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Saving The Ocean

Marine biologist and best-selling author Carl Safina (pictured on the beach) hosts "Saving the Ocean," a new series spotlighting success stories in marine conservation.
Courtesy of Michael Lutch
Marine biologist and best-selling author Carl Safina (pictured on the beach) hosts "Saving the Ocean," a new series spotlighting success stories in marine conservation.

Airs Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

From overfishing to pollution to climate change, the world’s oceans are under siege. But there’s cause for hope. In this new series from the producers of "Scientific American Frontiers," renowned marine biologist and author Carl Safina takes viewers around the globe to spotlight innovations and successes in marine conservation.

What Can You Do?

Carl Safina is the founder of the Blue Ocean Institute, where you can explore advocacy and education programs, read original essays and learn what you can do to protect the ocean. Not sure what seafood is environmentally sustainable? Get help from the Blue Ocean Institute's seafood guide.

"Saving The Ocean" is on Facebook.

In Belize, he learns how marine reserves are protecting sharks threatened by the global shark fin trade. In Zanzibar, Carl discovers how teachings from the Koran helped save vital fishing grounds.

"Shark Reef" airs Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 11 p.m.

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Around the world, sharks are in peril. The huge global trade in shark fins—to make shark fin soup—is killing tens of millions of sharks annually and driving some species toward extinction. But innovative conservation efforts to protect sharks and change consumer tastes offer cause for hope.

Host Carl Safina travels to Glover’s Reef Marine Reserve in Belize, where targeted regulations on fishing are helping sharks—and other fish—thrive. Carl joins researchers as they catch, tag, release and track sharks in this spectacular coral atoll. He’s also encouraged by a grassroots campaign in Hong Kong that asks people to pledge not to eat shark fin soup.

"The Sacred Island" airs Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 11:30 p.m.

In this episode, host Carl Safina travels to the island of Pemba—part of Zanzibar in East Africa—to learn about one of the world’s most unusual conservation stories. Facing the loss of their pristine reefs and lagoons to a potential resort development, Pemba’s villages won control of their vital fishing grounds thanks to a combination of activism, education, and regulation.

Carl heads out on the water with local fishermen practicing low-impact techniques and meets the influential imams whose sermons on this Muslim island stress Koranic principles of environmental stewardship. Carl believes this new “eco-Islam” could be a key to ocean conservation in large parts of the world.

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Watch the full episode. See more Saving the Ocean.

"Shark Reef," profiles a team whose research in Belize prevents sharks from ending up as shark fin soup.

Watch the full episode. See more Saving the Ocean.

In "The Sacred Island," host Carl Safina travels to the island of Pemba—part of Zanzibar in East Africa—to learn about one of the world’s most unusual conservation stories. Facing the loss of their pristine reefs and lagoons to a potential resort development, Pemba’s villages won control of their vital fishing grounds thanks to a combination of activism, education, and regulation.