Active hydrothermal vents in the deep sea are valued for their lush communities of strange organisms that rely on chemicals spewing from the seafloor for their sustenance.  Every vent eventually becomes inactive.  For decades, inactive vents were overlooked by the scientific community, but now that the metal-rich massive sulphide deposits at inactive vents have attracted the attentionContinue Reading Deep-sea inactive sulphide ecosystems in the spotlight

GOBI partner MarViva Foundation has released the electronic version of the Atlas of the Thermal Dome of Costa Rica, which was publicly launched at the Third Intergovernmental Conference for the UN BBNJ treaty negotiations in New York in August this year. The Atlas is part of MarViva’s mission to raise awareness of the Costa RicaContinue Reading Costa Rica Thermal Dome Atlas available online

The first Marine Regions Forum took place in Berlin (30 September – 2 October 2019), designed as an opportunity for informal exchange between leading scientists, decision-makers and stakeholders. The mission – to catalyse the transformation of ocean governance through regional actions and initiatives – is intended as a step towards developing innovative ocean governance solutions.Continue Reading Achieving a Healthy Ocean – Regional Ocean Governance Beyond 2020

GOBI’s work on ocean migration and connectivity is highlighted in a new peer-reviewed paper that details the importance of freely available and easily accessible information on migration patterns for the conservation of endangered species in the ocean. The work provides a community-led solution: a first-of-its-kind online mapping and knowledge platform. Led by GOBI partners DrContinue Reading Ocean governance needs better information on migration patterns

The completion last week (22-27 September 2019) of an EBSA regional workshop targeting the Northeast Atlantic Ocean formally concludes the region-based global coverage of the EBSA process (with the exception of the Southern Ocean, which has its own similar process in place).  Forty experts, scientists and representatives from a handful of inter-governmental organisation gathered in Stockholm,Continue Reading Northeast Atlantic EBSA regional workshop

During the third substantive session (August 2019) of the Intergovernmental Conference to negotiate a legally binding international instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction at UN Headquarters in New York, GOBI and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, with the support of the Governments of Costa Rica andContinue Reading Successful GOBI Side Event at BBNJ IGC3

Pick up the new GOBI newsletter and find out the latest progress on all strands of the GOBI research portfolio, including: the fate of fauna at expired hydrothermal vents ways to promote governance for the conservation of oceanic areas beyond national jurisdiction impressive findings from seabird tracking data and their application to conservation progress onContinue Reading A new GOBI newsletter is out!

On 17-19 June 2019, GOBI stalwarts David Johnson, Piers Dunstan and Vikki Gunn travelled to Dhiffushi island in the Maldives to deliver a capacity building workshop on behalf of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative (SOI). Working in collaboration with colleagues at The Maldives Ministry of Environment, the three-day workshop delivered a programme that centred around examiningContinue Reading GOBI supports the Sustainable Ocean Initiative national workshop for The Maldives

GOBI partner CSIRO recently delivered a successful second round of workshops to refine the outputs from the first round of workshops aimed at identifying and describing bioregions in the southern Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.  This complex, iterative bioregionalisation exercise is part of GOBI’s current research programme supported by Germany’s International Climate Initiative (IKI).  These latestContinue Reading Successful workshops refine the boundaries of oceanic bioregions

The Migratory Connectivity in the Ocean (MiCO) system – developed by Duke University’s Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab with support from GOBI’s IKI grant and input from over 30 partners – was finally launched during a Side Event at the 2nd BBNJ Intergovernmental Conference held at UN Headquarters in New York in April 2019. The conference isContinue Reading Launch of MiCO at UN Intergovernmental Conference