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>I have looked back, however, on what has happened to the ocean in the 45 years since I first strapped a scuba tank on my back. I have seen plastic pollution, dead zones, collapse of fish populations and corals bleached. These bad-news stories ricochet across both traditional media and social media. As journalists like to say, "If it bleeds, it leads," and we help the process along by sharing videos and stills of ocean desecration with friends and family on Facebook and Twitter.
>As divers, we do not even need the media to tell us about the problems — we see the problems, particularly on coral reefs. I got my first dose of bad news shortly after finishing my graduate school research in the 1980s, when the beautiful corals of Discovery Bay were replaced by seaweed. Today, we swim over reefs where live corals are few and far between. We get excited by tiny fish because too often nothing larger is swimming around. When we get back to the shore, straws and cigarette butts lie where there should be only sand. There are still interesting and beautiful things to see, but for those of us who have been diving for decades, the losses cannot be ignored.
>There are, however, successes in ocean conservation amid the doom and gloom — successes that show the way to a better underwater future. I have come to realize that we do not share these stories often enough and that even marine scientists who work on conservation issues are often unaware of what has been achieved. If we do not identify, learn from and celebrate these examples of what is working, how can we expect success to spread? So from my long list of successes large and small, here are just a few examples for inspiration.
>One

>57,000-square-mile protected area surrounding Mexico’s Revillagigedos Islands.
>We all love to spot a turtle during a dive. Thankfully, our efforts to reduce hunting, egg collecting and accidental deaths in fishing gear are having an impact, and many populations of turtles are increasing. While there are worrying counterexamples, particularly for leatherbacks, there are more successes than most people realize. For example, at Hawaii's French Frigate Shoals (part of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument) nesting numbers of green turtles increased from about 200 to 2,000 between 1973 and 2012. Manatees are showing similar improvement. Florida's manatee population has increased 500 percent since the late 1960s, when they were first protected — evidence that restoring natural habitats and imposing speed limits on boats are having a positive effect.
>Shark populations have also seen improvement after the implementation of protections. The movie Jaws led a generation of water lovers to fear these majestic animals, while at the same time a fondness for shark-fin soup caused their numbers to plummet. While they still deserve our respect, they are now also getting some of our love. Thanks to dive tourism, sharks are worth a lot more money alive than dead. Palau, one of the world's preeminent dive sites, banned shark fishing in its waters in 2009. Disgust with the cruel practice of cutting off fins and leaving the sharks to bleed to death has also led to bans on sales and shipments of shark fins. As a result, you are now more likely to have the excitement of seeing a live shark than you were 20 years ago.
>A similar story can be told for Kane'ohe Bay, on the northeast coast of Oahu, Hawaii. Prior to the 1930s, the bay was described as a coral garden, but decades of chronic sewage contamination and several major spills caused seaweeds to grow out of control and smother the corals. In 1979 the sewage outfall was removed, water quality improved dramatically, and the corals recovered. Unfortunately, other problems are brewing, particularly global warming, which has caused several major coral bleaching events beginning in 2014. Serious science is needed to address these and other threats, in Kane'ohe Bay and around the world.

>corals, which will later be outplanted on the reefs off Key Largo, Fla.
>Science and innovation can make a difference in areas other than just coral preservation. Thanks to high-tech satellite technology, we are getting better at tracking down the bad actors that can wreck a dive site in a matter of hours. The ocean plastic problem is enormous, but labs all over the world are working on solutions. Perhaps the most important technology supports the green energy revolution in which the ocean will likely play a growing role. A group of researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimated in 2017 that wind energy collected from over the ocean might have the potential to provide "civilization-scale power."
>Truth

>help mitigate the ocean acidification and climate change associated with
>burning fossil fuels.
>So on World Oceans Day in 2014, several of us joined forces to launch a Twitter hashtag campaign, #OceanOptimism. Search for #OceanOptimism, and you will learn about a success you knew nothing about. Since we launched it, the hashtag has reached more than 90 million Twitter accounts and has spawned new optimism movements, including Earth Optimism (because, after all, we care about the land as well). On Earth Day weekend in 2017 (April 21-23), more than 25 Earth Optimism events occurred around the world (visit earthoptimism.si.edu to hear the presentations from the Earth Optimism Summit hosted by the Smithsonian Institution).
>Yes, there are days when the news makes me sad or mad, but I focus on the positive, keeping this quotation from Voltaire in mind: "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Just because not every sea turtle population is on the mend, do not negate the importance of those that are and the efforts of the many people that underpin these successes. They are living proof of the wisdom of this African proverb: "If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven't spent a night with a mosquito." You, too, can get involved and work for a healthier ocean.
>Enric Sala: Pristine Seas
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>Laure Katz: Bird's Head Seascape
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>Goldberg R. Protecting 30 percent of the ocean brings multiple benefits. Pew Charitable Trusts. www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/analysis/2016/03/21/protecting-30-percent-of-the-ocean-brings-multiple-benefits. March 21, 2016. Accessed Jan. 9, 2018.
>Kolbert E. Unnatural selection. The New Yorker. www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/18/a-radical-attempt-to-save-the-reefs-and-forests. April 18, 2016. Accessed Jan. 9, 2018.
>Mazaris A, Schofield G, Gkazinou C, Almpanidou V, Hays G. Global sea turtle conservation successes. Science Advances 2017; 3(9):e1600730.
>Mooney C. There's enough wind energy over the oceans to power human civilization, scientists say. Washington Post. www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/10/09/theres-enough-wind-energy-over-the-oceans-to-power-human-civilization-scientists-say/. Oct. 9, 2017. Accessed Jan. 9, 2018.
>US Geological Survey. Annual southern sea otter survey: despite small population dip, species moves a step closer to recovery. https://www.usgs.gov/news/annual-southern-sea-otter-survey-despite-small-population-dip-species-moves-a-step-closer. Sept. 29, 2017. Accessed Jan. 9, 2018.
>Waters H. Bringing back Tampa Bay's seagrass. Smithsonian Ocean Portal. ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/bringing-back-tampa-bay%E2%80%99s-seagrass. Accessed Jan. 9, 2018.
>Weisberger M. Manatees are making a comeback. Live Science. www.livescience.com/53381-west-indian-manatees-rebound.html. Jan. 14, 2016. Accessed Jan. 9, 2018.
>Worm B. How to heal an ocean. Nature 2017; 543(7647):630-631.
>© Alert Diver — Q1 Winter 2018