Please browse our News feeds below for the most up to date information concerning our cause.
The Ocean Conservancy News
- Tue, 25 Jun 2019 12:00:49 +0000: Vote to Help Choose our Photo Contest Winners - Ocean Conservancy
Kelp out a friend and vote for your favorite photo today.
The post Vote to Help Choose our Photo Contest Winners appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
- Mon, 24 Jun 2019 12:00:47 +0000: Meet the Smartest Ocean Animals - Ocean Conservancy
Are you smarter than an octopus? Lean about the ocean's smartest creatures.
The post Meet the Smartest Ocean Animals appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
- Fri, 21 Jun 2019 12:00:25 +0000: An Ode to the Flamboyant Cuttlefish - Ocean Conservancy
These colorful, captivating cephalopods will steal your heart.
The post An Ode to the Flamboyant Cuttlefish appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
- Thu, 20 Jun 2019 12:00:03 +0000: 10 Ocean Animals You Might Not Know Live in the Gulf of Mexico - Ocean Conservancy
The Gulf is one of the most staggeringly productive places on this planet.
The post 10 Ocean Animals You Might Not Know Live in the Gulf of Mexico appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
- Wed, 19 Jun 2019 17:00:54 +0000: Good News in the Fight Against Plastic - Ocean Conservancy
Members of Congress call for a coordinated federal response to plastic waste.
The post Good News in the Fight Against Plastic appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
The Open Channels News
- Mon, 24 Jun 2019 17:26:29 +0000: OC Overview for the week of 24 June 2019 - OpenChannels News
To Save the Whales, Crab Fishers Are Testing Ropeless Gear
https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/to-save-the-whales-crab-fishers-are-t...
Climate change will cost Washington $24 billion in ‘high tide tax,’ report says
https://www.knkx.org/post/climate-change-will-cost-washington-24-billion...
- Wed, 19 Jun 2019 22:21:06 +0000: OC Overview for the week of 17 June 2019 - OpenChannels News
Arctic could face another scorching annus horribilis
https://phys.org/news/2019-06-arctic-annus-horribilis.html
Whale Watchers Accused Of Loving Endangered Orcas To Death
- Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:44:16 +0000: Webinar June 27: “Developing Ecological and Oceanographic Insights for Decision-makers on Changing Ocean Chemistry” - OpenChannels News
Thursday, June 27 at 2:00 PM ET/11:00 AM PT
Join us at the Lenfest Ocean Program for a webinar on “Developing Ecological and Oceanographic Insights for Decision-makers on Changing Ocean Chemistry” featuring Tessa Hill, University of California, Davis, Ana Spalding, Oregon State University, and Jessica Kauzer, California Ocean Science Trust to discuss a new project to:
- Mon, 10 Jun 2019 19:39:05 +0000: What works to reduce marine plastic pollution? What we know and what we need to do - OpenChannels News
“[Ocean plastic] isn’t a problem where we don’t know what the solution is. We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to dispose of it. We know how to recycle.”
Editor’s note: Marine plastic has a profound impact on marine ecosystems – entangling and killing wildlife, spreading disease and non-native species, and even impairing the oceans’ creation of oxygen. Managing marine ecosystems will need to include managing the marine plastic problem. Last month the Skimmer reported on the impacts of marine plastic on the Blue Economy, including on tourism, fishing, and ecosystem services. This month, in the second half of our plastics coverage, we examine which policies to reduce marine plastic seem to work best.
There is an abundance of information out there on how to reduce one’s personal plastic consumption, with the ultimate goal of reducing the amount of plastic that is polluting marine (and terrestrial) ecosystems. There are also numerous great reports (examples here and here) on government and industry interventions for reducing marine plastic pollution. But what do we know about the efficacy and level of impact of these activities? Are we lumping actions which are likely to have relatively little impact on the problem with actions that potentially have huge impacts? Of course, the ideal is to eliminate all plastic pollution – marine and terrestrial – but in this article, we attempt to:
- Provide perspective (by way of lots of numbers) for what actions are most likely to make the biggest difference in marine plastic pollution
- Provide information on what has been shown to work to reduce marine plastic pollution.
- Mon, 10 Jun 2019 19:30:27 +0000: Ecological connectivity between the high seas and coastal waters: Why coastal communities need to care about what happens on the high seas - OpenChannels News
Editor’s Note: For this article, we interviewed Ekaterina Popova, a global ocean modeller with the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, United Kingdom, about her new article "Ecological connectivity between the areas beyond national jurisdiction and coastal waters: Safeguarding interests of coastal communities in developing countries" published in Marine Policy in June 2019. This research found that coastal regions of some least-developed countries (LDCs) are connected to areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) through larval dispersal and the potential dispersal of pollutants. These findings suggest that protecting ‘source’ areas in the ABNJ could help promote sustainable livelihoods for coastal regions that depend on larval supply from these regions (and could prevent pollutants from these source areas reaching coastal regions.)
The Skimmer: Can you briefly describe some of the connections between source areas in the ABNJ and coastal regions?
Popova: Our study showed that connectivity between the ABNJ and coastal waters of different countries varies considerably. How tight the connectivity is, depends on the prevailing direction, timescale and variability of ocean currents. Sometimes, the shape of the adjacent Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) also has an effect. The complex ways these various factors interact means that close geographical proximity, or ‘adjacency’, of coastal waters to ABNJ is not always a good indicator of strong connectivity and some countries are much more exposed to the influence of ABNJ than others. The world’s most ABNJ-impacted LDC is the Federal Republic of Somalia. Its strong connectivity is shaped by three powerful currents: the South Equatorial current, the East African coastal current, and the seasonally reversing East Somali current. The most tightly ABNJ-connected stretch of the Somali coastline can be impacted by the upstream ABNJ waters on a time scale of just over a month. In contrast, the Republic of Senegal is one of the world’s least connected LDCs. Its most tightly ABNJ-connected coastline stretch is impacted by upstream ABNJ on a time scale of more than seven months.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution News
- Mon, 24 Jun 2019 17:34:05 +0000: Knee-Deep - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
WHOI engineer Chris Basque deploys instruments for the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Global Array as waves crash board the R/V Nathaniel B.… - Mon, 24 Jun 2019 17:04:31 +0000: Barbara Allen Bunker - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announces with great sorrow the death of former employee Barbara Allen Bunker on June 12.… - Fri, 21 Jun 2019 16:39:44 +0000: NASA Makes Dual Investment in Ocean Worlds Research at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Agency funds five-year effort to understand the potential for life in outer solar system and establishes a new Network for… - Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:17:01 +0000: Study Finds No Direct Link Between North Atlantic Ocean Currents, Sea Level Along New England Coast - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
A new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) clarifies what influence major currents in the North Atlantic have on sea level along the northeastern United States. The study, published June 13 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, examined both the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)—a conveyor belt of currents that move warmer waters north and cooler waters south in the Atlantic—and historical records of sea level in coastal New England. - Fri, 14 Jun 2019 14:32:16 +0000: Can thermal cameras prevent ship strikes? - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Researchers are testing the effectiveness of thermal IR cameras for automated whale detection to help prevent ship strikes in the narrow channels of British Columbia's Gulf Islands.