Skip to content

Southern Fried Science

Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS

Hacking tractors, foraging in the surf, mini-boats, Mardi Gras beads, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: February 5, 2018.

Posted on February 5, 2018 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • This little video is a master class in natural history: Foraging on a beach in Wales.
  • Tractor Hacking: The Farmers Breaking Big Tech’s Repair Monopoly.

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

  • This is big news! European Parliament Calls for a Moratorium on Deep-Sea Mining.
A seabed mining machine built for Nautilus Minerals.YouTube/Nautilus Minerals
A seabed mining machine built for Nautilus Minerals.YouTube/Nautilus Minerals
  • 46 tons of Mardi Gras beads found in clogged catch basins. Tons. TONS! I have a long standing hatred of parades that throw garbage into the street.
  • Seafood fraud, from the Fisheries Blog: A plate of lies.
  • Soviet whaling fleets secretly killed thousands and thousands of whales, leaving a lasting and sad legacy for some populations: Industrial Whaling of the 20th Century Was Worse Than We Thought.
  • More good news! New England Fishery Council Votes to Protect Deep-Sea Corals.
  • Red Herring: The Tons of Fish That Are Caught But Not Eaten.
  • This looks like serious fun: A mini boat you can build yourself with zip ties and epoxy.
Mini-boat.
Mini-boat.

Lagan (what we’re reading from the peer-reviewed literature)

  • Harden-Davies (2018) The next wave of science diplomacy: marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. DOI: 10.1093/icesjms/fsx165.
  • Martin (2018) On the acceptability and ethics of removing introduced mammals from islands. DOI: 10.1111/acv.12392
  • Hamilton and friends (2018) SpEED-Ne: software to simulate and estimate genetic effective population size (Ne) from linkage disequilibrium observed in single samples. DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.12759.
  • Campbell and friends (2018) When is a native species invasive? Incursion of a novel predatory marsupial detected using molecular and historical data. DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12717.

Shipping News (academic and ocean policy wonkery)

  • Who’s ready for the latest round in the unending game of Performative Academic Servitude: How many hours should students work edition?

Driftwood (what we’re reading on dead trees)

  • Currently working my way through Caitlin Doughty’s excellent From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death.

Derelicts (favorites from the deep archive)

  • Hacking the Tractor: what the future of farming means for open science.
  • Dear John: Farming and technology in the near future.
  • How to build a canoe from scratch on a graduate student stipend.

Feel free to share your own Foghorns, Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan, Shipping News, Driftwood, and Derelicts in the comments below. If you enjoy Southern Fried Science, consider contributing to our Patreon campaign. For just $5 per month, you can support the SFS Writers Fund, which helps compensate your favorite ocean science and conservation bloggers for their efforts.

Share this:

  • Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon

Related

Tags: anchovies corals death deep-sea mining diplomacy DIY effective population size foraging fruad hacking invasion mammal Mardi Gras mini-boat seafood soviet tractors wales whaling work-life balance

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: Texting about ichthyology and climate change’s effects on indigenous culture: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, February 1st, 2018
Next Post: Canada proposed revisions to the Fisheries Act. Here’s how science and conservation experts reacted. ❯

You may also like

Featured
One Mining Code to Rule Them All: The poison pill at the heart of the Deep-Sea Mining negotiations.
July 19, 2023
Weekly Salvage
HAGFISH! Also deep-sea mining, climate change, The Ocean Cleanup, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 17, 2017
July 17, 2017
Blogging
Deep-sea mining, marine protected areas, and the eternal struggle to open doors: This Week in Andrew (and Angelo) Doing Podcasts
May 7, 2025
Weekly Salvage
Frisky Anglerfish, Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors, Make for the Planet Borneo, Sea Cucumber Mafia, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: March 26, 2018
March 26, 2018

Popular Posts

How close did the world's first deep-sea mining come to the dredging the world's largest cold-water coral reef?How close did the world's first deep-sea mining come to the dredging the world's largest cold-water coral reef?March 17, 2026Andrew Thaler
At least 74 practicing shark researchers: How a silly thing I said online raised thousands for conservationAt least 74 practicing shark researchers: How a silly thing I said online raised thousands for conservationFebruary 26, 2025David Shiffman
What Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on "the Shark Whisperer" documentaryWhat Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on "the Shark Whisperer" documentaryJuly 2, 2025David Shiffman
That's not a blobfish: Deep Sea Social Media is Flooded by AI SlopThat's not a blobfish: Deep Sea Social Media is Flooded by AI SlopDecember 19, 2025Andrew Thaler
Urea and Shark OsmoregulationUrea and Shark OsmoregulationNovember 15, 2010David Shiffman
Here's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservationHere's what I teach my students about finding jobs in marine biology and conservationApril 10, 2024David Shiffman
Here are some ocean conservation technologies that I'm excited aboutHere are some ocean conservation technologies that I'm excited aboutFebruary 19, 2026David Shiffman
I turned my woodshop into a personal solar farm.I turned my woodshop into a personal solar farm.June 21, 2021Andrew Thaler
Alberta, Canada is the proud owner of the largest man-made pyramid on the planetAlberta, Canada is the proud owner of the largest man-made pyramid on the planetOctober 16, 2012Andrew Thaler
Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryShark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryAugust 10, 2014Michelle Jewell
Subscribe to our RSS Feed for updates whenever new articles are published.

We recommend Feedly for RSS management. It's like Google Reader, except it still exists.

Southern Fried Science

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS


If you enjoy Southern Fried Science, consider contributing to our Patreon campaign.

Copyright © 2026 Southern Fried Science.

Theme: Oceanly Premium by ScriptsTown