On her first visit to the Galápagos archipelago in 1966, Sylvia Earle remarked that it was "the sharkiest, fishiest place" she'd ever been.
The Galápagos Islands' abundant and unique ecosystems are home to species of plants and animals that cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. Yet, what makes it special also makes it vulnerable as more people discovered the islands.
Earle founded Mission Blue in 2009, and through this initiative the legendary oceanographer has encouraged communities and governments to shield marine life that is at risk from human pressures through protected areas called Hope Spots.
The Galápagos Islands were chosen as one of the first Hope Spots in 2010. Currently, Mission Blue has established more than 145 Hope Spots, whose protection is vital to the health and future of the oceans.
Since 2014, Mission Blue and Rolex have partnered to explore, restore and safeguard the world's oceans. Through its Perpetual Planet Initiative, the Swiss watchmaker supported Mission Blue's latest ground-breaking expedition of the Galápagos in 2022.
Led by Earle, the expedition assessed the impacts of the protection 24 years after Ecuador established the Galápagos Marine Reserve in 1998.
"If you can't protect the Galápagos Islands, what part of the planet can you protect?" said Earle, a Rolex Testimonee since 1982.
Galápagos Islands Hope Spot co-champions Manuel Yepez and Alex Hearn along with a multi-institutional team of scientists joined her on the two-week expedition.
Principal investigator with the Galápagos Science Center, Hearn agreed with Earle, saying: "If we can get it right here [in the Galápagos], that is a blueprint for getting it right across the planet."
The expedition team obtained a comprehensive assessment of the region's marine ecosystem, identifying both challenges and opportunities for future conservation efforts.
A large part of the expedition was devoted to revealing the hidden and forgotten diversity to provide a baseline value of ecosystem health that can be tracked by future surveys.
Employing cutting edge technology such as environmental DNA (eDNA) and underwater video systems, the team uncovered vital population data for little-studied animals such as seahorses and endemic slipper lobsters.
The eDNA analysis isolated traces of animal DNA that is left behind in the water column, which may have otherwise gone unnoticed.
In a previous year, Earle and Salome Buglass of the Charles Darwin Foundation uncovered new species of kelp deep under the surface.
During the 2022 expedition, the pair boarded the DeepSee submersible for further exploration, and surfaced excitedly with footage of lush forests. According to tentative theories, these rich kelp forests play a critical role in supporting the region's biodiversity.
The expedition team continued long-term research into the transoceanic movements of marine animals, capturing location tags recording the migration of sharks from as far away as the Mexican Gulf and coastal Costa Rica. These findings are a potent argument for international co-operation in expanding marine protection.
The team also surveyed turtle habitats, mapped the foraging grounds of penguin colonies and measured levels of microplastics.
Such a wide range of field work will help conservationists to, as Earle puts it, "think like an ocean" -- recognising the connectivity of ecosystems and that, for marine life, there are no boundaries.
In 2021, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia and Costa Rica announced the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor initiative, joining and increasing protected waters to create a fishing-free "swimway" in a critical migratory route for sharks, turtles, rays and whales.
However, there is a need to further widen and increase the number of swimways following the work of Earle and her expedition team.
The established association with Mission Blue and ongoing support are under the Perpetual Planet Initiative that Rolex launched in 2019.
Besides safeguarding the oceans, it initially focused on understanding climate change via a long-standing partnership with the National Geographic Society.
Other partnerships embraced by the Perpetual Planet Initiative now include Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, offspring organisations of Tompkins Conservation; Steve Boyes and the Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions to explore major river basins; the B.I.G expedition to the North Pole in 2023 to gather data on threats to the Arctic; and the Monaco Blue Initiative which brings together ocean conservation experts.
