Enric Sala

@enricsala

National Geographic Explorer in Residence Founder of @natgeopristineseas Media inquiries: [email protected]
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88.1k
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Outdated misconceptions about the economic impacts of marine protected areas are blocking progress on the world’s urgent conservation goal. A new study by Dr. Mark John Costello demonstrates that both fishing and tourism benefit from national parks of the sea – a final blow to the argument that conservation is costly and harms fishing. Graphics: Costello, MJ 2024
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1 day ago
My family of Instagram! Sharing a photo I took yesterday of a Mandarin fish! In Palau…one of the most beautiful places on earth! @visitpalau people are really amazing and welcoming!
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2 months ago
Excited to join @natgeopristineseas in Palau to support expanded marine protection
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2 months ago
National Geographic Explorer in Residence @enricsala gives us an inside look at COP28 from Dubai. To learn more about the benefits of a healthy and protected ocean, follow @natgeopristineseas
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3 months ago
When you do your safety stop after a wonderful dive in the northern atolls of the Marshall Islands and gently curious sharks “swim you” to the boat, you know you’re diving in a healthy coral reef @natgeopristineseas
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6 months ago
We just arrived at the Castle Bravo crater on Bikini Atoll. This crater was formed by the explosion of the first hydrogen bombs in 1954, leaving a hole on the reef one mile wide. We’re here during our @natgeopristineseas expedition to the Marshall Islands to assess the recovery of the coral reefs almost 70 years after those tests
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6 months ago
When we dive in pristine places full of sharks and other large fishes it’s easy to forget to look down. But the reefs of the Marshall Islands are also full of wonderful little creatures, like this cute blenny. Its head was no larger than a pea @natgeopristineseas
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6 months ago
Diving at the remote Bokak Atoll in the Marshall Islands reminded us that global warming is a formidable enemy of coral reefs. Yesterday we did the first dives ever at the windward side of the atoll (taking advantage of a good time window). We were excited about what we were going to see, but we saw a tragedy: old massive corals that created a complex 3D structure were dead. They had been killed by a strong warming events in the last decade. We watched a ghost forest, standing still, but dead. We were the first here but got here late. Any good news? This is an unfished atoll, so the abundance of fishes is off the charts, and the fishes that eat seaweed keep the coral skeletons clean so that new corals have a substrate to grow on. And indeed they grow: we saw thousands of baby corals growing on the dead skeletons. The reef is growing back. But the reefs of the future will be different. With more frequent and stronger marine heat waves, Reefs 2.0 will likely lack the old growth corals @natgeopristineseas
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6 months ago
Farewell to Bikar Atoll after a week of extraordinary diving during our @natgeopristineseas expedition to the Marshall Islands. As a treat we went into the lagoon and onto Bikar Island, a hotspot for sea turtle nesting. Nature gave us a gift: as we were walking on the beach we saw a green turtle nest erupt with baby turtles, which sprinted to the water and then swam earnestly, beginning a long life of extremes. After at least 20 years, female green turtles born at Bikar will return here to nest, swimming from hundreds if not thousand of miles away. Sea turtles are the ultimate navigators. Bikar Atoll is a jewel of the Marshall Islands and the world
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6 months ago
More from our @natgeopristineseas expedition, today at Bikar Atoll, Marshall Islands. Abundance of giant clams is a sign of a healthy coral reef. They have been depleted at most Pacific reefs. But when thriving, like here, they perform a key ecological role: they help to clean the water from microbes, including pathogens that can cause disease to people. Besides, giant clams are a mesmerizing kaleidoscope on the reef, with impossible electric blues, purples, greens and browns
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6 months ago
Third day of diving at the wild Bikar Atoll in the Marshall Islands. You can tell a reef is pristine when you see sharks and Napoleon wrasses on every dive. We are privileged to be here on a @natgeopristineseas expedition surveying these atolls together with our colleagues from the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority
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6 months ago
I’m so happy to be back in the Argo, here in the Marshall Islands. It is always exciting at the beginning of an expedition because we are going to some remote islands - Bikar and Bokak - for which we know very little. Some studies have been done in the shallow waters of the islands but almost nothing has been done in the deep sea. I’m particularly excited by what we’re going to find in the deep using our submersible. Video footage by @jessecgoldberg @madisonamcclintock @christhompson_photo
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6 months ago