My Ocean Update
My Ocean Update is an online library of my favourite marine conservation news articles, photos and videos which highlight the good and the bad we are doing to our blue planet as well as the campaigns I support.
We all have a shared responsibility to protect our oceans ... Let's not wait until it's too late ...!
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My Adanced Open Water and Specialty cards came in today! I’m now certified to do AOW, PPB, and AWARE dives :3
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Chinese version of the graphic on manta rays that was in CITES, many thanks to project aware.
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MANTA ON GLASS by wildestanimal
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Amazing Jellyfish
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Check out Project AWARE’s infographic, Manta and Devil Rays at Risk, learn more and find out what you can do to help. Visit www.projectaware.org
See on Ocean News
As part of the last meeting of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), held this week in Bangkok (Thailand), the national government banned fishing for oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) in Brazilian waters.
The decision was made in order to preserve this endangered species.
See on Ocean News
MPAs are part of the management toolbox that can ensure sustainable use of the oceans and provide the world with fish proteins.
See on Ocean News
One strategy to help protect and research sharks is ecotourism. A recent study around Costa Rica’s Cocos Island, estimated the value of a Hammerhead shark at US $1.6 million each for tourism purposes, compared to less than $200 it could sell for. A 2011 study by the Australian Institute of Marine Science had an even bigger difference, estimating a lifetime value of nearly US $2 million dollars for a Reef shark in Palau vs. only $108 for it’s sale in a fish market. Governments are starting to take notice of this economic value; countries including Australia, Palau, as well as the Cook Islands have recently created large marine areas to protect sharks and other ocean life.
See on Ocean News
CITES plenary today accepted Committee recommendations to list five species of highly traded sharks under the CITES Appendices, along with those for the listing of both manta rays and one species of sawfish.
See on Ocean News
The oceans are still one of the most mysterious places on our planet. Whether it’s the depths of the ocean, where light is scarce and the only life huddle
See on Ocean News
By: Courtney Arthur, Marine Debris Research CoordinatorNew exhibit called “Plastics Unwrapped” takes a look at the cultural changes that have led to the increasing use of plastics in the last 50 yrs. @University of Washington’s Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
Less than half of the 280 million metric tons of plastic produced each year ends up in the landfill. A fair bit of the rest ends up littering the landscape, blown by the wind or washed down streams and rivers into the sea.So far Americans spend $520 million a year to clean up plastic litter washing up on West Coast beaches and shorelines. Efforts to clean up the oceans’ enormous swirling gyres of garbage has an incalculable cost. Thus, much of the focus has been on how to stop the river of trash from entering the ocean.A team of 10 scientists has come up with an idea of how to make that happen: reclassify the most harmful plastic waste as hazardous material. That simple adjustment, the scientists write in the journal Nature, could trigger sweeping changes in how environmental agencies clean up plastic waste, spur innovation in polymer research and replace problematic plastics with safer ones.
It is estimated that up to 100 million sharks are killed by people every year, due to commercial and recreational fishing. Meanwhile, the average number of fatalities worldwide per year between 2001 and 2006 from unprovoked shark attacks is 4.3.
CALL TO ACTION! (6pm-GMT / 3am-JST)
Today in Taiji, a pod of over 100 Bottlenose Dolphins were driven into the cove, where they have now been netted off and left overnight. Tomorrow, they face slaughter, or a life in captivity - sold to dolphinariums within Japan and around the world.
There are only 4 of us on the ground, we need YOUR help to get the word out there to end this drive hunt and captive trade. Share this video to social networks and bombard the below contacts with emails, calls and faxes to urge that they stop supporting the horrific drive hunts and captures within Taiji, Japan.__________
REBLOGGING IS NOT ENOUGH. If you support Sea Shepherd, or support conservation, you have HOURS to make a call to one of the relevant agencies listed below. You must bombard them with calls, emails, and all type of fast communication. Hundreds of dolphins’ lives hang in the balance._______________
BOMBARD IMATA (International Marine Animal Trainers’ Association) AND WAZA (Worldwide Association for Zoos and Aquariums) WITH EMAILS, CALLS AND FAXES TO URGE THAT THEY STOP SUPPORTING THE HORRIFIC DRIVE HUNTS AND CAPTURES IN TAIJI, JAPAN.
IMATA CONTACT DETAILS:
Phone: 312-692-3193
Fax: 312-939-2216
E-mail: info@imata.org
WAZA CONTACT DETAILS:
Phone +41 (0)22 999 07 90
Fax +41 (0)22 999 07 91
Email: secretariat@waza.org
ADDITIONAL CONTACT DETAILS FOR THOSE INVOLVED CAN BE FOUND AT:
http://www.seashepherd.org/cove-guardians/what-you-can-do.html
Japan Fisheries Public Content Form:https://www.contact.maff.go.jp/maff/form/114e.html
Contacts via Twitter:
US Ambassador to Japan @AmbassadorRoos
Japanese Prime Minister @JPN_PMOUS
Embassy in Tokyo @usembassytokyo
Political Minister at Japanese Embassy in London @norishikata
Japanese Embassies Worldwide:http://www.mofa.go.jp/about/emb_cons/mofaserv.html
(via oceanaware)
The Crochet Coral Reef (CCR) is a project by the Institute For Figuring, a non-profit Los-Angeles based organization that pioneers creative new methods for engaging the public about scientific and environmental issues by putting people and communities at the core.
The CCR is a project that resides at the intersection of mathematics, marine biology, handicraft and community art practice, and also responds to the environmental crisis of global warming and the escalating problem of oceanic plastic trash.
Campaigners dismayed that ministers rejected advice to create 127 zones, which are intended to protect ocean floors
See on Ocean News
A unique dive site, previously unknown to the scientific community, has been discovered by the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), The Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI), and their local partners near the coastal town of Tela, Honduras.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposes protections for 66 coral species.
A unique dive site, previously unknown to the scientific community, has been discovered by the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), The Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI), and their local partners near the coastal town of Tela, Honduras.
