Launch Event

This morning the Oceana Latitude was moved from Dania Beach to Pier 66 in Fort Lauderdale. As the vessel cruised down the intracoastal, fisherman and other boaters were quick to say hello after learning about our expedition in the news. As a majority of the Oceana crew continued to prepare for the launch of the … Read more

Media interviews onboard

I arrived at the Oceana Latitude early this morning to prepare for a full day of media interviews onboard the Oceana Latitude. Oceana’s expedition leaders, Xavier Pastor and Dr. Michael Hirshfield were interviewed by David Fleshler of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Tom Brown of Thomson Reuters, Curtis Morgan of The Miami Herald and Jeff Burnside … Read more

World Marine Heritage: UNESCO can do better

The 34th Session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO that was held in Brazil through 3 August 2010, resulted in adding 21 new sites to the World Heritage List, now totaling 911 sites. Two of the new sites are some of the world’s largest marine protected areas, the Phoenix Islands Protected Areas in Kiribati … Read more

Potential Impacts of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Sea Turtles

Sea turtles have been swimming the oceans for more than 100 million years. They have persisted through natural predators, climatic changes and even the mass dinosaur extinction. They have proven to be important ecologically, economically and culturally both in the United States and abroad. Nonetheless, modern day human activities are killing sea turtles at a … Read more

Learn More: Options for Dealing with a Spill

Once the oil is in the water there are really no good options for dealing with a spill, none of the options available are fully effective and each has negative impacts. Once a spill occurs, we are left with no choice but to find the lesser of damages. The bottom line is that with continued … Read more

Learn More: Wildlife of Gulf of Mexico and Vulnerability to Oil

Many charismatic and commercially important species found in the Gulf of Mexico, such us whales, dolphins, turtles, corals, sharks may be at risk from even a small oil spill. The Gulf of Mexico is an important spawning area for fish. Fish larvae are particularly sensitive to oil. Even at very low levels, oil can cause … Read more

Learn More: Exxon Valdez and Long-term Recovery after a Spill

In 1989 the Exxon Valdez caused the worst oil spill to have occurred in US waters to date. The Exxon Valdez spilled 38.000 tons of crude oil into the ocean. The Gulf of Mexico spill released between 35.000 and 60.000 barrels of oil per day. The case of the Exxon Valdez has been well studied … Read more

Away we go!

Well we are all set – the crew is ready to go, we have all the equipment we need and we are counting down the days until we set sail on August 8. We’ll be sailing the chartered Oceana Latitude, a 170 foot vessel capable of sailing in both shallow and deep waters, and adapted … Read more

Oil spill devastating for sea turtles and Gulf of Mexico ecosystem

Oceana, the largest international organization focused solely on ocean conservation, released a new report today entitled Why Healthy Oceans Need Sea Turtles: The Importance of Sea Turtles to Marine Ecosystems. The new report describes the vital roles sea turtles play, including maintaining healthy seagrass beds and coral reefs, providing key habitat for other marine life, … Read more