Location: Mo’orea, French Polynesia Estimated global population: 84,000
Experiencing a remarkable comeback after a global hunting moratorium in 1985, the humpback whale now faces an uncertain future due to more modern threats: entanglements, ship strikes, pollution, and climate change.
Every fall, humpbacks make the long migration from Antarctica to the warm waters of Mo'orea, French Polynesia to mate and give birth. The water reverberates with the low pitch of whale song, consisting of remarkably complex sequences that can last up to an hour. Males compete for precision in delivery, and it is a different song each year.
Location: Isla Roca Partida, Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico Status: National Park of Mexico | UNESCO World Heritage Site | Hope Spot
Roca Partida is the smallest of the four islands in the Revillagigedo, with a surface circumference less than a square mile, expanding in an inverted cone shape to the seafloor several thousand feet below. The islet intersects powerful oceanic currents in multiple directions, resulting in turbulence and significant surge. The site is dived via a full circumnavigation of the island, with each new wall presenting a new labyrinth of currents including upwellings, downwellings, and occasionally, vortices.
The unique location and ecological properties results in the location being highly active for megafauna, and not uncommon to encounter concentrations of multiple species of rare or endangered wildlife on a single dive. It is a suspected foraging and reproductive zone for several species of shark, with researchers noting a balance of male and females and an absence of juveniles.
Near the surface of the island, the powferful currents connect with the island, creating turbulent surge. While dangerous to divers to approach too close to the surf zone, the fish were darting in and out as if it were a game. I could have shot here for hours.
Location: Isla Los Islotes, Sea of Cortez, Mexico
The Gulf (also known as the Sea of Cortez) is one of the most diverse marine ecosystems on the planet. While some areas are protected, the abundance of marine life attracts both large-scale and illegal fishing operations which have pushed some marine species to the brink of extinction.
Tagged Sea Lions at the colony of Los Islotes in the Gulf of California have been recorded diving significantly deeper than usual for the species. It is considered that they are foraging for new food sources in an adaptation to declining fish stocks.
Location: Cocos Island, Costa Rica Status: National Park 1978 | UNESCO World Heritage Site 2002 | Ramsar Wetland of National Importance
Cocos is an ecological hotspot 340 miles from the pacific coast of Costa Rica containing a rich diversity and large concentrations of marine life. The island is the first point of land contact for the Northern Equatorial Counter-Current and acts as a feeding zone and cleaning station for megafauna utilizing the current on long migration routes, and is seasonally affected by The Central American Dome, an oceanic phenomenon unique in the world. This deep-water current flows continuously towards the surface at a high velocity, containing one of the highest chlorophyll counts found worldwide. When the nutrient-rich water mixes with sunlight it creates an enormous algae bloom, igniting the entire food chain.
Approximately 40 miles southwest of Cocos lies a deep underwater mountain range which rises from the seafloor to a summit of over 600 feet deep, containing one of the highest fish densities noted in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and suspected foraging zone. Recent studies have documented frequent travel via underwater migration corridors between Cocos, Galapagos, and Columbia for significant numbers of at-risk shark, whale, and turtle species. These corridors remain largely unprotected and are heavily targeted by illegal shark fishing operations.
Location: Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico Status: UNESCO World Heritage Site, National Park, Mission Blue Hope Spot
The Revillagigedo Archipelago is a small chain of 4 volcanic islands located 240 miles from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. The islands are a shark hotspot, as the unique ecological properties and strong currents attract aggregations of scalloped hammerhead, galapagos, silky, dusky, silvertip, white tip, and whale sharks.
The islet of Roca Partida is the final remnants of a volcanic dome, and a first point of land contact for strong, major currents. It is a suspected foraging and reproduction zone, as food is abundant and tagging research reports almost exclusively fully mature individuals of both sexes.
The island of Socorro is an overnight sail from Roca Partida and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with an active silvertip shark nursery on one of the outer reefs. The reef presents protection from predators and a healthy selection of invertebrates and small, easy-to-catch prey as the sharks mature. Shark nursery areas are a rare treat to photograph.
“Running Deep” is an image of a school of fish being hunted. The backstory is here.
Location: Cabo San Lucas, Mexico Conservation Status: Endangered
Widely hunted for sport, meat, and fins, Mako shark populations fell to endangered status in 2019. Fishing and conservation thresholds had previously been based on sexual maturity at between 4-6 years, but updated science now suggests that female sharks begin reproducing after reaching 19-21 years of age. It is estimated that populations will continue to decline until 2035 even with a complete halt to harvesting, as the current population reaches maturity.
Location: Mo’orea, French Polynesia
The small island of Mo’orea, French Polynesia is surrounded by a lagoon of luxuriously warm, blue water bordered by a coral barrier reef. The lagoons are rich with small fish and invertebrates who inhabit the coral, which in turn attracts stingrays and blacktip reef sharks who become the top predators within the lagoon.
Location: San Benedicto Island, Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Oceanic Manta Rays are highly intelligent, often pausing to look at their own reflection in the acrylic dome of a camera. Each individual has unique markings that researchers are able to use for identification when tracking migration patterns.
Wingspans reaching up to 29 feet allow them to fly through the water with elegance and surprising speed. They often seek out the sensation of bubbles produced from the divers’ exhaust - circling around to pass directly through the column of air, and rolling the captured bubbles around their body.
Mantas are slow to reproduce and are unsustainably hunted for their meat and gill rakers.
Location: Gulf of California, Midriff Islands
The Sea of Cortez is considered one of the most diverse seas on the planet, attracting everything from the smallest plankton to the blue whale. The small sea contains almost every oceanographic process and shoreline, contributing to a biodiversity hotspot once referred to by Jacques Cousteau as “The World’s Aquarium”.
The mid-northern end of the sea contains several deep-water coral sites, including an entire canyon forested in endangered black coral.
Larvae is prolific here, often blanketing entire areas with a thick layer - an abundant food source for the beginning of the food chain.
Location: Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur, Mexico Status: UNESCO World Heritage Site | National Park of Mexico | Ramsar Wetland of National Importance | Hope Spot
In the early ’90s, the 150 residents of the fishing village of Cabo Pulmo were struggling with overfishing and damage to their coral reef, which brought in a small number of tourists each year. They petitioned the Government to create a marine preserve to protect the reef (estimated to be 20,000 years old) and provide an area for fish stocks to recover.
Their petition was successful, and in 1995 Cabo Pulmo was declared a marine park. The next decade was challenging as the villagers adapted to a new way of life, transitioning from fishing to eco-tourism.
By 2011 their courage and fortitude had produced a remarkable change - researchers documented an unprecedented 463% increase in fish biomass to the reef, with a complete return of all species.
Snapper encircle a grouper, over the wreck of the commercial fishing trawler El Vencedor. The vessel was one of the last to collide against the 20,000-year-old reef in the 1980s, and now acts as an artificial reef. The coral reef has recovered to the point where it produces a significant amount of reef noise. The sound is a signal of a healthy reef and acts like a beacon, attracting distant marine life for up to a mile away. Sound is so effective at coral restoration, some conservationists are finding success at restoration utilizing underwater speakers, and recordings of healthy reef noise.
The Gulf Grouper was one of the last species to return to the reef system of Cabo Pulmo, Mexico nearly 14 years after it was established as a marine protected area. The noise produced by the now-restored reef acts as a beacon, attracting marine life up to a mile away.
Location: Magdalena Bay, Baja
Every fall, the abundance of sardine and mackerel surrounding Magdalena Bay attract the largest known aggregation of the world’s third fastest fish - the striped marlin.
Sardine and mackerel are corralled into tightly formed baitballs; with seabirds, marlin, and sea lions working co-operatively to contain the formation near the surface, and each taking turns to feed.
The action takes place at incredible speed, with the fish frenetically changing directions in an attempt to escape. A large baitball can attract dozens of predators in a feeding frenzy that can last several hours - until only the last fish remain.
