Category: Science

Anti-shark stereotypes in “River Monsters”

Posted on By David Shiffman 44 Comments on Anti-shark stereotypes in “River Monsters”
Popular Culture, Science

Jeremy Wade and a "river monster". Image from treehugger.com

Over Memorial Day weekend, Animal Planet aired a marathon of it’s new hit show “River Monsters”. The show focuses on self-described “biologist and extreme angler” Jeremy Wade’s attempt to find some of the largest freshwater fish on Earth. I’ve heard good things about the show in the past but had never seen it before. After discovering that there were two episodes that dealt with bull sharks, and I immediately DVR-ed them to make sure I didn’t miss anything. I was absolutely shocked at what I heard Jeremy Wade say about sharks:

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Off The Deep End – Oil From the BP Well Threatens Life on a Nearby Seamount

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on Off The Deep End – Oil From the BP Well Threatens Life on a Nearby Seamount
Science

“In 2002, ocean explorer Gale Mead was the first person to see and film the profusion of life 200 feet down on Salt Dome Seamount — just 16 miles from where the BP oil well is now gushing out of control. Mead (daughter of oceanographer Sylvia Earle) describes the corals and fish she saw and … Read More “Off The Deep End – Oil From the BP Well Threatens Life on a Nearby Seamount” »

Why mercury and PCBs?

Posted on By Bluegrass Blue Crab
Science

A while back I reviewed the many seafood guides and the various ways they rank seafood choices.  They do share one thing in common, however, and that’s the special denotation of certain species as hazardous to human health because of toxin load. Specifically, high levels of mercury and PCBs as found by an Environmental Defense study.

First, kudos to EDF for making their data have immediate impact. Other studies of toxins in fish have sat around for literally decades before becoming part of the mainstream discourse about fisheries. But it does beg the question, what makes mercury and PCBs so important among the myriad toxins  in our oceans and our seafood?

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Expedition Great White: A response from Dr. Michael Domeier

Posted on By David Shiffman 9 Comments on Expedition Great White: A response from Dr. Michael Domeier
Conservation, Popular Culture, Science

Last week, I wrote about National Geographic’s Expedition Great White. In that post, I mentioned that the practice of removing great white sharks from the water for research was controversial, and that I would ask the lead scientist in the show about it. Here are answers to my questions from Dr. Michael Domeier and his colleague Nicole Lucas. They also wanted me to point out that their website has an FAQ page about this technique, which can be found here.

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Sharks International: Day 3 and 4

Posted on By David Shiffman
Science

The last talk of Sharks International just concluded.  Day 3 focused on genetic and molecular techniques, which have been used to answer all sorts of interesting questions about sharks.  I presented my research for the first time, and it was very well received (which is part of the reason why I haven’t posted in a couple of days- I’ve been very busy answering questions and celebrating being done with my talk).

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Sharks International: Day 2 Summary

Posted on By David Shiffman 3 Comments on Sharks International: Day 2 Summary
Science

The second day of Sharks International just concluded. This morning’s keynote address focused on how shark behavior research has changed in the last few decades, and how improved technology has made that possible. Scientists used to have to build their own acoustic tags and follow the tagged sharks around in a boat. Nowadays, tags can … Read More “Sharks International: Day 2 Summary” »

Is Sea Shepherd really saving whales?

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 51 Comments on Is Sea Shepherd really saving whales?
Conservation, Popular Culture, Science

Sea Shepherd claims that their actions in the Southern Ocean opposing Japanese whaling fleets has effectively reduced the number of whales killed. What always rubbed me the wrong way about these claims is that they always compare their success against the Institute for Cetacean Research (the Japanese organization that oversees ‘scientific whaling’) Quotas. So at some point you have to ask the question, in absolute numbers, has Sea Shepherd really reduced the number of whales killed?

To answer that we need three pieces of information:

  1. When did Sea Shepherd begin it’s campaign against Japanese ‘scientific whaling’?
  2. What are the ICR quotas for that time frame?
  3. What are the absolute catches for that time frame?

Sea Shepherd provides a comprehensive timeline for their whaling campaigns that indicates serious opposition in the Southern Ocean began in December 2002. For the two other questions, we turn to Whale and Dolphin Conservation International, who have produced a truly exceptional interactive graph of the history of whaling since the inception of the International Whaling Convention by the numbers. The relevant figure is reproduced below:

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