Ocean View
jjacquet | January 5, 2009Check out this video shot in the Sea of Cortez a friend from the Surfrider Foundation sent along. It is a great reminder of the magnificent life that still exists in the ocean. But can you imagine what it was like 200 years ago?
jjacquet | December 6, 2008In my Topics in Marine Science class that I teach at Western Washington University, we spend a week on marine mammals and a portion of that time talking about whaling. We discuss the use of whale oil for illuminants, the 1930s as the Whaling Olympic era, the devastation of certain whale populations, and the formation of the International Whaling Commission (IWC). We examine the shift in values as a world that was largely pro-whaling became largely anti-whaling and how science (e.g., the discovery of whale song) and conservation (e.g., Greenpeace) played a role in that ethical shift.
I ask…
jjacquet | November 23, 2008Christmas is around the bend and the oceans have one gift that keeps on giving: jellyfish. If you're inspired by these ever-increasing medusas (they seem to be on the rise even on land) and you already have the jellyfish moodlamp like me (thanks, sister), here is a relevant gift idea: jellyfish glass.
jjacquet | November 4, 2008
The New York Times ran an excellent profile of naturalist and local Vancouver legend Alexandra Morton. She has spent her life studying orcas and salmon near the Broughton Archipelago off the coast of British Columbia. But over the last decades, her attention was forced toward fish farms and sea lice, which threaten the future of both salmon and orcas. This profile documents her battle against fish farms and her increasingly credible science.
Sea lice, prolific around fish farms, infect wild salmon as they travel by...
rolson | August 22, 2008Now it's time to share the truth.
Back in the first week of June the Junk Raft expedition faced some very dark days. When they were first towed out to the Channel Islands one of the pontoons broke apart, forcing them to stop and gather the plastic bottles that came loose. Then, a day later they discovered the lids of almost 1000 of the bottles were working themselves off, filling the bottles with water, causing the raft to slowly sink. When Anna Cummins took a repair crew out to San Nicholas Island she told me the raft was basically sinking and would have been done in a day or so. How…
jjacquet | August 6, 2008Many of you will recall my passion and compassion for the illustrious sea cow (and for those of you who haven't watched it, the exploding manatee heart is a must). A few weeks ago, after I attended the International Coral Reefs Symposium I went back to my old stomping ground (water?) of Crystal River, Florida, to visit these gentle giants. I have been traveling to Crystal River off and on for 10 years and, even over this brief time, I have witnessed a shifting baseline...
Crystal River is a beautiful area, particularly in the early morning when the fog clings to the water and air is filled…
rolson | May 19, 2008A six-week drift to Hawaii will call attention to plastics in the sea
Yesterday Dr. Marcus Eriksen, his expedition partner Joel Paschal, and their land-based support coordinator (and fiancee of Dr. Eriksen) Anna Cummins took the newly built "Junk Raft" on a trial run to Catalina and back. All systems are go, so they're now scaling up for the big departure on Sunday afternoon, June 1, at 3:00 p.m. from the Long Beach Aquarium. If all goes according to plans, about six weeks later they should land on the Big Island of Hawaii. It's a straight shot over, mostly along the 25th parallel, just…
jjacquet | May 9, 2008Check it out! A researcher at the New England Aquarium was the first human known to witness a right whale birth. Read all about her experience and some of the conservation efforts to save this endangered species here.
jjacquet | May 2, 2008Where would shifting baselines be without Daniel Pauly? It'd be something altogether different, since he is the one who coined the term back in 1995. Today he turned 62 and we here at the Fisheries Centre celebrated. And yes, Rick, you can drink to that!
jjacquet | April 3, 2008It took mammals and reptiles over two weeks on a raft of floating vegetation and a stroke of luck before they reached the Galapagos Islands. For Homo sapiens, it requires ~$400 (from Quito) and a few hours before arriving at the Galapagos airport.
From there, a boat tour is assuredly the best way to island-hop through Darwin's laboratory. If you have a bit more time than money, wait until arriving in the Galapagos to book your tour. This way you can explore the island of Santa Cruz (a launching point for most boat tours) and, in your downtime, meander into the numerous travel agencies on…
jjacquet | March 28, 2008A chain of undersea volcanoes
Rumbled and then rose
Erupted on the equator
And thousands of years later
We call the islands Galapagos.
Birds flew in and built their nests
On shores sea lions came to rest
Reptiles by way of floating plants
Sharks and rays swam through by chance
And us. But we are merely guests.
Like Darwin we should go explore
But unlike him, not on the shore.
The underwater world waits
With fish, seahorses, nudibranches,
Corals, whales, sharks and more.
Because from fire these islands were born
Fumeroles the bottom adorn
These bubbles seep from the seascape
As volcano's…