Ocean First Education brings the sea to life through high-quality, innovative marine science education and creates lifelong students and stewards of the sea.
We’re gaining popularity! Our first episode of A Rising Tide has debuted; have you seen it yet? You can watch every episode on A Rising Tide’s YouTube channel. Featuring freediving champion Mehgan Heaney-Grier, as the host, A Rising Tide follows eight students from the Denver/Boulder area on their journey into marine science and scuba diving. Over the six month course, students will earn their SSI open water scuba certification, review the principles of ocean literacy, and engage in seminars with local marine scientists as well as scientists stationed closer to their summer dive destination, Key Largo, FL.
If you’re in the Denver metro area, tune into the Morning Show on KDVR Fox 31 on April 16th at 8:15am to see the A Rising Tides students share their experiences thus far!
For more information on A Rising Tide or to learn how to start your own TIDES program, please email us.
As part of a fruitful partnership with Mission Blue, we recently decided to continue our ongoing social media campaign.
#OceanFirstFriday has been gaining attention and allows us a time to reach hundreds of thousands of people with our marine science content.
With vivid imagery, videos, blogs, and courses, Mission Blue has spent the last seven months promoting and educating their followers from our Ocean Literacy short course, culminating with the final section release on Earth Day next month.
Together, our two organizations utilize innovative digital media to educate the public with a common goal of preserving the ocean.
As #OceanFirstFriday with Mission Blue continues, we will focus on conservation projects and spreading awareness regarding challenges the ocean faces.
Among these projects is #MissionGoliath, a collaborative campaign built with Fabien Cousteau, and other heavy-weight champs in the ocean world, to focus on the protection of Goliath groupers in the Caribbean.
Make sure to follow #OceanFirstFriday to get your weekly dose of marine science, education, photography, and video!
The Revillagigedo Islands. Four remote volcanic islands 240 miles off the coast of Cabo San Lucas just became North America’s most recent and largest marine protected area.
Often known as the ‘Mexican Galapagos,’ these iconic islands contain one of the largest aggregations of sharks and mantas in the world. Whales, dolphins, tunas, and turtles also frequent the area during their grueling migrations across the Pacific, making it a natural sanctuary. The new MPA covers more than 57,000 square miles and bans fishing, mining, and other intensive resource development practices that are destructive to the area.
Read more about the Revillagigedo Islands in our blog post.
How well do you know the ocean? This regular feature will help acquaint you with our blue planet.
Topic: Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)
Marine Protected Areas in the U.S. are comprised of more than 1,600 marine sanctuaries, estuarine research reserves, ocean parks, and marine wildlife refuges covering more than 41% of marine waters.
MPAs seek to conserve and manage natural heritage sites, cultural heritage sites, as well as the sustainable production of the nation’s renewable living resources and their habitats.
About 3% (~223) of MPAs in the U.S. are “no take” or highly protected marine reserves, meaning nothing, not even a shell can be removed from the location.
