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Yearly Archives: 2013
Free Ride

“We gotta do better, it’s time to begin. 
You know all the answers must come from within…. Come on and take a free ride….”
From where I write, on the coast of California, I can look out and see dolphins swim gracefully through forests of ocean kelp. But I know that on the other side of the Pacific, it’s a very different scenario. Ric O’Barry is in Japan monitoring the dolphin hunt in Taiji, famously exposed in the movie “The Cove.” In picturesque Hatajiri Bay, the dolphins are being forced into a cove and trapped, then sold or slaughtered, in one of the worst drive-capture fisheries on the planet. Even though a horrified international public expressed outrage after seeing the brutality unleashed on these innocent sentient creatures in “The Cove,” the drive continues there and in other parts of Japan.…

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The Golden Shore: California’s Love Affair With the Sea

Written as a celebration of the California coast and the forces that protect it, "The Golden Shore, California’s Love Affair with the Sea" is a passionate tale of one of the most unique and stunning natural habitats to be found anywhere on earth, the 1,100 miles of the California Coast. San Francisco Bay area author and ocean activist David Helvarg is uniquely qualified to take us on this journey of love and the struggle to protect the rugged wilderness that defines the western border of the continental United States.

It may be a slightly dysfunctional love affair. For better or for worse, with ups and downs, lots of hard-learned lessons, and just like in real life, sometimes the lawyers get involved.…

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Photo of the Day ~ Manta in the Maldives

It’s big business, a big vote, and a big moment for sharks and mantas.

The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, takes place beginning next week in Bangkok, Thailand – March 3 to 14.

At this critical meeting, governments will debate adding five species of sharks and two species of manta rays to the treaty. A positive result will limit international trade of shark fin and meat and manta gill rakers and help reduce the threat of over fishing facing these species.

The oceanic manta (Manta birostris) and the reef manta rays (M. alfredi) are among the ocean’s most charismatic wildlife. Manta rays are typically found in tropical and subtropical waters, although oceanic manta rays can be found in temperate waters.…

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Photo of the Day: David and Goliath Revisited

"David and Goliath," Gold Winner at Our World Underwater 2013.  Another outstanding photograph of Jack Crevalles at Cabo Pulmo, Mexico.  Says photographer, Octavio Aburto, "I have been trying to portray the research and the work being done in Cabo Pulmo, where the “David and Goliath” photo was taken, in a way that is accessible to the public and in such a way that it can be easily shared. Through this photo and other photos I hope to tell the success story of marine protection in Cabo Pulmo where I conduct my scientific research."

Photo: (c) Octavio Aburto

 

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Chasing Ice Nominated for Oscar

Long a skeptic about climate change, environmental photographer James Balog was faced with undeniable evidence through his Extreme Ice Survey. Many of us first encountered Balog’s work in his 2009 TED talk, where he shared image sequences from the survey, a network of time-lapse cameras recording glaciers receding at an alarming rate, some of the most vivid evidence yet of climate change.  The riveting videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate.
Hearing that Balog’s groundbreaking documentary, ‘Chasing Ice,‘ had been nominated for an Oscar, one might assume it would be for Best Documentary or Best Cinematography – but no.  The Nomination came in for Best Original Song ~ Written by J.…

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Photo of the Day ~ Juvenile Mola Mola

One of the ocean's oddest looking fish, the Mola Mola possesses a truly bizarre body shape, likened to a gigantic ‘swimming head.'  Female sunfish are known to produce up to 300 million eggs at one time, the largest number of eggs ever recorded in a vertebrate.

Where and when the sunfish spawns is not well known, although five possible areas have been identified in the North and South Atlantic, the North and South Pacific, and in the Indian Ocean, where there are central rotating oceanic currents, called gyres. The newly hatched sunfish measure just 0.25 centimetres in length, and will increase in mass by over 60 million times in order to reach the size of a 3 metre adult.

Photo: (c) Sailroe

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Ocean Science in the Spotlight at AAAS Annual Meeting

Can better aquaculture technology sustainably feed our growing world population? Is the future of conservation at a crossroads? How can we increase appreciation for ecosystem services like wave-breaking sand dunes and protective mangroves before a disaster?
Those were some of the questions asked by leading marine researchers and conservation policy advocates at the annual meeting held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, MA this past President’s Day Weekend.
The ocean played a key role in the program at this year’s AAAS Meeting, the theme of which was “The Beauty and Benefits of Science.” With approximately 6,000 researchers and science enthusiasts from around the world, attendees ranged from astrophysicists and chemists to science communicators, reporters and even artists.…

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Photo of the Day ~ Basking Shark

The Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second largest fish in our ocean – its relative the Whale Shark being the biggest. Despite their size, Basking Sharks actually feed on plankton which they filter out of the water, swimming slowly back and forth with their enormous mouths wide open.

Photo: (c) Alex Mustard ~ AMustard.com…

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The Deadliest Ghosts

Kurt Lieber, Founder and President of Ocean Defenders Alliance kicks off our series on ‘Ghost Nets,’ featuring Mission Blue partners who are leading the charge to publicize – and remedy this growing and very dangerous problem for sea life. We’ve also embedded the just-released video from Jamie Thalman on ODA’s work, ‘Catalina Wrecked.’
We are proud to welcome Ocean Defenders Alliance to the Mission Blue family of Partners! ~ Ed.
There is a long-neglected issue affecting our planets oceans.  It is not that people don’t care; it is more a classic example of “out of sight, out of mind.”  Most people are outraged when they see images of garbage or clear-cuts in national forests—but too few people understand that our oceans face similarly devastating circumstances in the form of “ghost” fishing gear. …

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Photo of the Day ~ Sea Pens

Soft corals known as sea pens, usually found at depth, and a blue cod appear in the shallow waters of New Zealand's Long Sound reserve, where tannin-stained water blocks light. When disturbed, sea pens emit a greenish light and can deflate, retreating into their bulbous feet.

Photograph by Brian Skerry, National Geographic…

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