Six decades ago, pioneering oceanographer and conservationist Sylvia Earle made a bittersweet discovery while diving off Chile’s oceanic islands with the US National Science Foundation vessel, the Anton Bruun. She found the remains of a baby fur seal, one of the world’s most isolated aquatic mammals. Endemic to the Juan Fernández archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean, and […]
Tag: French Polynesia
Endangered seabirds return to Pacific island after century-long absence
Small seabirds skim the open ocean at night, patting their legs on the surface as they hunt for small fish. Now, for the first time in more than 100 years, endangered Polynesian storm petrels (Nesofregetta fuliginosa) have returned to a far-flung island in French Polynesia. These rare birds began exploring Kamaka Island just three weeks […]
Whales ‘relentlessly pestered’: tourism boom sparks new rules in French Polynesia
Lisette Muratore swam with humpback whales for the first time off the coast of Mo’orea, an island in French Polynesia, as part of a guided tour. She describes the experience as “overwhelming.” “You have a sudden realisation of the immensity of these creatures … seeing their wild beauty, it’s almost like there’s something sacred about […]
Beyond the Island…
A Blacktip Reef Shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus) cruises by in the crystal clear waters of the Bora Bora lagoon. Bora Bora, French Polynesia.