By Mera McGrew
Famed cartoonist Jim Toomey and the United Nations Environment Programme are teaming up to produce a series of short videos to raise awareness of ocean and coastal conservation issues.
Toomey, whose daily comic strip “Sherman’s Lagoon” appears in more than 150 North American newspapers, recently released a video adding his voice in support of the Bermuda Blue Halo Initiative and has now partnered with the UNEP Regional Office for North America (UNEP RONA) to create a series of six two-minute videos intended to raise awareness of the importance of oceans and the coastal environment.
The first of six videos, Blue Carbon, will be launched on June 8, World Oceans Day, at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.…

By Mera McGrew
Today is likely the last chance for those of us currently living to see the planet Venus pass in front of the sun. The transit of Venus is among the rarest of astronomical events — after this crossing, the transit will not occur again until 2117.
Historically, tracking the transit of Venus was a watershed moment in international scientific collaboration. The astronomer Edmund Halley had predicted in 1678 that the transit event could be used to calculate the distance between the Earth and the sun if observers were stationed at the proper places on the globe. So it was in 1761, the scientific community came together to solve a key problem.
Australian artist Lynette Wallworth is determined to use this rare occurence to create a sense of perspective and get people to think about the global problems that the world’s ocean currently faces — problems that require the cooperation of global governments, scientists and the international community.…

By Mera McGrew
Mission Blue is offering an exclusive online preview of New York artist, Asher Jay’s, newest art installation — Sea Speak Sphere: Message in a Bottle. The art installation is part of a larger conceptual, collaborative campaign that aims to highlight various ocean initiatives and advocates marine conservation.
Jay told Mission Blue, “ I just wanted to come up with a way in which I could speak up for the oceans but that would also encompass all the voices that are doing something similar.”
The art installation is made up of 100 painted bottles that bring to life personal statements or “blue memos” about the world’s ocean from some of the biggest names in marine biology, conservation, photography, exploration, journalism and more.…

By Mera McGrew
This past week, we read reports of radioactive contamination of Pacific bluefin tuna caught off the California cost. The mighty bluefin carried traces of radiation that leaked from Japan’s tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, which is located some 6,000 miles away in Japan.
The contamination of these Pacific bluefin tuna will likely tighten global tuna supplies, resulting in an increase in demand for Mediterranean bluefin tuna. Japan, which consumes 80 percent of Pacific and Atlantic Bluefin tuna is expected to drive much of that demand. Ocean advocates warn, that this could encourage the illegal fishing of Mediterranean bluefin tuna by all eager to profit.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) prices of Mediterranean bluefin are trading at historical highs.…