of the Pacific Ocean off the northern California coast. It extends westward from the opening of the San Francisco Bay and Drakes Bay to the Farallon Islands. Most of the gulf lies in Gulf of the Farallones Natio ...

Hecate Strait , image = HecateStrait(PittIsland).JPG , image_size = 260px , alt = , caption = Hecate Strait and Pitt Island , image_bathymetry = Loc-QCS-Hecate-Dixon.png , alt_bathymetry = , caption ...

& Queen Charlotte Sound Glass Sponge Reef *

Kermadec Trench The Kermadec Trench is a linear ocean trench in the south Pacific Ocean. It stretches about from the Louisville Seamount Chain in the north (26°S) to the Hikurangi Plateau in the south (37°S), north-east of New Zealand's North Island. Together ...

Lord Howe Rise The Lord Howe Rise is a deep sea plateau which extends from south west of New Caledonia to the Challenger Plateau, west of New Zealand in the south west of the Pacific Ocean. To its west is the Tasman Basin and to the east is the New Caledonia ...

Malpelo Island Malpelo is a small oceanic island in the eastern Pacific Ocean, located about west of the Colombian mainland with a military post manned by the Colombian Armed Forces. It consists of a sheer and barren rock with three high peaks, the highest ...

Micronesian Islands Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

* Misool Marine Reserve - nomination under consideration *

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by a ...

Moreton Bay Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...

* Northeastern Hawaiian Islands - nomination under consideration * Osa Pelagic Dolphin Protected Area - nomination deferred * Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone *

Saanich Inlet , image = Saanich Inlet from Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, Vancouver Island, Canada 13.jpg , image_size = 260px , caption = Saanich Inlet from Gowlland Tod Provincial Park , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Northwest o ...

and the Southern Gulf Islands * Salas Y Gómez and

Nazca Ridge The Nazca Ridge is a submarine ridge, located on the Nazca Plate off the west coast of South America. This plate and ridge are currently subducting under the South American Plate at a convergent boundary known as the Peru-Chile Trench at approx ...

s *

Salish Sea , image = PNW-straits.jpg , alt = , caption = The Salish Sea, showing the open Pacific Ocean at lower left, and from there, heading inland: the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the narrow Puget Sound at lower ri ...

s - nomination deferred *

Scott Island Scott Island is a small uninhabited island of volcanic origin in the Ross Sea, Southern Ocean, northeast of Cape Adare, the northeastern extremity of Victoria Land, Antarctica. It is long north–south, and between and wide, reaching a he ...

s *

Tasman Sea The Tasman Sea (Māori: ''Te Tai-o-Rēhua'', ) is a marginal sea of the South Pacific Ocean, situated between Australia and New Zealand. It measures about across and about from north to south. The sea was named after the Dutch explorer Abe ...

* The

White Shark Café The White Shark Café is a remote mid-Pacific Ocean area noted as a winter and spring habitat of otherwise coastal great white sharks. The area, halfway between Baja California and Hawaii, received its unofficial name in 2002 from researchers at ...

* Tribugá Gulf * Tropical Pacific Sea of Peru * Western Pacific Donut Holes (four enclaves)

Southern Ocean

* East Antarctic Peninsula *

Ross Sea The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who vi ...

Subantarctic The sub-Antarctic zone is a region in the Southern Hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° and 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands ...

Islands and Surrounding Seas

References

{{Reflist

External links

Mission Blue - Hope Spots

TED Prize Winning Wishes - Mission Blue
Marine conservation

Nominations process

Partnerships

Council members

Hope Spots

Atlantic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

Indian Ocean

Mediterranean Sea

Pacific Ocean

Southern Ocean

See also

References

External links