Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online
The Finatics, a group of middle school and high school students dedicated to shark conservation, are finalists for the junior Oceana Ocean Hero award. I encourage everyone to support them. There is also an award for adult ocean heroes. ~WhySharksMatter
This time they’ve gone too far. In this economy, it’s hard enough to find employment as a marine scientist. Marine mammals are taking our jobs!
In honor of President Obama’s newly announced space exploration plan, I am reposting one of my favorites from the old site. Original comments can be found at the old site.
On this blog, we’ve discussed how many current fisheries practices are completely unsustainable, because we are simply taking too many fish from the oceans. We’ve also discussed how we can’t just stop fishing because too many humans need the food.
We’ve discussed the energy crisis, and how some the present methods our civilization uses to power our lives are destroying the planet through pollution, environmental destruction, and emissions that cause global warming. We’ve also discussed the fact that people need energy.
We’ve discussed how some current mining practices, such as top-mining, are an environmental catastrophe. However, it is undeniable that we need the minerals that come from mining.
Many more problems are facing the world today. There simply isn’t enough room for all the people we have, and there are more people every day (and less room for them because of sea level rise). Many people today simply don’t have enough fresh water to drink, and thousands die each day from this– a problem that is only getting worse as population increases. The present economic crisis, one of the worst of all time, means that in addition to millions being out of work, governments don’t have money for solutions to these problems.
Things look pretty grim…. but is there any kind of solution that can solve all of these problems at once? A universal solution, as it were (pardon the pun)?
To find it, we need to think well outside of the box. In fact, we need to look in a whole new direction.
Read More “Save the Planet, it’s the only one we’ve got… or is it?” »
Most marine conservationists and environmentally conscious citizens believe that fisheries bycatch is a major problem that needs to be solved soon. In most cases, they are correct, but an interesting paper from Nature shows that bycatch can sometimes be good for certain species. Consider the case of the Great Skua. The Great Skua is a … Read More “Ethical Debate: Bycatch and the Great Skua” »
When people learn that I’m a marine biologist, they often assume I got into this career because I want to be a dolphin trainer. The general public seems to believe that marine mammals are cute and cuddly and innocent, but sharks are cruel and evil and bad. In reality, nature is an amoral place- our morality is, by necessity, anthropocentric and doesn’t really relate to the wild behavior of animals. If this wasn’t the case, though, here are ten reasons why marine mammals aren’t as cute and cuddly and innocent as people sometimes think they are.
Read More “10 reasons why marine mammals aren’t as cute as you think they are” »
Lots has been written about the recent failure of CITES to protect marine species. Most of it focuses on blaming countries like Japan and China for putting commerce ahead of science and conservation. However, SCUBA operator and blogger Mike Da Shark has a different perspective- he criticizes the NGOs who advocated for conservation.
Our latest reader mail comes from my friend Mike, who writes for the conservative political blog SaveTheGop. Though we don’t agree on much, he’s usually a reasonable guy. His question concerns a post I recently wrote about Hawaii’s proposed bill to ban the sale of shark fins within their state.
After the failure of my first PCR, we tried again. This one is more successful. Of my 7 samples, 5 amplified. We aren’t sure why the other two didn’t, so I’m going to try to re-extract DNA from them and try a few different primers with them this week.
Bluefin tuna are some of the most endangered fish in the sea. Prized by the sushi industry for their delicious flavor, populations of bluefin have declined precipitously in recent decades.
They also may be the first species of fish to be driven to extinction by commercial fishing. Normally, when populations of fish get low, it isn’t profitable to fish for them anymore- thus they are not driven to extinction. However, a single bluefin tuna can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, so it is still profitable to fish for the last one.
Read More “Might as well eat ’em: A semi-serious April Fool’s Day ethical debate” »
I received an e-mail from Oceana today encouraging me to “tell President Obama to keep his promise”. The e-mail claims that while running for President, he campaigned against offshore oil drilling, which would make his recent announcement about allowing offshore drilling a broken promise indeed. However, I seem to remember that Obama as a candidate was for offshore drilling. I went to my favorite non-partisan fact check website, Politifact, to sort this out.
Read More “Has President Obama broken a promise on offshore drilling?” »