-▶ CORPORATE FISHING FLEETS HAVE DEVASTATED STOCKS IN THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC, ONCE AMONG THE WORLD'S RICHEST WATERS
- Jack mackerel, down 90 percent in 20 years in once-rich southern seas, foretells wider global calamity; world’s largest trawlers compete for what is left
-▶ FV MARGIRIS, FACTORY SHIP SEEN OFF THE UK COAST - SWEEPING UP ENTIRE SHOALS OF FISH AND EVERYTHING IN IT'S PATH.
Environmental concerns have been raised after a "monster" supertrawler ship was spotted off the south coast of England.
"Supertrawlers are effectively floating factories and able to stay at sea for considerable periods of time. Margiris can process 250 tonnes of fish per day whilst at sea.
Pelagic fish shoals are located with the help of echo-sounding equipment. From the echogram it is possible to estimate the depth and the size of the shoal.
The Lithuanian-registered Margiris fishing boat - once considered the second largest in the world - was banned from fishing in Australian waters in 2013.
▶U.N. URGES FOREIGN FISHING FLEETS TO HALT OCEAN GRABBING
- Ocean grabbing or aggressive industrial fishing by foreign fleets is a threat to food security in developing nations where governments should do more to promote local, small-scale fisheries,...
Greenpeace, November 04, 2014 ▶ EXPOSING 20 EUROPEAN FISHING VESSELS RESPONSIBLE FOR RAPING OUR OCEANS“The operators of these vessels use tricks – like changing the identity and flag of their vessels or using front companies and tax havens – to increase their access to fishing opportunities or to circumvent rules and regulations. They create comparatively little employment, while putting in jeopardy the health of our seas. EU governments must stop turning a blind eye to overfishing, remove monster boats from industrial fishing fleets and encourage low-impact alternatives.”http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2014/Monster-boats-nov-2014/
WATCH
THE TRUE COST OF INDUSTRIAL FISHING IN WEST AFRICA. FOREIGN FISHING FLEETS PLUNDERING AFRICAN SEAS
Gizmag, November 17, 2014 ▶GOOGLE JOINS THE EFFORT TO COMBAT OVERFISHING WITH GLOBAL FISHING WATCH. Google has partnered with SkyTruth and Oceana to produce a new tool to track global fishing activity. Known as Global Fishing Watch, the interactive web tool uses satellite data to provide detailed vessel tracking, and aims to harness the power of citizen engagement to tackle the issue of overfishing. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 90 percent of the world’s fisheries are working at peak capacity, with as much as one-third of marine fish stocks now suffering from overfishing.http://www.gizmag.com/google-overfishing-global-fishing-watch/34794/
Seafood is the primary source of protein for more than one billion people - can they live without it?
We need to start thinking more about an environmentally driven market, as opposed to a commercially driven market.
Dr Maria Salta, a biological oceanographer at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, gave Al Jazeera a bleak prognosis about the state of the oceans. "It is clear that if we continue like this, in a few years time there is not going to be much left," she said of the rampant over-fishing going on across the globe, along with the overall treatment of oceans at the hands of humans. "We are losing species every day without ever knowing about them. Sometimes humans can be like a plague to the environment."
History’s Largest Mining Operation Is About to Begin, dredging thousands of square miles a year, scraping the top five inches of the ocean floor—and the consequences are unimaginable.
Until recently, the largest ecosystem on earth has stayed mostly beyond human reach. But a new chapter in resource extraction could open up Earth’s most remote places to industrial development.
The deep sea, broadly considered the area of ocean below 200 metres, encompasses half of the world’s total ocean estate. To this day, just 5 per cent of the ocean abyss has been explored. It is only in the last decade that major advances in ocean-exploring technology, growing demand for metals used for tech gadgets, and the diminishing availability of these metals on land has created the burgeoning industry of deep sea mining.
▶ THE RACE IS ON TO MINE THE DEEP SEA -- BUT SCIENTISTS ARE WARY: Some of the biggest deposits of iron, copper, and rare-earth elements are in the middle of the Pacific. They come at a cost.
“Deep-sea mining could end up having the largest footprint of any single human activity on the planet in terms of area of impact,” says University of Hawaii oceanographer Craig Smith.
PRI Living On Earth, June 10, 2014 ▶ DEEP SEABED MINING IS NEW, LIGHTLY REGULATED AND RISK DEVASTATING DEEP, UNKNOWN OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS. - AN EXPERIMENT THAT COULD GO VERY WRONG.
“We all know that mining on land has all sorts of environmental impacts. It’s very difficult to contain mine tailings, even on land. In the ocean, which, of course, is a fluid environment with all these currents, we can expect widespread pollution.” ...We can expect other ill effects, too — everything from smothering of deep sea creatures with sediment to light pollution, which in the deep sea will have an impact on creatures that have evolved to live in dark environments. Greenpeace is calling for protection measures to be put in place now, before the “experiment” begins.http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-06-10/deep-seabed-mining-new-and-lightly-regulated-ecological-experiment
INTERACTIVE VIDEO
March 13, 2013 BBC News -
DEEP SEA MINING RISKS DESTRUCTION OF YET UNKNOWN ECOSYSTEMS
OnEarth, December 03, 2014 ▶ MINING THE DEEP SEA COULD DESTROY AN ALIEN WORLD WE BARELY KNOW HOW THE DEEP-SEA ENVIRONMENT INTERACTS WITH THE REST OF THE PLANET http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/under-sea
▶ NEW SPECIES OF TRANSLUCENT, GELATINOUS FISH DISCOVERED 25,000 FEET BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE SEA
Scientists from Newcastle University report the discovery of three new species of snailfish nearly 25,000 feet below the surface of the sea. The efforts were borne out of a collaboration between 40 scientists from 17 different nations trawling the waters of the Atacama Trench, a cavernous, rocky gash near the South American coast of the Pacific Ocean.
The trench is home to pressures approximately 750 times what we feel at sea level, and frigid temperatures just a hair above freezing
▶ DEEP SEA MINING - WHAT IS THE ISSUE AND WHY WE NEED TO TREAD CAREFULLY?
Disturbance of the seafloor -The scraping of the ocean floor by machines can alter or destroy deep-sea habitats, leading to the loss of species and fragmentation or loss of ecosystem structure and function. Many species living in the deep sea are endemic – meaning they do not occur anywhere else on the planet – and physical disturbances in just one mining site can possibly wipe out an entire species. This is one of the biggest potential impacts from deep-sea mining.
- A better understanding of the deep sea is necessary to guide mitigation strategies and proper enforcement of regulations in order to limit the environmental impacts of mining activities.
▶ SCIENTISTS FEAR DEEP-SEA MINING IMPACT ON SEARCH FOR NEW MEDICINES.
Bacteria from the ocean floor can beat superbugs and cancer. But habitats are at risk from the hunger for marine minerals.
Scientists who view the deep ocean and its wealth of unique and undocumented species as a prospecting ground for new medicines, fear such potential will be lost in the rush to exploit the deep sea’s equally rich metal and mineral resources
Yale Environment 360, October 20, 2014 ▶ DRIVE TO MINE THE DEEP SEA RAISES CONCERNS OVER IMPACTS.
Armed with new high-tech equipment, mining companies are targeting vast areas of the deep ocean for mineral extraction. But with few regulations in place, critics fear such development could threaten seabed ecosystems that scientists say are only now being fully understood. http://e360.yale.edu/feature/drive_to_mine_the_deep_sea_raises_concerns_over_impacts/2818/
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, August 25 2014 ▶ CONCERNS OVER IMPACT DEEP SEA MINING FOR COPPER, GOLD OFF PAPUA NEW GUINEA WILL HAVE ON SEA LIFE.
Green Left Weekly, July 21, 2014 ▶ NEW DEEP MINING TECHNIQUE A THREAT IN THE PACIFIC: LUST FOR DEEP SEA RICHES COULD SPARK PACIFIC MINING BOOMhttps://www.greenleft.org.au/node/56901
BBC News, February 17, 2014 ▶ DEEP SEA MINING MUST RESPONSIBLY RESPECT ECOSYSTEMS.
Scientists call for a "new stewardship" of the deep sea. Scientists have made an impassioned plea for humanity to pause and think before making a headlong rush to exploit the deep sea. The researchers said the oceans' lowest reaches had untold riches that could benefit mankind enormously, but not if the harvesting were done destructively
▶ MINING, FOREIGN LAND GRAB DESTROYING ENVIRONMENT, ECOSYSTEMS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIEShttp://sco.lt/5M5eLp
These Mega Corporations Operate With Little or No Regulation or Oversight and Are Not Held To Account For the Destruction, They answer to no government or society for their ecocidal activities left behind in their wake. They throw big money around to the corrupt, innocent and the ignorant until it is too late, the contract has been signed, This is Corporate Ecocide At It's Worst and Must Be Reigned For The Sake of Life in both our oceans, forests and wetlands.
Rewire, February 26, 2014 ▶ FRACK DRILLING WASTE BEING DUMPED INTO OCEAN OFF CALIFORNIA COAST -- WITH LEGAL PERMIT !!Fracking wastewater contains more than just the chemicals used by oil and gas companies to break up the rocks, including toxic substances like methanol, benzene, naphthalene, and trimethylbenzene. It can also include nasties that it picks up from those deep rock formations, including lead and arsenic. And while safely disposing of such substances isn't easy in the best of situations, ocean disposal poses special risks for those who play in, live near, or eat fish from the sea.http://www.kcet.org/news/rewire/petroleum/fracking-waste-is-being-dumped-into-the-ocean-off-californias-coast.html
-▶ WHY ARTIFICIAL FISH FARMING IS UNSUSTAINABLE AND HARMING THE PLANET. There’s something fishy going on between the BigAg GMO soy industry and new fish farming methods, and there is little news coverage of this growing relationship. A report titled "Factory-Fed Fish: How the Soy Industry is Expanding Into the Sea: by Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Europe http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/tools-and-resources/factory-fed-fish/ highlights some of the potential dangers created by the unexpected relationship between soy and fish, and looks at the harm that is being caused to the global environment by this unnatural coupling. What's the Problem? ...http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/why-fish-farming-is-unsustainable-and-harming-the-planet/
▶ HORRIFIC FOOTAGE EXPOSES FACTORY SALMON FARMING
An issue of immense animal suffering, environment devastation and imperiled wildlife.
Industrial salmon rearing is #factoryfarming at sea, an animal welfare tragedy. Confined in vast numbers, these ocean wanderers have no choice but to swim in small circles, often becoming diseased + riddled with parasites.@TheGAAI @ciwf
Iceland’s wild salmon population under threat by the mighty commercial fish farming industry.
Conservationists fear that the King of Fish, as Atlantic Salmon is sometimes called, is in peril once more. The threat? Iceland’s industrial salmon farming industry, which is set to more than quadruple in size.
Wherever in the world commercial salmon fishing has taken place, an “environmental and biological disaster” has followed. Wild salmon stocks are so depleted in neighboring Norway that around 100 of its 450 salmon rivers are now closed to anglers.
The industry uses a technique called ‘open net’ production. This involves fish being grown intensively in pens located in lakes or near the ocean shore. Each pen can contain up to 200,000 fish, with most farms comprising a minimum of four or five pens each.
Environmentalists argue that the system, which is widespread in Scotland, Chile, Norway and Canada, results in widespread marine pollution (from fish waste and pesticides, primarily) and involves high mortality rates.
But their main concern is what happens when farmed fish escape, something that “tens of millions” have done since the introduction of open net farming in the 1970s, according to independent scientific research.
“Farmed fish have an instinct to swim and breed, so they end up entering the rivers and competing with the wild salmon population for their breeding grounds,”
Mowi, the Norwegian-owned global company which produces up to 60,000 tonnes of salmon each year in the UK alone
▶ FACTORY FARMED SALMON INFECTING TENS OF MILLIONS WITH DEADLY PRV VIRUS - SALMON POPULATIONS COLLAPSE
Tens of millions of British Columbia's wild salmon dying in uncontrollable outbreak.
The escalating battle to protect Pacific wild salmon from a Norwegian virus.
THIRTY MILLION ATLANTIC SALMON were imported into B.C. from Norway, before anyone knew that the virus existed.
In 2017, we reported that 94 percent of farm salmon in markets are infected and that the virus has spread coastwide. But it is significantly more prevalent in wild salmon caught near salmon farms.
Wild Chinook near these farms are in collapse despite fishing closures. The oddly yellow Chinooks died slowly and painfully,releasing the virus into the surrounding waters.
-▶ MAJOR US SUPERMARKETS TO BOYCOTT GM SALMON - FIRST OF 30 OTHER GENETICALLY ALTERED SPECIES UNDER DEVELOPMENT. The GM salmon is the first in some 30 other species of genetically engineered fish under development, including tilapia. Researchers are also working to bring GM cows, chickens and pigs to market.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/20/major-us-supermarkets-boycott-gm-salmon
▶ SALMON FARMING GIANT MOWI PROBED OVER CHEMICAL USE
The world's biggest salmon farming company is one of a number of firms under investigation by Scottish regulators for possible misreporting of chemical use.
There are concerns that the large amounts of pesticides, as well as faeces and food waste coming from the thousands of salmon in the fish farm nets, could be damaging the environment in some of Scotland's lochs.
Ecowatch, August 16, 2012 ▶ AQUACULTURE: WORLD'S INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR FISH DECIMATES WILD FISH POPULATION.“Growth in fish farming can be a double-edged sword,” said Nierenberg, co-author of the report and Director of Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet project. “Despite its potential to affordably feed an ever-growing global population, it can also contribute to problems of habitat destruction, waste disposal, invasions of exotic species and pathogens, and depletion of wild fish stock.”http://ecowatch.com/2012/08/16/decimates-wild-fish-population/
-▶ IS IT NOW ETHICAL TO EAT FARMED, CAGED FISH? There aren't plenty more fish in the sea. Our fish and seafood consumption is soaring, so in steps aquaculture. From 2011 to 2012 global aquaculture provided 90m tonnes of fish, overtaking 80m tonnes from the wild fisheries. But in reality 50% of the world's wild caught fish are fed to other animals, including farmed fish. There's also a large pressure group advocating introducing GM farmed salmon – dubbed "Frankenfish" ...
▶ “FATALLY FLAWED" FDA ASSESSMENT TO UNLEASH GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON ONTO YOUR DINNER PLATE. NO Regulation NO Oversight NO Labeling...http://sco.lt/67gold
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-▶ 100 MILLION SHARKS KILLED A YEAR, JUST FOR THEIR FINS. SHARK POPULATIONS PLUMMET BY 90%http://sco.lt/7kHqLZ
WRECKING THE OCEAN ECOSYSTEM
OVERFISHING, COLLAPSING FISHERIES, OCEAN DEPENDENT SPECIES STARVINGhttp://sco.lt/6bO2nR
AND YOU THOUGHT CONSUMER PLASTIC POLLUTION WAS BAD!
Ghost nets are any fishing net that is lost abandoned or discarded at sea or on land. Unfortunately many marine organisms such as Turtles, sharks, whales, dolphins, fish and even sea bird become entangled in these silent killers often unnoticed.
Metro UK, May 31, 2019
- ▶ SEAL DIED A 'TORTURED DEATH' AFTER GETTING TRAPPED IN 35G OF UK MARINE LITTER
The heartbreaking situation off the coast of Cornwall has been described as ‘one of the worst cases of entanglement seen anywhere in the world.’
DERELICT FISHING NETS HAVE TURNED THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA INTO A DEATH TRAP
Each year, at least 640,000 tonnes of nets and other fishing gear goes overboard and never comes back. But just because it’s lost to the sea doesn’t mean that derelict gear stops doing its jobs. The lobster pots, crab traps and dense thickets of nets that litter the sea bottom keep snaring fish and other animals for years or even decades after they go missing. It’s impossible to estimate how many marine animals are killed each year by “ghost fishing,” as the problem is known. However, the mosaic of local reports suggests staggering numbers—many of them of commercially valuable or endangered species. In Puget Sound, ghost gear is thought to kill more 3.5 million animals a year, including nearly 25 seals, porpoises and other marine mammals a week.http://qz.com/247942/derelict-fishing-nets-have-turned-the-bottom-of-the-sea-into-a-death-trap-2/
Newsweek, December 07, 2019
- ▶ DEAD SPERM WHALE WITH 220 POUNDS OF PLASTIC IN ITS STOMACH FOUND ON BEACH IN SCOTLAND:
Earlier this week, a young 20-ton male sperm #WHALE died with over 200 lbs of debris stuck in its stomach including plastic cups, bags, gloves, packing straps and tubing as well as bundles of rope and sections of net
- ▶ THOUSANDS OF SHARKS AND RAYS ARE BECOMING ENTANGLED IN PLASTIC POLLUTING EARTH'S OCEANS.
“The most common entangling objects were ghost fishing gear (74% of animals) followed by polypropylene strapping bands (11% of animals), with other entangling materials such as circular plastic debris, polythene bags and rubber tyres comprising 1% of total entangled animals,” the authors write in the study
- ▶ ANNUAL PHOTO CONTEST REVEALS DANGERS OF GHOST NETS.
Depressing photos received by the Ocean Conservancy show just how helpless marine animals are in the face of drifting nets. Once tangled up in a net, it's pretty near impossible for a marine animal to escape.
While it is difficult to know just how much 'ghost gear' enters the world's oceans every year, the amount is estimated to be around 800,000 tons. The majority of fishing gear is made from plastic or other synthetic materials; it does not biodegrade, and continues to pose as much of a threat to wildlife in its 'ghost' form as it did while being used by a fishing fleet. Ghost nets also damage delicate coral reefs, amass other plastic debris, and pose a risk to ships
ABANDONED FISHING NETS ACCOUNT FOR 46 PERCENT OF ALL OCEAN PLASTIC- KILLING HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF SEA LIFE PER YEAR. 640,000 tons of gear are lost and pollute oceans each year. In 2016 there were 71 reported cases ofwhales caught in abandoned fishing gear off the U.S. Pacific coast.
- ▶ A SINGLE DISCARDED FISHING NET CAN KEEP KILLING FOR CENTURIES.
A new report estimates that around 700,000 tons of fishing gear are abandoned in the oceans each year.
A gigantic mass of abandoned fishing gear and its catch. The monstrous net, as wide and deep as the Hollywood sign is tall, drifted just below the water’s surface with tendrils that teemed with hundreds of dead and dying fish and sharks.
- ▶ The plastics that make up most of the nets in the oceans today take around 600 years to break apart. One old gill net found wedged between rocks off the coast of the San Juan Islands reportedly sat atop a pile of marine bird and mammal bones that was three feet deep.
Conservation Magazine, May 09, 2014 ▶ JUST $200 PER FISHING VESSEL COULD SAVE THOUSANDS OF ALBATROSSES FROM INDUSTRIAL FISHING GEAR.The commercial fisheries aren’t going to stop their business for the seabirds. it’s all too easy for a seabird to get caught up in the fishing gear that trails behind a fishing boat, and when they do, it’s usually fatal. In 2004-2005, an estimated 15,500 birds were killed that way off of South Africa. Pelagic albatrosses and petrels are particularly hard-hit, http://conservationmagazine.org/2014/05/just-200-per-fishing-vessel-could-save-thousands-of-albatrosses/
ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) February 18, 2015
- ▶ MORE THAN 8km OF FISHING LINE RECOVERED FROM SWAN AND CANNING RIVERS IN PERTH, AUSTRALIA "It would have otherwise ended up in the Swan and Canning estuary system, could have ended up entangling some of our wildlife, some of our dolphins, some of our black swans, as we've often seen happening over the last 12 months." Since 2008, five dolphins had been found caught in fishing line, with four of the animals dying."That is a horrific way for any creature to die, it is a very slow and painful death, and that can be caused by any discarded fishing line," ... A lot of the entanglement problems that we have seen with our wildlife, fishing line is in particular quite a problem, in fact fishing line can take up to 600 years to break down if it's just left in the environment."
The Guardian, January 25, 2015 ▶ DROWNING IN PLASTIC - THE WORLD'S NEXT ECOLOGICAL DISASTER We’ve all heard stories of islands of floating rubbish in the middle of the oceans, but it’s the trillions of barely visible microscopic fragments that are set to be the world’s next ecological emergency.
▶ CHOKING THE OCEANS WITH PLASTICThe world is awash in plastic. It’s in our cars and our carpets, we wrap it around the food we eat and virtually every other product we consume; it has become a key lubricant of globalization — but it’s choking our future in ways that most of us are barely aware. Plastics are now one of the most common pollutants of ocean waters worldwide. Pushed by winds, tides and currents, plastic particles form with other debris into large swirling glutinous accumulation zones, known to oceanographers as gyres, which comprise as much as 40 percent of the planet’s ocean surface — roughly 25 percent of the entire earth...http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/26/opinion/choking-the-oceans-with-plastic.html
PLASTIC FOUND IN 'ALMOST 100% OF ALDERNEY'S GANNET NESTS
The plastic build-up in the breeding colonies is killing the seabirds, with some entangled gannets found hung or missing legs. The plastics are largely from fishing industry rope or line
There are more micro pieces of plastic in the oceans than stars in the Milky Way. Worried about microplastics in the oceans ending up in the food you eat?
WATCH
TARGETING PLASTICS
Using Nuclear Techniques to tackle global challenges
the VIDEO to learn how scientists at our ocean labs in Monaco are using nuclear techniques to better understand this global threat https://youtu.be/BcPdpIu95Y8
New Scientist, February 12, 2015 ▶ OCEANS SWALLOWED 13 MILLION TONS OF PLASTIC IN 2010.Vast floating islands of plastic are just a drop in the ocean compared with what's lurking deeper down. Between 5 and 13 million tonnes of plastic debris entered the marine environment in 2010 - and most of it is under water. What's more, without improvements in the way we manage waste, it could be 10 times as much each year by 2025... http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26958-oceans-swallowed-13-million-tonnes-of-plastic-in-2010.html
▶ CHEMICAL FROM PLASTIC WATER BOTTLE FOUND THROUGHOUT OCEANS INTO FOOD CHAIN
A survey of 200 sites in 20 countries around the world has found that bisphenol A, a synthetic compound that mimics estrogen and is linked to developmental disorders, is ubiquitous in Earth's oceans http://sco.lt/5ogIGf
An eye-opening story about the institute’s global mission to study the effects, reality, and scale of plastic pollution around the world. The overwhelming contaminant that is secretly infiltrating all levels of sea life like a cancer... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfcRW7sIrPI
Huffington Post Hawaii, June 1, 2014 ▶ PLASTIGLOMERATE:
mongabay May 07, 2013 ▶ MUNCHING ON MARINE PLASTIC KILLS SPERM WHALE What do children's toys, balloons, mattresses and plastic bags have in common? They can, along with more non-biodegradable pollutants, be found in the belly of a sperm whale, the topic of a new study in the Marine Pollution Bulletin.
▶ FISHERMAN CATCHES MONSTER COD AND FINDS PLASTIC BOTTLE INSIDE ITS BELLY. Jess Price, conservation officer at the Sussex Wildlife Trust, said marine litter was a “huge problem” and 75% of all litter recorded in the sea was plastic. She said: “The main issue is that marine life ingests it. The problem is plastic never biodegrades, it is there forever. “If something swallows a balloon or bottle then it’s taking up space in its stomach and can cause them to starve.http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11047823.display/
Phys.org, February 24, 2015 -▶ FEARS OVER CORAL EATING PLASTIC IN AUSTRALIA'S GREAT BARRIER REEF. Corals in the Great Barrier Reef are eating small plastic debris in the ocean, Australian researchers raising fears about the impact the indigestible fragments have on their health and other marine life. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-plastic-eating-coral-australia-barrier-reef.html#jCp
The Scotsman, October 13, 2014 ▶ SCOTLAND: OTTERS DYING EARLY BECAUSE OF POISONED SEAS
Scottish otters are only living a third of the lifespan of those on mainland Europe because of poisoned seas, a leading expert on the species has warned. Zoologist Dr Paul Yoxon said chemicals in everyday products are accumulating in fish and shellfish on which the mammals feed, weakening their immune systems.
The zoologist, who runs the International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) on Skye with his biologist wife Grace, said hormone-disrupting chemicals, commonly found in shampoos and plastics, are also believed to be behind shrinking genitals of the male otter, affecting reproduction rates...http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/otters-dying-early-because-of-poisoned-seas-1-3570722
NRDC -- VIDEO
PLASTIC POLLUTION IN OCEANS - Help keep our marine life from eating and swimming in garbage.
WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU
This constant barrage (the equivalent of 136 billion milk jugs each year, estimates a study published in the journal Science) poses a serious danger to marine life. Animals can get tangled up in this trash or ingest it—either because they mistake it as prey or because the plastic has been broken down into tiny particles by seawater. http://www.nrdc.org/oceans/plastic-ocean/
Alternet, December 31, 2014 ▶ PLASTIC BAG MANUFACTURERS SPEND $3 MILLION IN EFFORT TO REPEAL CALIFORNIA BAN. The American Progressive Bag Alliance lobbyists have spent $3 million to collect signatures to place a repeal of the bill on the November 2016 ballot, saying that claims that the bags contribute to litter and pollution are overblown. http://www.alternet.org/environment/plastic-bag-manufacturers-spend-3-million-repeal-california-ban
BBC News, May 01, 2014 ▶ 'RETRO RUBBISH' WASHED UP ON UK BEACHES.Campaigners have released pictures of washed-up beach litter dating back to the 1960s. More than 25 tonnes of rubbish were collected at 130 SAS-organised beach clean events across the UK this springhttp://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-27227481
CNN, June 24, 2014 ▶ U.N. REPORT: OUR OCEANS ARE TRASHED IN PLASTIC .A series of new reports are raising concerns about the damage plastic waste is doing to oceans -- harming marine animals, destroying sensitive ecosystems, and contaminating the fish we eat.http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/world/ocean-plastic-trash/index.html
Plastiktüten sind erstmal Plastiktüten - die Frage ist; wie gelangen sie an Orte (ins Meer), wo sie nicht nur zweck-los sind, sondern auch Schäden anrichten können? Ein (frühzeitiges) Training in 'Weitsicht' und einem umwelt-berücksichtigen Blick könnte ein wesentlicher Beitrag sein ...
New Scientist, April16, 2015 ▶ MYSTERY BLOB IN THE PACIFIC MESSES UP US WEATHER AND ECOSYSTEMS.An unusual threat is looming off the Pacific coast of North America from Juneau in Alaska to Baja California. Now roughly 2000 kilometres wide and 100 metres deep, a mass of warm water that scientists are calling "the blob" has lingered off the coast for a year and a half and has set temperature records, with waters between 1 °C and 4 °C warmer than normal. The blob has changed water-circulation patterns, affected inland weather and reshuffled ecosystems at sea. fishermen and officials around Alaska reported sightings of species found in more temperate or even tropical waters, including skipjack tuna, thresher sharks and sunfish. Other marine species showed up thousands of kilometres north of their normal ranges, including pygmy killer whales and tropical species of copepods – tiny crustaceans that are key to marine food webs. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27362-mystery-blob-in-the-pacific-messes-up-us-weather-and-ecosystems.html#.VTFwCWZQW6A
Climate Progress, June 10, 2014 -▶ A DUSTY GREENLAND IS SPEEDING UP GLACIAL MELT.
A paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience suggests that dust particles embedded in Greenland’s massive ice sheet are gathering more heat than the otherwise white, reflective surface would and causing melting to accelerate. The scientists write that “recent warming in the Arctic has induced an earlier disappearance of the seasonal snow cover, uncovering large areas of bare soil and thus enhancing dust erosion.”
Dust absorbs the sunlight and re-radiates it as heat. This causes earlier snowmelt that in turn exposes ice beneath the snow sooner than otherwise would have been expected — creating a feedback loop.
Mashable, March 16 2014 -▶ NEW STUDY: GREENLAND MELTING IS MORE PERVASIVE THAN THOUGHT, ADDING TO SEA LEVEL FEARS. “Nature is changing faster than expected and seems to respond much stronger than expected to small fluctuations,” he said. “This also means that predictions of future sea level rise need to be revised.”http://mashable.com/2014/03/16/greenland-ice-melt-sea-level-rise/
August 01, 2013 Mongabay -▶ CLIMATE COULD WARM MORE RAPIDLY THAN ANY TIME IN THE LAST 65 MILLION YEARSAccording to a new review of 27 climate models, scientists say the global climate is likely to experience a warmth as great as any in the last 65 million years, only much, much faster...http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0801-hance-climate-pace.html
METHANE IS ABOUT 20 TIMES MORE POTENT IN WARMING THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE THAN CARBON DIOXIDE. FRACKING FOR NATURAL GAS RELEASES METHANE *****
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Independent, July 08, 2014
▶ VAST METHANE 'PLUMES' SEEN IN ARCTIC OCEAN AS SEA ICE RETREATS.Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane -
A GREENHOUSE GAS 20 TIMES MORE POTENT THAN CARBON DIOXIDE - have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.... it’s strongly reminiscent of what is probably the worst possible climate scenario imaginable, a feedback loop so humongous and destructive that it would lead to runaway warming that makes today's runaway warming look tame by comparison. The last time this happened, it poisoned 90 percent of all life on earth with hydrogen sulfide gas, in a process described by paleontologist Peter Ward as "life killing itself off."...http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/vast-methane-plumes-seen-in-arctic-ocean-as-sea-ice-retreats-6276278.html
▶ AN ALARMING INSIGHT INTO OUR MELTING ICE GLACIERS AND WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR PLANET AND YOU.For the First Time in Human History We are Witnessing an Unprecedented Change to our Environment and Planet. Ice is far more sensitive to temperature changes than we thought and ice is melting twice as fast as a decade ago.
This award-winning documentary, directed by Yann Arthus-Bertrand - the noted environmentalist, journalist, and photographer, pivots around the relationship between the Earth's oceans and the entire planet's ecosystem...This incredible film shows How the Extinction of One Species Creates A Chain Reaction, Changing the Chemistry and biodiversity in the Seas creating Global Warming, Climate Change and Ocean Acidification. How Industrial Civilization Is Destroying The World Around It. The Impacts and Consequences. https://vimeo.com/97706434
Summit Voice, November 14, 2014 - ▶ THE PACIFIC OCEAN IS COOKING: OCEANS AT ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURESGlobal ocean temperatures have soared to the highest level in recorded history this year, and the rate of warming has accelerated since April, according to scientists with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.http://summitcountyvoice.com/2014/11/14/global-warming-oceans-at-all-time-record-high-temps/
-▶ CORPORATE FISHING FLEETS HAVE DEVASTATED STOCKS IN THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC, ONCE AMONG THE WORLD'S RICHEST WATERS
- Jack mackerel, down 90 percent in 20 years in once-rich southern seas, foretells wider global calamity; world’s largest trawlers compete for what is left
-▶ FV MARGIRIS, FACTORY SHIP SEEN OFF THE UK COAST - SWEEPING UP ENTIRE SHOALS OF FISH AND EVERYTHING IN IT'S PATH.
Environmental concerns have been raised after a "monster" supertrawler ship was spotted off the south coast of England.
"Supertrawlers are effectively floating factories and able to stay at sea for considerable periods of time. Margiris can process 250 tonnes of fish per day whilst at sea.
Pelagic fish shoals are located with the help of echo-sounding equipment. From the echogram it is possible to estimate the depth and the size of the shoal.
The Lithuanian-registered Margiris fishing boat - once considered the second largest in the world - was banned from fishing in Australian waters in 2013.
▶U.N. URGES FOREIGN FISHING FLEETS TO HALT OCEAN GRABBING
- Ocean grabbing or aggressive industrial fishing by foreign fleets is a threat to food security in developing nations where governments should do more to promote local, small-scale fisheries,...
Greenpeace, November 04, 2014 ▶ EXPOSING 20 EUROPEAN FISHING VESSELS RESPONSIBLE FOR RAPING OUR OCEANS“The operators of these vessels use tricks – like changing the identity and flag of their vessels or using front companies and tax havens – to increase their access to fishing opportunities or to circumvent rules and regulations. They create comparatively little employment, while putting in jeopardy the health of our seas. EU governments must stop turning a blind eye to overfishing, remove monster boats from industrial fishing fleets and encourage low-impact alternatives.”http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/en/News/2014/Monster-boats-nov-2014/
WATCH
THE TRUE COST OF INDUSTRIAL FISHING IN WEST AFRICA. FOREIGN FISHING FLEETS PLUNDERING AFRICAN SEAS
Gizmag, November 17, 2014 ▶GOOGLE JOINS THE EFFORT TO COMBAT OVERFISHING WITH GLOBAL FISHING WATCH. Google has partnered with SkyTruth and Oceana to produce a new tool to track global fishing activity. Known as Global Fishing Watch, the interactive web tool uses satellite data to provide detailed vessel tracking, and aims to harness the power of citizen engagement to tackle the issue of overfishing. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 90 percent of the world’s fisheries are working at peak capacity, with as much as one-third of marine fish stocks now suffering from overfishing.http://www.gizmag.com/google-overfishing-global-fishing-watch/34794/
Seafood is the primary source of protein for more than one billion people - can they live without it?
We need to start thinking more about an environmentally driven market, as opposed to a commercially driven market.
Dr Maria Salta, a biological oceanographer at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom, gave Al Jazeera a bleak prognosis about the state of the oceans. "It is clear that if we continue like this, in a few years time there is not going to be much left," she said of the rampant over-fishing going on across the globe, along with the overall treatment of oceans at the hands of humans. "We are losing species every day without ever knowing about them. Sometimes humans can be like a plague to the environment."
Terra Daily, April 19, 2014 -▶ THE TASTE FOR LIVE TURTLES PUSHING THEM TO EXTINCTION. : DECLINING CATCH RATES IN CARIBBEAN GREEN TURTLE FISHERYConservation scientists estimated that more than 170,000 green turtles were killed between 1991 and 2011, with catch rates peaking in 1997 and 2002 and declining steeply after 2008, likely resulting from over-fishing. The trend in catch rates, the authors of the assessment results maintain, indicates the need for take limits on this legal fishery.http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Declining_catch_rates_in_Caribbean_green_turtle_fishery_may_be_result_of_overfishing_999.html
▶ TRAWLING: DESTRUCTIVE FISHING METHOD IS TURNING SEAFLOORS TO 'DESERTS'.Bottom trawling is a practice used by commercial fisheries around the world in which a large, heavy net is dragged along the ocean floor to scoop up everything in its path. Previous research has linked trawling to significant environmental impacts, such as the harvest of large numbers of non-target species, collectively termed “bycatch,” as well as destruction of shallow seabeds. Now, a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds this method is also resulting in long-term, far-reaching consequences in the deeper ocean and beyond.
Guardian Environment, February 08, 2014 ▶ BOTTOM TRAWLING: HOW TO EMPTY THE SEAS IN 150 YEARS.The government has refused to act against 'bottom trawling', which has turned Britain's seabed ecosystem into a wasteland. A trawler on the North Sea between Scotland and Norway. Even with modern technology, catches are just 6% of what they were 120 years ago.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/10/bottom-trawling-how-to-empty-the-seas
October 25, 2012: Our Place In The World
▶ INDUSTRIAL FISHING: SCRAPING THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN CLEAN. The following is the New York Times October 22, 2012 editorial. Two elements are missing from it. First, that industrial fishing is a capitalist industry driven by insatiable drive for profits. Second, that it should be phased out. Otherwise, it points to a massive problem facing anyone who cares about biodiversity and health of oceans. KN...http://forhumanliberation.blogspot.fr/2012/10/931-industrial-fishing-scraping-bottom.html
Summit Voice, October 23, 2014 -▶ NEW GOVERNANCE MODEL NEEDED FOR SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES.Destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling make matters worse. Trawl nets grab any and all forms of marine life, laying waste to the ocean floor. The total area bottom trawled is nearly 150 times the area of forest that is clear cut annually around the world. As targeted fish species shrink, both industrial and small-scale fishers move on to other species, depleting them, too, until finally they are catching anything that might provide food or generate cash. Government subsidies, in the absence of regulation, often serve to encourage this overfishing and habitat destruction — and must be abolished, the scientists said.
▶ REPORT: DEEP-SEA TRAWLING CAUSES WIDESPREAD ECOSYSTEM DAMAGEDragging heavy nets across the ocean flower is inexorably changing the marine ecology by reducing organic carbon content and threatens regional biodiversity, said the scientists from the Polytechnic University of Marche in Ancona, Italy. The number of microorganisms has dropped by 80 percent from pre-trawling days, with an overall drop of 50 percent in biodiversity.
-▶ THE DEEP SEA IS VAST, UNEXPLORED, AND INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT
Two hundred meters beneath the surface of the ocean, there exists an ecosystem of plants and animals that directly affect our day-to-day life on land. Biogeosciences, has published a review of more than 200 studies on deep sea resources, giving us our first comprehensive look at what we gain—and steal—from the bottom of the ocean.
If we don't appreciate the importance of the deep sea, researchers say, we end up hurting ourselves....by volume, 98.5 percent of the areas of the planet that can support animals are in the deep sea....
Despite all the unknown crevices, Thurber said, “we do know enough to start to understand how our actions in the deep sea can impact the environment.” These actions, he said, include mining for minerals and precious metals, as well as aggressive fishing.
OnEarth, December 03, 2014 ▶ MINING THE DEEP SEA COULD DESTROY AN ALIEN WORLD WE BARELY KNOW HOW THE DEEP-SEA ENVIRONMENT INTERACTS WITH THE REST OF THE PLANET http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/under-sea
Reuters, July 31, 2014 -▶ AN EXTREMELY POWERFUL MATERNAL INSTINCT: OCTOPUS MOM PROTECTS HER EGGS FOR AN ASTONISHING 4-1/2 YEARS. Scientists tracked one female, recognizable by its distinctive scars, that clung to a vertical rock face near the floor of a canyon about 4,600 feet (1,400 meters) under the surface, keeping the roughly 160 translucent eggs free of debris and silt and chasing off predators....http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/07/31/science-octopus-idINKBN0G003A20140731
ScienceDaily, March 21, 2014 ▶ DEEP OCEAN CURRENT MAY SLOW DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE WITH SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE FUTURE OF THE PLANET'SCLIMATE.Far beneath the surface of the ocean, deep currents act as conveyer belts, channeling heat, carbon, oxygen and nutrients around the globe. A new has found that recent climate change may be acting to slow down one of these conveyer belts, with potentially serious consequences for the future of the planet's climatehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140321164911.htm
DEADLY BYCATCH
TWO-THIRDS OF HEALTHY FISH BROUGHT ON TO FISHING VESSELS IS THROWN BACK INTO THE SEA: DEAD OR INJUREDhttp://sco.lt/6DbCld
▶ HEALTH OF OCEANS 'DECLINING FAST' - MASS EXTINCTION MAY BE INEVITABLEhttp://sco.lt/8ZyX6v
WRECKING THE OCEAN ECOSYSTEM
OVERFISHING, COLLAPSING FISHERIES, OCEAN DEPENDENT SPECIES STARVINGhttp://sco.lt/6bO2nR
▶ ARCTIC IS RELEASING HUNDREDS, PERHAPS THOUSANDS OF ENORMOUS PLUMES OF METHANE DIRECTLY INTO EARTH'S ATMOSPHEREhttp://sco.lt/8gVi1x
OBAMA'S ARCTIC STRATEGY SETS OFF A CLIMATE TIME BOMB.
The Dodo, July 24, 2014 ▶ USDA COMPLAINT FILED OVER SEAWORLD'S SUNBURNED ORCAS.Citing The Dodo’s interviews with several former SeaWorld trainers that personally applied zinc oxide to the skin of captive whales at the park, the complaint notes that one trainer even reported that “burnt layers of his skin would peel off in her hands” when she put sunscreen one one male whale. The main thrust of the complaint calls for more extensive shade coverage, pointing to these photos of the tanks which clearly lack shade cover:https://www.thedodo.com/usda-complaint-filed-over-seaw-641021639.html
After Loro Parque in Spain, announced the death of a 10-month old SeaWorld-owned orca named Vicky, questions were raised over SeaWorld's breeding program.... http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/352913
▶ CONTROVERSY OVER IMPORTING 18 WILD BELUGA WHALES TO US MARINE PARKS (AQUARIUMS)
In the United States, aquariums and marine theme parks have responded to changing public sentiment about keeping marine mammals in captivity by emphasizing that they have not captured whales and dolphins from the wild in a long time.
Why put healthy wild whales through the trauma of thousands of miles of transport for display in a small tank so unlike their natural habitat? Belugas do not breed well in captivity; the captive population has been in decline for 15 years. Rather than admit that belugas have adapted poorly to confinement and should no longer be displayed, as The Humane Society of the United States and many other groups believe, the Georgia Aquarium; the three SeaWorld parks in Florida, Texas and California; the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Chicago; and the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut are doubling down on a bad investment...http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-10-26/opinion/os-ed-whales-sea-world-102612-20121025_1_beluga-whales-killer-whales-wild-whales
NICE WATCH NOVA - Full Episode (56:42) PRIVATE LIVES OF DOLPHINS
Published on May 20, 2012
NOVA offers a rare glimpse into the private lives of dolphins with amazing scientific evidence collected over nearly 30 years. Enjoy this unprecedented look at the rarely seen underwater world of dolphins.
Yahoo News, January 22, 2014 ▶ BRUTAL JAPAN DOLPHIN HUNT GOES ON AFTER PREVIOUS DAYS BLOODY SLAUGHTER. Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese fishermen were out at sea attempting to trap more dolphins on Wednesday, campaigners said, after the bloody slaughter of dozens of the animals the previous day was hidden from view behind screens. Clouds of blood drifted through the waters of the cove in Taiji on Tuesday as metal spikes were driven into the spinal columns of bottlenose dolphins that had been trapped for several days, environmentalists said... http://news.yahoo.com/japan-dolphin-hunt-goes-slaughter-campaigners-044942252.html
▶ LIVESTREAM DOLPHIN PROJECT: Follow Ric O'Barry as he travels the world to end dolphin exploitation and slaughter.. World Newshttp://www.ustream.tv/dolphinproject
▶ OUTRAGE: BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS STILL BEING HELD IN TAIJI COVE DEATH CHAMBERhttp://sco.lt/6p8IDJ
Global warming, researchers warn, "is rapidly emerging as a universal threat to ecological integrity and function."
—The Atlantic
The Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral system, has been "forever damaged" by anthropogenic global warming, according to a new study published April 18, 2019 by Nature.
Between March and November of 2016, a "record-breaking" marine heatwave caused rampant coral bleaching around the globe, and the Great Barrier Reef, located off the coast of northeastern Australia, lost nearly a third of its corals.
▶ DERELICT FISHING NETS HAVE TURNED THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA INTO A DEATH TRAP. Each year, at least 640,000 tonnes of nets and other fishing gear goes overboard and never comes back. But just because it’s lost to the sea doesn’t mean that derelict gear stops doing its jobs. The lobster pots, crab traps and dense thickets of nets that litter the sea bottom keep snaring fish and other animals for years or even decades after they go missing.
March 19, 2013 -▶ DISCARDS BAN COULD IMPACT SEABIRDS POPULATION - The European Parliament recently voted to scrap the controversial discards policy, which has seen fishermen throwing thousands of edible fish and fish waste back into the sea because they have exceeded their quotas.
▶ THE OCEAN SUSTAINS US -- BUT FOR HOW MUCH LONGER
Populations of fish that feed millions globally are in steep decline, and at risk of collapse. WWF’s Living Blue Planet Report takes an unprecedented look at the damage we inflict on the ocean, and outlines a way forward for its recovery. http://ocean.panda.org/
The world’s oceans—covering nearly two-thirds of the Earth’s surface, and on which much of human life depends—are under severe pressure, a new report says. Overfishing has dramatically reduced fish stocks. The thousands of tonnes of rubbish dumped in the oceans wreak havoc on marine life, while climate change is warming and acidifying them, putting them under further stress. http://ecowatch.com/2015/08/23/worlds-oceans-in-peril/
Mongabay, Jeremy Hance January 15, 2015 ▶ EMPTY SEAS: SCIENTISTS WARN OF AN INDUSTRIALIZED OCEAN.
With the rise of industrialized fishing, super trawlers, deep sea exploitation, pollution, and aquaculture, the human impact on the oceans is escalating rapidly and may be on the same course as what happened on land beginning in the Nineteenth Century: an industrial revolution of the oceans with the associated ecological impacts.
“Stakes for seafloor mining claims are being pursued with gold rush-like fervor. Three hundred-ton ocean mining machines and 750 foot fishing boats are now rolling off the assembly line to do this work.”
“There are factory farms in the sea, and cattle-ranch style feed lots for tuna. Shrimp farms are eating up mangroves with the same appetite with which terrestrial farming consumed native prairies and forest,” added co-author Steve Palumbi with Stanford University.
Grist, January 16, 2015 -▶ WE COULD VERY WELL BE ON THE BRINK OF MARINE MASS EXTINCTION - Basically, a study out Thursday in Science looked at the sum total of apocalyptic ocean science to date, and determined that we could very well be on the brink of marine mass extinction. Why, you ask? Better question: How could we not be?
As fish populations deplete, jellyfish populations are growing throughout much of the world. The fact that human beings and jellyfish tangle with one another more frequently than in the past is unpleasant for both sides. It also costs many millions each year. Here, a diver attaches a sensor to a large Echizen jellyfish off the coast of Komatsu in northern Japan... http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo-gallery-the-jellification-of-the-seas-fotostrecke-98970.html
TakePart, March 02, 2015 ▶ WHAT THE TROUBLING PLUNGE IN SEAGULL NUMBERS MEANS FOR THE SURVIVAL OF KILLER WHALES.
NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region, December 2014 - ▶ WHALE SHARKS, BIGGEST FISH IN THE OCEAN RECEIVES INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION FROM CORPORATE INDUSTRIAL FISHING.Commercial fishermen have known for some time that tuna, along with many other species of fish, congregate around objects drifting on the ocean surface. Fishermen often build floating structures called FADs, or fish-aggregating devices, to attract tuna to an area, allowing them to capitalize on this behavior. Using FADs makes the job of finding and encircling the tuna in the purse seine nets much more efficient. Fishermen also learned that whale sharks are so large that they naturally attract tuna, much like a FAD. This led some fishermen to deploy nets around a whale shark to capture tuna swimming beneath it. In many of the cases, the encircled whale shark was also caught in the net and injured or died. http://www.westcoast.fisheries.noaa.gov/stories/2014/18_12182014_whale_shark_protection.html
Earth Policy Institute -▶ OVERFISHING THREATENS CRITICAL LINK IN THE FOOD CHAIN The fish near the bottom of the aquatic food chain are often overlooked, but they are vital to healthy oceans and estuaries. Collectively known as forage fish, these species—including sardines, anchovies, herrings, and shrimp-like crustaceans called krill—feed on plankton and become food themselves for larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. http://worldfoodsecurity.blogspot.com/2013/01/overfishing-threatens-critical-link-in.html
-▶ THE POINT OF NO RETURN: RESEARCHERS LEARN HOW FISH POPULATIONS COLLAPSE.
In the early 1990s, overfishing led to the collapse of one of the most bountiful cod fisheries in the world, off the coast of Newfoundland. Twenty years later, the cod population still has not recovered, dramatically affecting the economic life of the region.
-▶ U.N. - OVERFISHING BECOMING INCREASINGLY RECOGNIZED FOR THE ECOLOGICAL DISASTER IT IS.
Clamp down on harmful industrial practices and support small-scale fishers to prevent 'ocean-grabbing' and overfishing.
Olivier De Schutter: UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. On November 2nd he presented an official report entitled 'Fisheries and the Right to Food' (pdf) to the UN General Assembly.
RAPIDLY RISING CO2 IN ATMOSPHERE CAUSING POTENTIAL CATASTROPHE http://sco.lt/8LsqbR
VIDEO:
FORAGE FISH KEY TO A HEALTHY OCEAN FOOD WEB
GOING, GOING...
In the marine world, high-energy prey make for high-energy predators. And to survive, such marine predators need to sustain the right kind of high-energy diet. Not just any prey will do, suggests a new study.. http://sco.lt/54Pqnh
-▶ SUPER TRAWLER NETS BIG ENOUGH TO HOLD 13 JUMBO JETS - USING GPS TO SWEEP UP ALL IN IT'S PATH.
In most places, the oceans have lost more than 75 per cent of their “megafauna” – large creatures such as whales, sharks, dolphins, rays and turtles. Numbers of some species – oceanic whitetip sharks; American sawfish – are down by as much as 99 per cent. For every 20 leatherback turtles in the Pacific 50 years ago, only one remainshttp://www.scoop.it/t/our-oceans-need-us/p/1838791014/sea-change-the-loss-of-ocean-species-is-staggering
-▶ GREENLAND'S MELTING: CREATING A DIFFERENT CLIMATE THAN EARTH HAS EVER SEENhttp://sco.lt/8bjv73
-▶ ANTARCTIC ICE LOSS HAVING PROFOUND EFFECTS ON OCEAN FLOOR ECOLOGYhttp://sco.lt/6cuyFF
FEEDING FIRST THAT WHICH, IN TURN, FEEDS US. Men have got to stop raping and pillaging the precious resources of our planet to extinction, for it will ultimately lead to extinction of the human race. We depend on a healthy balanced natural world for our own health and wellbeing. The quarterly profit bottomline should drive extinction
Since the industrial revolution began, we have released 2 trillion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere, and about one-third of it went into the ocean. We initially thought that the ocean taking up CO2 was a good thing – because it took it out of the atmosphere. Unfortunately, we were wrong. There has been a 30% increase in the acidity of the ocean since 1700, and we now expect that by 2100, it will have become a 100% increase. This constitutes a rate of change in ocean chemistry that is 10 times anything scientists can document over the last 50 million years
Yale Environment 360, October 24, 2019
WIDESPREAD OCEAN ACIDIFICATION POSES SEVERE THREAT TO PLANET
Global acidification of the OCEANS 252 million years ago, caused by massive volcanic eruptions, is believed to have obliterated marine life in Earth’s largest mass extinction
ACIDIFYING OCEANS IMPAIR SHARK SENSES.Ocean waters are becoming increasingly acidic as they absorb the atmospheric CO2 released by human activities. Previous research has shown that CO2-rich, acidic waters may impair the ability of reef fish to smell predators.http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/08/acidifying-waters-impair-shark-senses
August 25, 2013 Guardian Environment RAPIDLY RISING CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS IN THE ATMOSPHERE ARE CAUSING POTENTIAL CATASTROPHE IN OUR OCEANS AS THEY BECOME MORE ACIDIC, SCIENTISTS WARN Experts claim current rate of change is likely to be more than 10 times faster than it has ever been in Earth's history http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/25/rising-acid-levels-seas-endanger-marine-poertner
May 6, 2013 BBC News Science and Environment CARBON DIOXIDE IS RAPIDLY ALTERING THE CHEMISTRY OF THE ARCTIC AND THE CHANGES WILL LAST MANY THOUSAND OF YEARS, REPORT SAYShttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22408341
Mongabay, December 03, 2014 ANIMALS DISSOLVING DUE TO CARBON EMISSIONS.Marine snails, also known as sea butterflies, are dissolving in the Southern Seas due to anthropogenic carbon emissions, according to a new study in Nature GeoScience. Scientists have discovered that the snail's shells are being corroded away as pH levels in the ocean drop due to carbon emissions, a phenomenon known as ocean acidification. The snails in question, Limacina helicina antarctica, play a vital role in the food chain, as prey for plankton, fish, birds, and even whales. http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1203-hance-ocean-acidification-dissolving-snails.html
ClimateProgress, February 06, 2015 MAINE REPORT WARNS OF 'URGENT' NEED TO ADDRESS OCEAN ACIDIFICATION - LUCRATIVE LOBSTERS AND CRUSTACEANS AT RISK
Phys.org, November 10, 2014 NEW GLOBAL MAPS DETAIL HUMAN-CAUSED OCEAN ACIDIFICATIONA team of scientists has published the most comprehensive picture yet of how acidity levels vary across the world's oceans, providing a benchmark for years to come as enormous amounts of human-caused carbon emissions continue to wind up at sea.http://phys.org/news/2014-11-global-human-caused-ocean-acidification.html#jCp
Inter Press Service, October 15, 2013 NO SAFE HAVENS IN INCREASINGLY ACID OCEANS Oil, gas and coal are contaminating the world’s oceans from top to bottom, threatening the lives of more than 800 million people, a new study warnshttp://www.ipsnews.net/2013/10/no-safe-havens-in-increasingly-acid-oceans/
BBC News - March 26, 2014 HOW CLIMATE CHANGE WILL ACIDIFY THE OCEANSOff the remote eastern tip of Papua New Guinea a natural phenomenon offers an alarming glimpse into the future of the oceans, as increasing concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere make sea water more acidic. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26746039
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GREENLAND'S MELTING
CREATING A DIFFERENT CLIMATE THAN EARTH HAS EVER SEEN
When reading this article i find it amazing what is going on around the world. Places like Antarctica are changing dramatically in ways people are not in control of. What used to be an icy and colder places is now deteriorating and melting. I find it scary in a way because what else is going to change as the years go by. What are the next generation of people going to be apart of or get to witnesses now that many places and things are coming closer to be extinct.
-▶ END THE SHARK FIN TRADE IN PERU It’s a terribly cruel practice. As the National Geographic explains: “Finning involves slicing fins off live sharks and tossing the wounded animals overboard, where they sink to the bottom and, unable to swim and pass water over their gills, suffocate, die of blood loss, or get eaten by other predators.”
The fins are much more valuable than shark meat, selling for as much as $500 per pound. Shark meat isn’t so popular, which is why they dump the body back into the ocean rather than bring it to the market.
-▶ ACIDIFYING OCEANS IMPAIR SHARK SENSES.Ocean waters are becoming increasingly acidic as they absorb the atmospheric CO2 released by human activities. Previous research has shown that CO2-rich, acidic waters may impair the ability of reef fish to smell predators.http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/08/acidifying-waters-impair-shark-senses
Deccan Herald, October 09, 2018 -▶ ILLEGAL MARINE EXPORT: 1,600 SHARK BONES SEIZED Used as a dietary supplement, there is no evidence shark cartilage helps any health condition. Killed for fins, killed for meat, killed for alternative medicine, killed for sport - we are watching the extinction of many shark species in real-time https://www.deccanherald.com/state/illegal-export-1600-kg-shark-696920.html
At least 63 million sharks are taken from the ocean every year.
Story: And that’s the low estimate; it could be as high as 273 million. That worldwide catch—often for shark fins and increasingly for their meat—is threatening some species with extinction.
▶ DOLPHINS CHOPPED UP, SKINNED ALIVE IN PERU FOR SHARK BAIT FOR ASIAN DELICACY
Animal conservation groups are enraged over the brutal slaughtering of thousands of dolphins off the coast of Peru, where the mammals are used as shark bait for an Asian delicacy known as shark fin soup.
-▶ A brilliant 90-minute documentary filmed by directors Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot, along with their team in partnership with OMEGA and with the scientific support of Tara Expeditions, captures the extraordinary images of our remarkable oceans - the source of all life on our planet. Planet Ocean, presented at Earth Summit 2012 in Rio de Janeiro (RIO+20), Brazil in June, is a collaborative film that aims to explain some of the planet's greatest natural mysteries and highlights how essential it is that mankind learns to live in harmony with our oceans.
pdjmoo's insight:
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▶ STARVING SEALS, DISINTEGRATING STARFISH, OVERHEATED PACIFIC OCEAN...SCIENTISTS SEE 'UNPRECEDENTED CHANGES' IN PRODUCTIVITY AS OCEANS TEMPS OFF WEST COAST GO OFF THE CHARTS....That could translate into less food for salmon and other marine species, added Chris Harvey of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center. High mortality of sea lion pups in Southern California and seabirds on the Oregon and Washington coasts in recent months may be early signs of the shift. http://summitcountyvoice.com/2015/03/17/climate-scientists-see-unprecedented-changes-in-productivity-as-oceans-temps-off-west-coast-go-off-the-charts/
Grist, March 20, 2015 ▶ FROM SEA LIONS TO PENGUIN CHICKS, ADORABLE ANIMALS ARE DYING IN DROVES - FROM STARVATION
-▶ THOUSANDS OF SEA LION PUPS DEAD FROM STARVATION : NOT ENOUGH FISH IN THE SEA. When the sea lions converged on this most westerly of southern California’s Channel Islands in May 2012, as they do every spring, there was no hint of anything amiss. A year later, thousands of pups – perhaps as many as 70 percent of the newborns – were dead. The struggle to survive led desperate pups from their sandy nursery into the churning, dangerous sea, long before they were ready. Between January and June, five rescue centers along the southern California coast, from Santa Barbara to San Diego, took in more than 1,500 stranded pups – five times more than normal... http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/08/island-sea-lion-pupdate/
-▶ OVERFISHING, NO FOOD FOR SEALS: Baby Seals washed up in Europe, too weak to care for themselves. The incident is an extreme example among a recent increase in pup strandings, experts say. Overfishing has reduced the seals' available prey, and the polluted fish the animals do catch often make them sick. "In the last two or three years we have seen more and more seals wash up too weak to look after themselveshttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/01/pictures/120118-baby-seals-netherlands-stranded-animals/
-▶ PERU: MASS DOLPHIN AND PELICAN DIE-OFF FOUND STARVING: WE ARE OVERFISHING OUR OCEANS AT AN ALARMING RATE
In the marine world, high-energy prey make for high-energy predators. And to survive, such marine predators need to sustain the right kind of high-energy diet. Not just any prey will do, suggests a new study...http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121121210246.htm
Earth Policy Institute -▶ OVERFISHING THREATENS CRITICAL LINK IN THE FOOD CHAIN The fish near the bottom of the aquatic food chain are often overlooked, but they are vital to healthy oceans and estuaries. Collectively known as forage fish, these species—including sardines, anchovies, herrings, and shrimp-like crustaceans called krill—feed on plankton and become food themselves for larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. http://worldfoodsecurity.blogspot.com/2013/01/overfishing-threatens-critical-link-in.html
ScienceDaily, January 07, 2014
-▶ SNOWBALL EFFECT OF OVERFISHING HIGHLIGHTED - "You don't realize how interdependent species are until it all unravels," - The domino effect that occurs when too many fish are harvested from one habitat.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140107163737.htm
BBC News, November 23, 2014 -▶ PERU INVESTIGATES DEATHS OF 500 SEA LIONS ON NORTH COAST -The local governor has accused fishermen of poisoning the mammals, which usually come close to the shore looking for food. But Peruvian environmental police are looking into other possible causes for the deaths, including disease and the accidental ingestion of plastic.
Dear Sylvia. Because I'll quit "#flattr-Empfehlungen." on scoop.it, you're invited to follow "Gesunde Systeme" http://www.scoop.it/t/gesunde-systeme. Keep on ....
-▶ GREENLAND, ANTARCTICA, ARCTIC MELTING, CREATING A DIFFERENT CLIMATE THAN EARTH HAS EVER SEENhttp://sco.lt/7MZUVV
▶ CRYPTIC RIVER: THE TORRENTS THAT FLOW ON THE SEABEDCryptic river: The torrents that flow on the seabed. Myriad underwater rivers criss-cross the ocean floor, some many thousands of kilometres long, tens of kilometres wide and hundreds of metres deep. They are the arteries of our planet. They shunt sediments into the deep, carrying with them the oxygen and nutrients that allow life to thrive at great depths. They also seem to be a vital part of the world's carbon cycle, burying organic matter carried from the shore.http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129570.700-cryptic-river-the-torrents-that-flow-on-the-seabed.html#.Uw1F4V5kJK4
WATCH TED TALK VIDEOS OCEAN WONDERS ( 10 TALKS) Dive into the unexplored universe beneath the waves: the beautiful, fragile (and sometimes terrifying) world of the ocean.http://www.ted.com/playlists/7/ocean_wonders
UNESCO, February 22, 2012 -▶ MARINE SCIENTIST ALARMED ABOUT INCREASING THREAT TO OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS.In the last 30 years, coastal resources such as mangroves, coral reefs and fishery resources have become depleted on a large scale. For example, more than 60 per cent of Asia’s mangroves have already been converted to aquaculture farms (ESCAP and ADB, 2000). The region is losing its resource bases to support people’s livelihoods and sustain future economic development.http://www.unescobkk.org/news/article/marine-scientists-alarmed-about-increasing-threats-to-ocean-ecosystems/
-▶ MANGROVE, REEFS, FORESTS AND DUNES BEING OBLITERATED: DOUBLING COASTAL FLOOD IMPACT AND SPECIES EXTINCTIONhttp://sco.lt/5CMugb
- ▶ WRECKING THE OCEAN ECOSYSTEM: OVERFISHING, COLLAPSNG FISHERIES, OCEAN DEPENDENT SPECIES STARVINGhttp://sco.lt/6bO2nR
WATCH:
"SEA THE TRUTH" --
BY 2048 The Oceans Will Be Empty! (full-length, HiQ)
Reuters, February 10, 2014 -▶ OVERFISHING, POLLUTION LEAVES TURKISH WATERS BARE. HI-TECH TECHNOLOGY, BIG BUSINESS, LAX REGULATIONS DESTROYING OCEANS EVERYWHERE. "Twenty years ago, you put your arm in the water you could pull out fish - there were so many," said Osman Korkmaz, a 53-year-old fisherman who has fished the Bosphorus Strait and Marmara Sea for 40 years. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/10/us-turkey-fish-idUSBREA1905B20140210
-▶ FATALLY FLAWED" FDA ASSESSMENT TO UNLEASH GENETICALLY ENGINEERED SALMON ONTO YOUR DINNER PLATE: NO REGULATION, NO OVERSIGHT, NO LABELLINGhttp://sco.lt/8ZDraz
Phys.org, February 24, 2015 -▶ FEARS OVER CORAL EATING PLASTIC IN AUSTRALIA'S GREAT BARRIER REEF. Corals in the Great Barrier Reef are eating small plastic debris in the ocean, Australian researchers raising fears about the impact the indigestible fragments have on their health and other marine life. Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-02-plastic-eating-coral-australia-barrier-reef.html#jCp
Climate Progress, January 3, 2014 -▶ ARE WE WITNESSING THE END OF CORAL REEFS?
Tropical coral reefs form the very foundation of marine biodiversity. Sadly, their seemingly inevitable demise may prove to be one of the first irreversible consequences of climate change. That’s the conclusion of a comprehensive new report on abrupt climate changes from the National Academy of Sciences. http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/01/03/3118001/coral-reefs-climate-change/
Common Dreams, April 01, 2014 -▶ UNPRECEDENTED OCEAN TEMPERATURES ON TRACK TO BRING DEATH TO CORAL ECOSYSTEMS. 'It’s not that change is going to come, it’s that change is already happening'http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/04/01-1
Guardian, November 27, 2014 -▶ CORAL TRIANGLE COULD BE LAST BASTION FOR PLANET'S BELEAGURED REEFS. If humans are driving earth’s sixth great extinction event, coral reefs will be one of the first and most visible ecosystems to succumb. Scientists estimate that by 2050, the ocean could be largely devoid of reefs as climate change and our relentless plundering of the sea set in motion geological changes not seen for millions of years.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/the-coral-triangle/2014/nov/27/coral-triangle-last-bastion-planets-beleaguered-reefs
Climate Spectator, June 06, 2014 -▶ UN REPORT FINDS WIDESPREAD CORAL DESTRUCTION.Global warming is causing trillions of dollars of damage to coral reefs, aggravating risks to tropical small island states threatened by rising sea levels. The rise in sea levels off some islands in the Western Pacific was four times the global average, with gains of 1.2cm a year from 1993 to 2012, due to shifts in winds and currents, said the United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP). http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2014/6/6/science-environment/un-report-finds-widespread-coral-destruction
Dodo, November 0, 2014 -▶ WHAT CORAL REEFS MEAN TO THE FUTURE OF THE OCEAN
-▶ A BILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS PUTS SPECIES AND PEOPLE AT RISKAt least 12% of groupers – globally-important food fish species that live on coral and rocky reefs – face extinctionhttp://sco.lt/5HdRr7
Guardian Environment, September 18, 2013
-▶ CORAL REEFS SUFFER AS THE RELENTLESS HUNT FOR SHARK FINS TAKE ITS TOLL. The rampant overfishing of sharks, often solely for their fins, is causing a damaging chain reaction that could significantly degrade coral reef systems, a decade-long Australian-led study has found. "The result of this is that the whole food chain is being thrown out of whack." ... creating a collapse of the food chain. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/sep/19/coral-reefs-suffer-hunt-sharks
Treehugger, April 02, 2014 TIMELAPSE FILM OF 150,000 PHOTOS SHOWS THE MIRACLE OF SLOW LIFE OF CORALS. THE UNDERWATER CREATURES YOU NEVER SEE.Coral is actually a living creature, but the human eye rarely catches it moving. This incredibly slow-motion video lets you see the ocean life you don't notice, before it's destroyed by climate change.http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/slow-life-150000-photos-timelapse-corals-daniel-stoupin.html
Wildlife Extra News - -▶ CLIMATE CHANGE STOPS REEF FISH DETECTING PREDATORS.Coral reef fish have been proved to lose their sense of predators as a result of too much CO2 in the water. Carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is absorbed into ocean waters, where it dissolves and lowers the pH of the water.http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/reef-fish-climate-change-478.html#cr
-▶ UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS OBSERVE SURPRISING BONEFISH SPAWNING BEHAVIOR IN THE BAHAMAS Bonefish, also called gray ghosts, are among the most elusive and highly prized fishes sought by recreational anglers in the Florida Keys, Bahamas and similar tropical habitats around the world. Bonefish support a fishery worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, but this fishery is threatened in many areas by habitat loss and degradation, and by overfishing. Scientists are scrambling to identify and protect critical habitats and identify other ways to conserve this vital fishery. A recent study of bonefish spawning behavior in the Bahamas brings to light new information that should aid bonefish conservation efforts. Read more athttp://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113026726/university-researchers-observe-surprising-bonefish-spawning-behavior-in-the-bahamas/#Xr7m1QVDK17sgExx.99
▶ THE INUIT OF BAFFIN ISLAND: MOBILIZING AGAINST OFFSHORE OIL EXTRACTION.The northeastern Canada 2D marine seismic survey would involve ships using air guns to blast bursts of sound into the water to study the geology below the ocean floor to be sold to oil and gas companies and used to help locate hydrocarbon deposits. Concerns with the impact of seismic surveys on marine mammals, including seals, whales, and walruses, have been expressed by Indigenous peoples and conservationists worldwide.https://intercontinentalcry.org/call-south-baffin-island-25545/
VIDEO (2:42) Oceana, March 05, 2014 THE SCIENCE BEHIND SEISMIC TESTING IN THE OCEANS.
We don't need to turn the ocean into a blast zone for our energy needs. Seismic airguns create intense, repetitive booms that will drown out the dolphins' songs, deafening, injuring, or even killing the animals close to the blasts.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWaoeXvLfzs
Green Prophet, April 11, 2014
▶ WHY OIL AND GAS COMPANIES (AND THE NAVY) SHOULD BUY WHALES HEARING AIDS.Whales, the earth’s largest marine mammals, have had more than their share of ecological problems in all parts of the world’s seas and oceans. One of their biggest risks is noise in marine habitats caused by drilling for oil and gas.
HuffPost, Generation Change, December 12, 2014 ▶ BIG OIL SHATTERS "UNICORNS OF THE SEA""The Unicorns of the Sea" -- the spiral-toothed male Arctic Narwhal whales -- are in big trouble. The Canadian government just granted oil corporations the rights to search for drilling sites in the Davis Strait between Baffin Island and Greenland. That means millions of sea creatures will be killed by incessant sonic booms as Big Oil scavenges for more heat-trapping gases. This deranged ecocide risks killing 90 percent of all the remaining Narwhals on our planet. Every 10 seconds, non-stop for a couple of months, sonic explosions at 252 decibels will shatter eardrums of all sea creatures. It's time to protect the Arctic, not plunder it. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-reese-halter/big-oil-shatters-unicorns_b_6312582.html
Focusing On Wildlife, February 01, 2014 ▶ STUDY: PROTECTING WHALES FROM MAN-MADE SEISMIC SHOCKWhale experts have teamed up with the oil and gas industry to develop a step-by-step guide for reducing the impacts of noise pollution from marine seismic surveys on whales and other marine species.http://focusingonwildlife.com/news/study-planning-can-protect-whales-in-seismic-surveys/
▶ NEW USA NAVY PERMIT WOULD ALLOW HARM TO MILLIONS OF MARINE ANIMALShttp://sco.lt/5dIsQj
Guardian Environment, July 2, 2013
▶ WHALES FLEE FROM MILITARY SONAR LEADING TO MASS STRANDINGS, RESEARCH SHOWS.Studies are missing link in puzzle that has connected naval exercises to unusual mass strandings of whales and dolphins. Beaked whales, the most common casualty of the strandings, were shown to be highly sensitive to sonar. But the research also revealed unexpectedly that blue whales, the largest animals on Earth and whose population has plummeted by 95% in the last century, also abandoned feeding and swam rapidly away from sonar noise.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jul/03/whales-flee-military-sonar-strandings
▶ 138,000 SPECIES UNDER THREAT AS OBAMA APPROVES GAS AND OIL EXPLORATION IN ATLANTIC. US president Barack Obama has approved a project that will open up an area off the east coast of the US to oil and gas exploration with the use of sonic cannons – which are highly damaging to marine wildlife.
The constant thumping from the cannons in the water can be heard thousands of miles away, with the physiological effects to marine wildlife unreported. There is also the risk of damaging nine of the remaining 500 north Atlantic right whales.
Katie Zimmerman, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, said, “Once they can’t hear — and that’s the risk that comes with seismic testing — they are pretty much done for.”
Huffington Post Green, January 16, 2015 ▶ BIG OIL TO DESTROY THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN BIGHT. The Australian government has granted an oil company the rights to search for oil and gas in the middle of a breathtaking marine ecosystem.
JOIN MIRANDA TO KEEP DOLPHINS SINGING: STOP SEISMIC AIRGUN BLASTING IN THE ATLANTIC.Dolphins talk to each other using whistles and songs, but seismic airguns create deafening booms that will drown out the dolphins' voices—deafening, injuring, or even killing the animals close to the blastshttp://act.oceana.org/sign/stopseismic/
▶ SHIPPING NOISE CHANGES FISH BEHAVIOUR. Fish that eat near busy shipping lanes, may not be as efficient at foraging for food, say scientists investigating the effect of elevated noise levels on marine life.Ship noise changes fish behaviourhttp://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=1631&cookieConsent=A
Yahoo News, September 19, 2014 ▶ AS ARCTIC MELTS, SHIPPING TRAFFIC BLASTS WILDLIFE
Official records show that the number of tankers, cargo ships and tugs transiting through the Arctic has more than doubled since 2008. Offshore oil exploration by Royal Dutch Shell and others has added to the increased industrialization. Mostly low-frequency sounds from ship engines, seismic surveys and drilling machinery overlap with and may interfere with sounds produced and received by marine mammals.http://news.yahoo.com/arctic-melts-shipping-traffic-blasts-wildlife-op-ed-191825197.html
NRDC SWITCHBOARD, April 04, 2014
▶ MILESTONE IN OCEAN NOISE FIGHT.After five years, the International Maritime Organization adopted guidelines to reduce underwater noise from commercial ships. The ocean, simply put, is an acoustic world, and marine species depend on sound for virtually everything they do to survive: feeding, finding mates, avoiding predators, maintaining social bonds, orienting themselves in the world. But noise from shipping and other human activity has radically altered their environment.http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/mjasny/milestone_in_ocean_noise_fight.html
▶ REDUCING UNDERWATER NOISE TO HELP HEALTH OF MARINE WILDLIFEhttp://sco.lt/6AeJqD
World Wildlife Fund
▶ WESTERN GRAY WHALE - The western gray whale, among the largest whales found in the ocean, faces serious threats from the impacts of oil and gas exploration due to the Piltun Astokhskoye oil field lying 16 km away from the Sakhalin Islands in Russia. These islands are the only feeding grounds of this whale, and increased noise pollution and disturbance is driving them away.http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/climate_carbon_energy/seize_your_power/icons_at_threat/western_gray_whale/index.cfm
LiveScience, May 16, 2014 ▶ 500 REMAINING RIGHT WHALES COULD FACE THE WRONG FATE.The North Pacific and North Atlantic species, however, remain critically endangered. In fact, estimates suggest that only approximately 500 North Atlantic right whale individuals left in the world.
Ever since the depletion of the North Atlantic right whale population, these whales have struggled to recover, in part because of how long it takes them to mature and reproduce, and also because of threats they face from human activity. The characteristics that made these whales the "right" ones to hunt are now placing them in the path of other dangers. Though there is a moratorium on commercial whaling, these whales have still faced threats like injuries and fatalities from ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement. With the new seismic testing proposal, the situation grows even worse.http://www.livescience.com/45672-right-whale-extinction-threat.html
NOAA Fisheries, April 23, 2014 ▶ ANTARCTIC MINKE WHALES, MYSTERY SOUND MAKERS OF THE SOUTHERN OCEANScientists have discovered the source of the "bio-duck" sound, a strange noise that has mystified scientists and submarine captains in the ocean off Antarctica for decades. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/podcasts/2014/04/minke_whales.html#.U1ibHcf1_OS
▶ STUDY SHOWS WHALES ARE ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS.Healthy whale populations could buffer oceans from some global warming impacts. Whales may play a much bigger role in ocean ecosystems than previously thought, according to a University of Vermont researcher who studied how the great cetaceans recycle and move nutrients from one region to another.http://summitcountyvoice.com/2014/07/05/oceans-study-shows-whales-are-ecosystem-engineers/
▶ IF YOU'VE EVER QUESTIONED THE EMOTIONAL CAPACITY OF ANIMALS, WATCH THIS VIDEOhttp://sco.lt/8Nnhjd
WATCH
BBC. Natural World. A KILLER WHALE CALLED LUNA The emotional story of a young killer whale's quest for companionship after he was separated from his family and found himself on the rugged, wild coast of Vancouver Island. The film records the human friendships he developed and the trouble this led him into. From death threats to numerous capture attempts by the government, the film-makers watched as various people tried to determine Luna's fate...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFFs9PPFiNM
-▶ STARVING POLAR BEARS Polar Bears have long been the poster species for the problem of climate change. But a new paper in Conservation Letters argues that supplemental feeding may be necessary to prevent polar bear populations from going extinct. Polar bear expert Andrew Derocher from the University of Alberta joins Host Steve Curwood to discuss how we can save the largest bear on the planet. http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=13-P13-00007&segmentID=2
-▶ GREENLAND'S MELTING: CREATING A DIFFERENT CLIMATE THAN EARTH HAS EVER SEENhttp://sco.lt/8bjv73
UNESCO, February 22, 2012 -▶ MARINE SCIENTIST ALARMED ABOUT INCREASING THREAT TO OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS. In the last 30 years, coastal resources such as mangroves, coral reefs and fishery resources have become depleted on a large scale. For example, more than 60 per cent of Asia’s mangroves have already been converted to aquaculture farms (ESCAP and ADB, 2000). The region is losing its resource bases to support people’s livelihoods and sustain future economic development. http://www.unescobkk.org/news/article/marine-scientists-alarmed-about-increasing-threats-to-ocean-ecosystems/
Summit Voice, February 15, 2014 -▶ GLOBAL WARMING: REPORT WARNS OF 'ARCTIC SQUEEZE'. An entire bio-climatic zone, the high Arctic, may disappear.
FRISCO — Rapid climate change in the Arctic is putting enormous pressure on ecosystems, threatening biodiversity and the fundamental way of life of indigenous Arctic peoples, scientists said in a major new report.
“An entire bio-climatic zone, the high Arctic, may disappear. Polar bears and the other highly adapted organisms cannot move further north, so they may go extinct. We risk losing several species forever,” said Hans Meltofte of Aarhus University, chief scientist of the report.
▶ SHEDDING LIGHT ON STAGGERING BY-CATCH PROBLEM IN U.S. FISHERIES. According to a new Oceana report, United States fisheries discard about 17 percent to 22 percent of everything they catch every year. That amounts to a whopping 2 billion pounds of annual by-catch -- injured and dead fish and other marine animals unintentionally caught by fishermen and then thrown overboard. This includes endangered creatures like whales and sharks, as well as commercially viable fish that may have been too young or too damaged to bring to port.http://oceana.org/sites/default/files/reports/Bycatch_Report_FINAL.pdf
The Guardian Environment
As much as two-thirds of healthy fish brought on to fishing vessels is thrown back into the sea dead. The UK government has hailed a "historic" EU agreement to introduce a blanket ban on the "scandal" of dumping dead fish back in the sea. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/27/eu-fish-discards-ban-welcomed
▶ WASTED CATCH: UNSOLVED PROBLEMS IN U.S. FISHERIES.According to some estimates, global bycatch may amount to 40 percent of the world’s catch, totaling 63 billion pounds per year. In the United States...Bycatch in the U.S. could amount to 2 billion pounds every year, equivalent to the entire annual catch of many other fishing nations around the world...http://oceana.org/en/news-media/publications/reports/wasted-catch-unsolved-problems-in-us-fisheries?source=slider
▶ NEW OCEANA REPORT UNVEILS WASTED CASH IN U.S. FISHERIES.“The staggering amount of fish thrown away every year in the U.S. represents a real loss, both to fishermen and the future resilience of ocean ecosystems. ” Bycatch, the capture and waste of non-target fish and ocean wildlife, costs fishermen and the marine environment in more ways than one. In addition to being ecologically wasteful, discarding fish is akin to throwing money into the ocean. Oceana's newly released report spotlights the economic losses from bycatch—an amount that could reach a staggering $1 billion annually. http://oceana.org/en/blog/2014/06/new-oceana-report-unveils-wasted-cash-in-us-fisheries
▶ RESPONSE TEAM FREES HUMPBACK WHALE FROM CRAB TRAPS Entanglement in fishing gear—“bycatch,” as it is called in the marine community—is a common problem for these whales, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which lists bycatch as one of several reasons why humpback whales are still on the Endangered Species List.http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/response-team-frees-humpback-whale-from-crab-trap/
▶ KRILL SUPER TRAWLERS PUSHING PENGUINS TOWARD EXTINCTION...Penguins are threatened with extinction by climate change and giant fishing trawlers from Europe and Asia stalking the oceans around Antarctica. Penguins are a protected species, but the factory-sized trawlers are vacuuming up the tiny shrimp-like krill that are their main food source. The Southern Ocean is also becoming increasingly acidic from emissions of fossil fuels and will have a significant impact on krill populations. And yet efforts to create two marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean have been blocked by China, Russia and Norway....http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/04/krill-super-trawlers-pushing-penguins-toward-extinction/
IN PICTURES Guardian Envronment, June 2, 2011 THE KING PENGUIN COLONY ON SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND. Andy Rouse's stunning photographic study of the king penguin colony on South Georgia in the south Atlantic, where thousands of penguins instinctively herd their young into giant huddles to stop them dying from cold.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2011/jun/02/king-penguin-colony-south-georgia
-▶ WHY SARDINES MATTER - CRITICAL MARINE SPECIES FOOD SOURCE IN STEEP DECLINE The Pacific coast of North America supports one of the most vibrant and diverse marine ecosystems on Earth, largely because of the presence of thick schools of small prey fish such as Pacific sardines.
-▶ OVERFISHED AND UNDER-PROTECTED: OCEANS ON THE BRINK OF CATASTROPHIC COLLAPSEhttp://sco.lt/7cjPXt
VIDEO Quest Science (9:39) UNDERWATER WILDERNESS: CREATING MARINE PROTECTED AREA The waters off the coast of California are some of the richest in the world. But massive declines in fish species have led state leaders to begin creating large protected areas, or "no fishing zones," similar to wilderness areas on land. http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/underwater-wilderness-creating-marine-protected-areas/
In Just Over 400 years We have Disrupted 4 Billions Years Of
▶ AN ALARMING INSIGHT INTO OUR MELTING ICE GLACIERS AND WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR PLANET AND YOU. For the First Time in Human History We are Witnessing an Unprecedented Change to our Environment and Planet. Ice is far more sensitive to temperature changes than we thought and ice is melting twice as fast as a decade ago...
Summit Voice, November 14, 2014 ▶ THE PACIFIC OCEAN IS COOKING: OCEANS AT ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURESGlobal ocean temperatures have soared to the highest level in recorded history this year, and the rate of warming has accelerated since April, according to scientists with the University of Hawaii at Manoa.http://summitcountyvoice.com/2014/11/14/global-warming-oceans-at-all-time-record-high-temps/
NASA, November 12, 2014 ▶ VIDEO: A NASA PERSPECTIVE: FOUR DECADES OF SEA ICE LOSS FROM SPACE : THE FUTURE. Scientists have used satellites to observe the retreat of Arctic sea ice from above. But the bigger challenge – now and in the coming years – is understanding what is happening below.The retreat of Arctic sea ice could have significant implications for ocean circulation, atmospheric circulation and even weather patterns in the continental U.S. and other populated areas. http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-perspective-four-decades-of-sea-ice-from-space-the-future/
Planet Earth OnLine, January 13, 2014 ▶ GLACIER'S RETREAT IS NOW IRREVERSIBLE - SCIENTISTS Pine Island Glacier, the largest single contributor to sea-level rise in Antarctica, has started shrinking, say scientists. Pine Island glacier. The work, published in Nature Climate Change, shows the glacier's retreat may have begun an irreversible process that could see the amount of water it is adding to the ocean increase five-fold...http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/news/story.aspx?id=1588&cookieConsent=A
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