The autumn 2017 edition of the GOBI newsletter is now available, packed with accounts from the events that have defined a landmark year for the oceans.  Be sure not to miss this bumper issue.  To download a copy, click here.

A new and updated GOBI brochure is now available.  As well as presenting the Initiative’s ethos, goals and history, it expands the concept of EBSAs – now that there are over 300 EBSAs described across the global oceans – and illustrates the new ways of thinking that are emerging to make best use of suchContinue Reading New GOBI Brochure

  The GOBI Secretariat is ready to take part in the fourth International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC4) in Coquimbo and La Serena, Chile.  During the week-long congress, GOBI is hosting a symposium session, where it will expand on how the utility of EBSAs can be enhanced for area-based management.  After that, in conjunction with theContinue Reading GOBI at IMPAC4

GOBI partner CSIRO recently hosted a workshop in Helsinki aimed at developing statistical methods that underpin the identification of marine biogeographic units at a regional scale.  Marine biogeographic units are areas of the ocean – encompassing either the seabed, the water column, or both – that share a common set of interdependent physical and biologicalContinue Reading Biogeography workshop held in Helsinki

Results from the first ever workshop on the identification of important marine mammal areas (IMMAs) have been published.  The workshop was focused on the Mediterranean Sea and took place in Chania, Greece, in October 2016.  GOBI is supporting a further five IMMA workshops focusing on the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In the Mediterranean workshop, 41Continue Reading First steps to recognise significant areas for marine mammals

On 13 July 2017, during the 4th meeting of the UN’s Preparatory Committee on BBNJ, a lunchtime side event presented a Policy Brief document titled Deep, distant and dynamic:  critical considerations for incorporating the open-ocean into a new BBNJ treaty. The side event was organised by The Nippon Foundation Nereus Program and the IUCN, andContinue Reading Open oceans Policy Brief presented at PrepCom4

Following the adoption by the Maritime Safety Committee of a new Area to be Avoided as an Associated Protective Measure, on 11 July 2017, the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) confirmed the final designation of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, situated in the Sulu Sea, Philippines as a Particularly Sensitive Sea AreaContinue Reading The IMO designates Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park as a PSSA

Research on deep-sea biodiversity partly supported by GOBI has recently been the focus of much attention, both in the scientific press and in mainstream media, as it is pertinent to the emerging industry of deep-sea mining for mineral resources.  Targeted minerals are used in the manufacture of computers and portable communication devices (phones and tablets). Continue Reading Deep-sea biodiversity in the spotlight

An unsuspecting Southern Giant Petrel has become the ten millionth record to be added to BirdLife’s Seabird Tracking Database – a significant and impressive milestone for the partnership, worthy of celebration.  The database was established by BirdLife in 2003 and has since grown into one of the largest conservation collaborations in the world, enabling scientistsContinue Reading BirdLife’s Seabird Tracking Database breaks new record

On World Ocean Day, 8 June 2017, the CBD Secretariat and GOBI co-hosted a side event at the UN Ocean Conference in New York titled ‘Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas: special places to accelerate implementation of SDG 14’. The event attracted a high level of interest, with standing room only left in the ConferenceContinue Reading EBSAs at the UN Ocean Conference