Thursday, December 28, 2017

Week in Review December 29, 2017: United Nations "High Seas" Treaty, Seven New Canadian Refuges and More

1. United Nations High Seas Conservation Treaty Proposed

sea turtle, UN High Seas Conservation Treaty
The United Nations member states are working to “create the first international treaty to protect life under the high seas.” The "high seas" are defined as international waters in which no country has jurisdiction. This ocean area covers over half the Earth. The "Law of the Sea Convention" would have the authority to create off shore marine protected areas.  “Less than 10 percent of the global fish catch comes from the high seas” and closing these areas to fishing would boost coastal catches by 18 percent.
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2. Canada Designates Seven New Marine Refuges

arctic circle, baffin bay, ice floesCanada has designated seven new marine refuges in the Arctic and Atlantic. “The new marine refuges near Nunavut, Newfoundland and Labrador will cover a 145,598-square-kilometer swath of ocean and add 2.53 percent to Canada’s marine protected areas.  The new refuges in the Davis Strait, the Disko Fan, the Hatton Basin, the Hopedale Saddle, the Hawke Channel, the Funk Island Deep and the Northeast Newfoundland Slope will conserve significant concentrations of marine biodiversity and protect habitat critical to Narwhal and Atlantic cod.”
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3. U.S. Government Report: How Oceans Buffer Climate Change

great barrier reef, great barrier reef bleaching
The U.S. Global Change Research Program Report was recently released.  In it they mention that the oceans are absorbing most of the heat from greenhouse gas emissions. This heat may lead to changes in ocean currents.  The oceans are also becoming more acidic from the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  The amount of oxygen in the oceans are decreasing by as much as 3.5%.
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4.  Young Sea Turtles Fitted With Tiny Trackers

sea turtle young, sea turtle tracker
Scientists have attached tiny trackers to less-than-a-year-old loggerhead sea turtles and have found that they aren’t the passive drifters once thought.  They actively swim. They were released from Brazilian beaches. Not all turtles stayed in the South Atlantic Ocean, some were carried by currents north of the equator to the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico.
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5. Algae Growth Speeds Up Greenland's Melting


greenland, greenland ice sheet, algae and ice sheets
A new study has found that algae, growing faster due to climate change, are darkening Greenland’s ice sheets.  The darker color absorbs more heat (instead of being white and reflective) and makes the ice sheets melt faster.  They thus contribute to faster sea-level rise.  “Researchers found that algae accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of total ice sheet melt each summer.”  Black carbon and dust had been previously studied and shown to reduce the reflectivity of the ice sheets.
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6. Narwhal Whales Freeze and Flee When Frightened


narwhals, narwhal tracker, narwhal satellite trackerScientists have found that narwhal whales have a strange response when frightened. They freeze! Their heart rates drop, and then they quickly swim away.  This response can be “highly costly” as they exert themselves with a limited blood supply. Historically narwhals had little human interactions, but this is increasing with heightened access due to melting ice.
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Be sure to "LIKE" http://facebook.com/SeaSave to ensure our "Week in Review" is delivered to your newsfeed every Friday. 

Sea Save Foundation is committed to raising awareness of marine conservation. The Week in Review is a team effort produced by the Sea Save staff to provide a weekly summary of the latest in marine research, policy, and news.

Friday, December 22, 2017

Week in Review: December 22, 2017: Rising Sea Levels May Force Pacific Islanders From Their Homes, Krill Could Sequester Atmospheric Carbon to the Ocean Depths and More

1. Rising Sea Levels May Force Pacific Islanders From Their Homes

Fiji beach, Fiji ocean, Fiji climate change
“The Prime Minister of New Zealand , Ms. Jacinda Ardern, plans to create a special refugee visa for Pacific Island residents who are forced to migrate because of rising sea levels.” This a turnaround for New Zealand, which in 2015 rejected a Kiribati man’s status of first climate change refugee. Fiji has a government-run plan to relocate residents considered at risk and has promised Kiribati to relocate its residents due to rising sea levels.
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2. Krill Could Sequester Atmospheric Carbon to the Ocean Depths

krill, marine food chain, Antarctic krill, Antarctica, krill swarm
Scientists studying krill swarms in Antarctica have found that their behavior could sequester atmospheric carbon to the ocean depths. The shrimp-like krill are near the bottom of the food chain and provide food for animals such as whales and penguins.  Found in large swarms, the krill near the surface are part of the feeding layer. The krill that aren’t eaten sink to the bottom of the group and produce their carbon-rich fecal pellets (which are likely to reach the ocean depths). Thus krill help take out carbon from the atmosphere and deposit it in the deep ocean.
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3. Conservation Study Uses Tiny Treadmills to Test Sea Turtle Hatchling Stamina

sea turtle hatchling

To study the stamina of sea turtle hatchlings, scientists used tiny treadmills and specially designed swimsuits to measure things such as oxygen consumption and stroke rate.  Hatchlings crawl toward the brightest light, which is usually the ocean’s horizon, but light pollution can confuse them. This study wanted to find out how much extra energy the hatchlings extend after being disoriented. It found that they still had sufficient energy to swim even after crawling off course for hours.
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4.  A Solution to Straw Pollution: Edible Straws

edible straws, colorful straws

Americans use up to 500 million straws a day--enough to circle the earth seven times!  Many end up in the ocean, where they harm wildlife such as sea turtles and seabirds.  Lolistraws has an idea to combat this pollution: edible straws. Made from seaweed, the straws are “marine-degradable, compostable and edible” and break down 24 hours after use.
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5.   Largest Coral Sperm Bank Located in Australia


coral spawning, coral sperm
Scientists collected 171 billion coral sperm representing eight species from the Great Barrier Reef this spawning season. Eventually scientists want to bank all 400 species of coral found on the Great Barrier Reef in an attempt to ensure coral's future in the face of mass die-offs. "The problem for us," says marine biologist Mary Hagedorn, who pioneered the technique of freezing coral sperm, "is we can't train enough people or move fast enough."
                                                  

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6. Floating Solar Cells Turn Ocean Water and Sunlight into Clean Energy

solar fuel rigs
New solar fuel rigs, which produce hydrogen fuel from seawater and sunlight, may help curb the greenhouse gas emissions created by traditional hydrogen fuel processing. The solar fuel rigs do not take up space on land and do not use freshwater like regular hydrogen fuel synthesis. “Electricity generated from sunlight, hence the solar cells, tips off the process of electrolysis, which then separates hydrogen and oxygen from each other in water molecules. The oxygen is released into the atmosphere while hydrogen is captured for creating fuel.”
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Be sure to "LIKE" http://facebook.com/SeaSave to ensure our "Week in Review" is delivered to your newsfeed every Friday. 

Sea Save Foundation is committed to raising awareness of marine conservation. The Week in Review is a team effort produced by the Sea Save staff to provide a weekly summary of the latest in marine research, policy, and news.

Friday, December 15, 2017

Week in Review: December 15, 2017 North Atlantic Right Whales May Go Extinct, Palau Requires Signing Pledge Before Entering Country and More

1. North Atlantic Right Whales May Go Extinct

North Atlantic right whale, extinction

After a year of high mortality, the North Atlantic right whale is facing extinction. There are only an estimated 450 whales left, and 17 died in 2017. Many are killed by vessel strikes and entrapment in fishing gear. Low reproduction in 2017 has compounded the threat. NOAA has released a comprehensive plan to save these endangered mammals.
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2.  Palau Requires Signing Pledge Before Entering Country

palau

Palau is requiring visitors to their country to sign a pledge before entering. The pledge is a formal promise to the children of Palau to “preserve and protect your beautiful and unique island home” and to “tread lightly, act kindly and explore lightly.” It’s the first time such a pledge has been written into a country's immigration policy.
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3. Microscopic Ocean Creatures Shred Plastic into 1.75 Million Pieces

amphipods and plastic, amphipod

A study using crustaceans called amphipods found that the creatures quickly shred plastic bags into 1.75 million microscopic pieces. The findings, detailed this week in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, suggests that "marine organisms may be working to proliferate plastic pollution in the ocean.” Previous surveys have found that more than 700 organisms regularly ingest plastic.
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4.  Heart-Wrenching Video of Starving Polar Bear

polar bear, climate change, starving polar bear

Footage of a starving polar bear scrounging garbage for food has gone viral. Many think this polar bear was starving from the effects of climate change due to less seasonal ice.  Polar bears hunt seals from ice. The bear could have been starving due to old age, an injury, or disease. Regardless, scientists think that polar bears could become extinct within 100 years due to climate change.
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5.  Giant Ocean Fans to Cool Great Barrier Reef

great barrier reef mixing fans

The Australian government will spend $2.2 million to deploy eight huge "reef mixer" fans to help cool the waters of the the Great Barrier Reef. The fans draw cooler water from 30 meters below to the surface. “The pilot project will be combined with other interventions, including crown of thorns starfish control...to protect biodiversity" in parts of the reef.
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6. Impacts of Zinke Proposal to Open Marine Monuments to Commercial Fishing

deep water coralsSecretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke's proposal to allow commercial fishing at three U.S. marine monuments would "degrade the very objects the designation is intended to protect," according to Audubon Magazine. The deepwater corals of Northeast Canyons and Seamounts, off the coast of New England, and the two Pacific monuments are important fish nurseries that protect "some of the rarest habitat within U.S. boundaries."
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Be sure to "LIKE" http://facebook.com/SeaSave to ensure our "Week in Review" is delivered to your newsfeed every Friday. 

Sea Save Foundation is committed to raising awareness of marine conservation. The Week in Review is a team effort produced by the Sea Save staff to provide a weekly summary of the latest in marine research, policy, and news.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

The 10th Annual Sea Save Foundation Year End Auction Is Here!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Sea Save Foundation is running their tenth-anniversary auction, and this year it is bigger and more exotic than ever.

The destinations, resorts, and live-aboard names read like a "Who's Who" in SCUBA adventure. So what are you waiting for? Dive in and LIVE LARGE.


Check it all out HERE!   


Friday, December 8, 2017

Week in Review December 8, 2017: More Than 200 Nations Promise to Stop Ocean Plastic Waste, Japan Under Fire for Research Whaling, and More

1. More Than 200 Nations Promise to Stop Ocean Plastic Waste


The UNEP head Erik Solheim, wants "governments to ban and mandate the redesign of packaging." Last Wednesday, 200 nations passed a resolution to eliminate plastic pollution in the oceans. This could turn into a legally binding treaty. Countries have agreed to start monitoring the amount of plastic entering the ocean. Read More                        

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2.  Japan Under Fire for Research Whaling



japan whaling, whaling, japanJapan is under fire for its "research" whaling of sei whales in the Northwest Pacific as a possible violation of an international treaty on endangered species at a wildlife trade meeting in Geneva. CITES effectively bans the hunting of sei whales in the high seas. “Chances are high that Japan's whaling will be recognized as a violation" of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, says whaling expert Atsushi Ishii.
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3. Zinke Calls for Shrinking More National Monuments and Shifting Management of 10


pacific remote islands, pacific oceanInterior Secretary Ryan Zinke's final report on national monuments and marine sites calls for shrinking four national monuments and changing the way six land and marine sites are managed. The marine sites include Northeast Canyons and Seamounts in the Atlantic Ocean and both Rose Atoll and the Pacific Remote Islands in the Pacific Ocean.  “For several sites, Zinke recommended amending the monuments’ proclamation language to ensure activities such as grazing, hunting and fishing can continue.”
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4.  EU Invests 30 Million Euro to Counter Illegal Wildlife Trafficking



UNODC, United NationsAs part of a 30 million euro intervention, the European Union today signed a 17.2 million euro agreement with three UN institutions working jointly to reduce the illegal killing of wildlife and the trafficking of wildlife products in Eastern and Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean. The three offices -- the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) -- will work together to strengthen cooperative management and criminal enforcement in the region.
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5.  Seafood Eaters Consume Tens of Thousands of Microplastics Every Year

mussels, microplastics, microplastics in mussels, plastic in mussels
A study from the University of Ghent found that an average serving of mussels contained 90 plastic particles. Eating two servings of mussels a week would mean ingesting 11,000 pieces of plastic annually. Plastic was found in nearly all of the hundreds of samples studied. The effects of plastic on humans is largely unknown.  
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6. International Accord Bans Fishing in Central Arctic Ocean


arctic ocean, icebreakerPOfficials from 10 nations last week finalized a historic accord that will prohibit commercial fishing for at least 16 years in the high seas of the central Arctic Ocean, which is now partly ice-free due to climate change. The ban gives scientists time to assess fishing stocks and distribution in the region. “The central Arctic Ocean is now the largest marine area to be proactively placed off-limits to fishing,” said Steve Ganey, who oversees Arctic marine projects at the Pew Charitable Trusts.
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Be sure to "LIKE" http://facebook.com/SeaSave to ensure our "Week in Review" is delivered to your newsfeed every Friday. 

Sea Save Foundation is committed to raising awareness of marine conservation. The Week in Review is a team effort produced by the Sea Save staff to provide a weekly summary of the latest in marine research, policy, and news.