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Holbox

During July of 2009, the SEA team was on and around the island of Holbox as part of a research expedition to better understand the largest fish on earth.
Whale sharks are widely distributed in all tropical and warm temperate seas throughout the world. Their distribution in these warm tropical waters is linked to the high productivity of these areas, i.e. dense concentrations of plankton. One particular island off the coast of Mexico boasts a large population of migratory whale sharks. Isla Holbox (pronounced “hole-bosh”) was a well-kept secret until 6 years ago when whale sharks were discovered right off its coast. Although whale sharks are generally considered solitary animals, they congregate in the waters surrounding Holbox to feed and mate from May through September, earning the island’s designation as the top place in the world to see and swim with these ‘gentle giants’.…

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Gulf of California Expedition

Jacques Cousteau dubbed the Gulf of California, “the world’s aquarium.” The Gulf of California boasts about one-third of the world’s total number of marine mammal species, nearly 900 fish species, of which about 90 are endemic to the area, as well as more than 170 seabird species. While it is known to be one of the most diverse seas on the planet, much of the Gulf of California as we know it today is under threat from a variety of activities ranging from overfishing to coastal development.  In 2009, Dr. Earle named the Gulf of California one of her top “Hope Spot” locations and vowed to help bring attention and support to the region.

The Gulf of California is a large body of water that separates the peninsula of Baja California from the Mexican mainland.…

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At 40, CITES turns its attention to sharks

Delegations from 177 countries are convening in Bangkok starting today, marking the 16th gathering of parties to the international conservation agreement known as CITES. This remarkable agreement has offered protection to over 4,500 animal and 30,000 plant species from depletion and extinction for 40 years.

At the top of the agenda in 2013 are sharks, of which up to a hundred million are killed each year according to a recent study in the peer-reviewed journal Marine Policy. Given the rapacious shark finning trade, this year's conservation focus on these majestic animals is timely and the ocean community is pushing hard for the delegates to add shark and manta species to the Appendix II of the treaty. This simple action would regulate commercial trade of these species and put a much needed brake on over exploitation.…

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Photorealist painter uses humor to highlight dilemma of marine debris

Above: “Mighty Migration” oil on canvas, 30″ x 40″ © Karen Hackenberg 2011
“I am walking on the Discovery Bay beach outside of Port Townsend WA where I live, swim, and kayak. Collecting colorful plastic cone-shaped tips of washed-up fireworks’ rockets for use in my sculpture, I examine the live pulpy bodies of moon snails in their white shells and the purple velvet “fur” on sand dollars, as well as the stranded plastic bags, the crab shell molts, the squid egg cases, the running shoes, logs, plastic water bottles, shot gun shells, disposable lighters, ropes of bull kelp, nylon ropes, eel grasses, striated stones and glowing agates. I struggle to make sense of this diverse and incongruous debris, and to somehow make peace with its implications.”…

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New England Fisheries Face Serious Setback

Recent scientific surveys of the fish populations off the New England coast have found them at or near the lowest levels ever recorded. On top of that, there is a new measure before NOAA that would encourage renewed bottom trawling and dredging in the region. A total of more than 5,000 sq. miles of seafloor—roughly equal to the size of Connecticut—is at risk of serious ecological setback.

After populations collapsed in the early 1990s, "groundfish closed areas" were set up to protect juvenile fish, spawning areas, and seafloor habitat. These sections of seabed were set aside to protect cod, haddock, flounder, and other important fish. Now, under pressure from the fishing industry, the New England Fishery Management Council has voted to let bottom trawling and dredging return to more than half of these areas.…

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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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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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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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The Future We Create

The Ocean is the dominant life support system on the planet and is central to our quality of life on earth. Unfortunately, there is a profound, widespread ignorance about the Ocean and its vital importance to everyone, everywhere, all of the time. Even what is known to scientists is not widely appreciated by the public, and certainly not by most policymaking officials. You can rarely prove something to someone who does not want to see it proven, or has financial or ideological reasons to not see it proven.
The oceans provide 97% of our planet’s living space, yet less than 5% of the Ocean has been seen, let alone explored. Marine ecosystems hold far more biological and genetic diversity and density than the tropical rainforests which tells us that we don’t know much about this planet at all.…

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Bad News for Illegal Fishing: the Cops are on the Case.

When shady war criminals flee their country and disappear into the world, INTERPOL gets the call. The International Criminal Police Organization, as they are formally called, coordinates police action on an international level, preventing crimes from slipping between the cracks of global law enforcement. In huge news for the future of our oceans, INTERPOL is now turning its attention to combatting the criminal and detrimental practice of illegal fishing. A global project named SCALE is launching at the end of this month to detect, combat and suppress fisheries crime as well as improve intelligence sharing between fisheries enforcement organizations.
Illegal fishing outfits are waging an organized, criminal war on marine life in our oceans. It is estimated that 20 percent of all wild marine fish caught globally are obtained illegally.…

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