Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online
Cuttings (short and sweet): Follow Skye Augustine, a marine biologist studying traditional indigenous fisheries management practices, on twitter! A plate of lies: seafood mislabeling. By Meghan Fox, for the Fisheries Blog. 2017 was the hottest year yet for the world’s oceans. By Sarah Gibbens, for National Geographic. Helping sound out of water: new materials could help … Read More “Texting about ichthyology and climate change’s effects on indigenous culture: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, February 1st, 2018” »
Welcome to Dear Shark Man, an advice column inspired by a ridiculous e-mail I received. You can send your questions to me via twitter (@WhySharksMatter) or e-mail (WhySharksMatter at gmail).
Dear Shark Man,
What are your thoughts on elasmobranchs in the pet and aquarium trade? Is this a serious conservation issue?
Sincerely,
Nonchalant in New Zealand
Read More “Dear Shark Man, is the aquarium trade a major shark conservation issue?” »
Cuttings (short and sweet): Follow Kelsey James, a graduate student studying the age and growth of batoid fishes, on twitter! Ancient maps show islands that don’t really exist. By Greg Miller, for National Geographic. Global registry of invasive species is a milestone for conservation. By Jonathan Watts, for the Guardian. Want to buy a tshirt, mug, … Read More “Imaginary islands, lobster pain, porgs and puffins: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, January 25th, 2018” »
Cuttings (short and sweet):
Welcome to Dear Shark Man, an advice column inspired by a ridiculous e-mail I received. You can send your questions to me via twitter (@WhySharksMatter) or e-mail (WhySharksMatter at gmail).
Dear Shark Man,
Someone I follow on Instagram posted this earlier this week. In this post, she claims that a shark became blind in one eye because SCUBA divers were regularly rubbing it’s snout. Is that a thing? It doesn’t seem like a thing.
Sincerely,
Frustrated in Fort Lauderdale
Read More “Dear Shark Man, can rubbing a shark’s snout cause blindness?” »
Cuttings (short and sweet):
Welcome to Dear Shark Man, an advice column inspired by a ridiculous e-mail I received. You can send your questions to me via twitter (@WhySharksMatter) or e-mail (WhySharksMatter at gmail).
Dear Shark Man,
Do sharks fart?
Sincerely,
Restless in Raleigh
OceansOnline is now accepting abstracts! OceansOnline is an optional one-day add-on to the International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC5).This year’s IMCC (including OceansOnline) will take place in Kuching, Malaysia. IMCC5 is June 22-29th, 2018 with OceansOnline on the 2018.
OceansOnline focuses on using online tools for marine science and conservation, including advocacy, public education, research, and collaboration! Anyone is welcome, including scientists, conservation advocates, educators, natural resource managers, journalists, and communicators. OceansOnline content is suitable for beginners or professionals.
Be sure to follow #SharkScienceMonday on twitter every Monday morning of 2018 (starting January 8th)! Each week, a team of researchers* will be discussing a different scientific paper related to shark and ray biology, behavior, ecology, or management.
Some papers will be new and cutting edge, while others will be classics. They’ll all have one thing in common: a member of the Dulvy lab thought that they had an interesting or important result that significantly contributed to our various areas of expertise. Whenever possible, we will share a link to an open access copy of the paper so everyone can read along.
After we summarize the key takeaways from each paper, we’ll take questions. We’ll also start a discussion about that specific paper and the discipline that it is a part of, including suggesting various experts you can follow on twitter.
We hope that you’ll follow along with us, and that you’ll learn some interesting and important things about elasmobranch research and management!
2017 was… yeah. Of all the years I’ve lived through, 2017 was definitely one of them. Anyway, some interesting things happened in the world of shark research. Here, in no particular order, are 17 amazing and important things that scientists discovered about sharks and rays over the last year.
1 Sharks can switch between sexual and asexual reproduction. We’ve known that several shark species can reproduce asexually for over a decade now, but this year, Dudgeon and friends showed an individual shark switching between sexual and asexual reproduction for the first time!
Noteworthy media coverage: CNN, National Geographic, Gizmodo