Oceans
grrlscientist | October 15, 2009tags: plastics, oceanography, pollution, environnment, streaming video
This is a message by Captain Charles Moore, an oceanographer who pioneered the study of plastic debris, and was recorded during the Strategic Council on Plastic Pollution convened at the Google Campus in Mountain View, California on June 4, 2009. It was the first meeting for the council on plastic pollution, which was recently formed to raise awareness of this rising threat to the world's oceans. Council member and marine biologist Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, noted that "we are finding plastic in the stomachs of sea turtles,…
jjacquet | September 29, 2009My former supervisor/now boss (and OG of overfishing) has a piece out in The New Republic with the wonderfully garish title of Aquacalypse Now. He explains how the fishing industry can contribute a minuscule amount to the GDP of advanced economies -- less than hair salons -- and yet manage to wield a disproportionate amount of political power. Read the whole article here but beware: NOTHING is as bad as harpooning a manatee.
jjacquet | September 4, 2009Check out this BBC article on the new jellies discovered from a scientific expedition to the Arctic. This new jelly looks like some sort of catering device for bacon strips or mango slices -- depending on your appetite:
ejohnson | August 27, 2009
For the first time in over a century, New York's Salmon River is home to its namesake species of fish. Young Atlantic salmon were abundant in the Salmon River and nearby Lake Ontario in the 19th century but were driven away by damming, pollution and overfishing—now, USGS scientists have reported that efforts to reestablish the salmon population are beginning to produce results. Atlantic salmon made a comeback this year in the Seine River as well after a similarly lengthy absence. But as Jennifer Jacquet warns on Guilty Planet, the prognosis for fish is still bad; the shrinking sizes of the…
jjacquet | August 17, 2009I don't know if there is actually a new focus on ocean conservation, as is declared by the New York Times Green Inc. blog title (but not really the post), or if we just want there to be (I know I do). And while it might be true that "the most growth in protected areas has occurred in the ocean" -- at less than 1% of the ocean closed to fishing, we still have a long way to go to meet the goal of having at least 10% of each of the world's ecological regions effectively conserved by 2010 as outlined by the Convention on Biological Diversity (interestingly, the Christian Book Distributors…
jjacquet | July 27, 2009When Daniel Pauly first began talking about jellyfish burgers, he did so as an absurd metaphor. I blogged about it and, with the help of Sherman Lai, made this rudimentary burger:
Then, we upped the jellyfish burger ante when digital artist Dave Beck and I made this fancier version:
Meanwhile, jellyfish are on the rise everywhere and this summer the jumbo Nomura jellyfish are likely to again invade Japan.
And, on the flip side, jellyfish are now being made into all sorts of things, including, most recently, burgers. This Japanese website, translated by a friend who reads Japanese, is…
grrlscientist | July 24, 2009tags: Sylvia Earle, oceans, TEDTalks, conservation, streaming video
Legendary ocean researcher Sylvia Earle shares astonishing images of the ocean -- and shocking stats about its rapid decline -- as she makes her TED Prize wish: that we will join her in protecting the vital blue heart of the planet. [18:16]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
jjacquet | July 20, 2009In yet another case of jellyfish bloom and gloom, the gigantic Nomura jellyfish are back in the Sea of Japan for the third year since 2005. Check out the full story at CNN.
jjacquet | June 8, 2009Today (which, as happenstance would have it, also happens to be World Ocean Day) the environmental and conservation news site Mongabay.com ran an interview with me on why we should stop eating seafood. I think that if we can get people to feel about fish the way they feel about birds it should be easier to save them...
In some ways, [fish] are not that different from birds and, as anyone who has ever been to England knows, there is no shortage of sentiment for avian species. Fish often travel in flocks and flash beautiful colors. Like the albatross, tunas cover remarkable migratory distances…
jjacquet | June 8, 2009Remember our old friend surimi?
I am looking for people who love surimi or hate it. Those who can remember their first time eating it (knowingly or not). Those who think it's delicious. Those who find it revolting. It would be useful for an article I am working on...
Molded surimi lobsters:
jjacquet | April 29, 2009As Mark Powell (of the Ocean Conservancy) pointed out in the comments of the last post, Roger Rufe of the Ocean Conservancy said that we need to "use ocean wilderness to lead a new way of thinking about and seeing our oceans through a positive conservation lens, rather than an extractive one." And also that "we must shift our focus from the oceans as fish warehouses and dumpsites and focus on them as natural ocean communities to be cherished and protected."
Agreed.
But this campaign disappeared and, according to Mark Powell, it was because people weren't ready for it. He rightly believes we…
illconsidered | February 12, 2009It's time to take a deep look at the world's oceans, from Straightgoods:
Google is adding the world's oceans to its extensive Earth mapping. In a phone conversation with David Suzuki Foundation staff, John Hanke, director of Google Earth and Maps, admitted, "We had really overlooked two thirds of the planet." Partly because of prodding from oceanographer Sylvia Earle, the company has embarked on a massive project as part of Google Earth 5.0 to map the oceans using sonar imaging, high-resolution and 3-D photography, video and a variety of other techniques and content.
As some of you might have…
zooillogix | November 6, 2008Do restaurants and fishmongers frequently mislabel their fish so you think you are eating delicious thermal vent tube worm when you are really just eating pollock?
Why do shore birds run in fright from small lapping waves?
How does Kevin Z manage to trick us into reading his "writing?"
Learn more about these and other fishy tales from our credentialed but unemployable brethren over at Deep Sea News hosting Carnival of the Blue 18.
grrlscientist | October 25, 2007tags: oceans, marine reserves, fish, streaming video
This video explores how the establishment of marine reserves can save our oceans from overexploitation from overfishing and other damages. Narrated by Mariella Frostrup. [12:53]
grrlscientist | October 24, 2007tags: oceans, shrimp farming, fish, streaming video
Gorgeous imagery of the planet's many oceans, interspersed with footage of humans overexpoiting them. Narrated by British actor Anthony May. Brought to you by GreenPeace [15:51]
cevans | June 2, 2006
Though this may not come as a surprise to many, I have a confession to make:
I am not an accredited scientist.
In fact, I only just graduated from college. And although the pomp and circumstance has barely dissipated and I'm still getting checks in the mail, I'm already thinking of what the undergraduate experience has brought me: a tolerance for $2 wine, certainly, as well as a toolkit of $2 words. Mostly, however, these four years of liberal arts schooling have thoroughly complicated all of life's simple experiences. Things which once came easily to me -- a willingness to watch hours of…
cevans | December 15, 2005
Enthusiasts of marine biology -- the most accessible branch of the Sciences, considering its general aesthetic -- will probably have already pounced on this news item, which has been floating along the New York Times science section for a few days. For those who haven't the time, however, to remain constantly updated on experimental developments in Narhwal Tusk Theory (an ancient discipline, practiced by the Phoenicians), here is the gist: a team of Scientists -- always in teams!! -- from Harvard and "The National Institute of Standards and Technology" has just turned an electron microscope…