Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online
In this week’s edition of Shark Science Monday, Jen Caselle of UC Santa Barbara discusses how the banning of gill nets in Southern California led to population recoveries of several species of sharks. If you have a question for Jen, leave it below and I’ll make sure she gets it.
Check out this trailer for “Shark Hope”, a soon-to-be-released documentary chronicling efforts to make a National Shark Sanctuary in Fiji! This movie is a partnership between Shark Defenders, the Coral Reef Alliance, and the Pew Environment Group. The movie will be released in Fiji later this month, and will soon be available online.
Earlier today, the California legislature voted to approve AB 376, the excitingly titled “act to add section 2021 to the Fish and Game Code, relating to sharks”. The ocean conservation community is happy, and we should be. The bill and its backing from Hollywood stars have generated substantial media coverage of the plight of sharks, and, if signed into law by the Governor and properly enforced, it could well save a lot of sharks. However, fin bans aren’t the perfect solution to the shark conservation crisis, and we still have a lot of work to do to protect sharks and closely related species around the world.
Read More “Hooray for California, but there’s still much work to be done to save sharks” »
On June 30th, while vacationing in the Turks and Caicos, a 28 year old man was bitten by a large shark. This particular attack got my attention in a hurry. For the first time in my life, a friend of mine was bitten by a shark. Obviously I know some shark biologists who have been bitten while handling sharks in the field, but that isn’t what happened in this case. This victim was simply snorkeling during a vacation. He agreed to answer some of my questions about the incident, and prefers to remain anonymous.
Read More “Shark bites snorkeler… who happens to be my friend” »
In this week’s edition of Shark Science Monday, Grant Galland from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography discusses marine protected areas and sharks. If you have a question for Grant, please leave it as a comment below and I’ll make sure he sees it.
As our ancestors transitioned from hunter-gatherer to agricultural society, they had to domesticate the plants and animals we know today as farm life. Corn kernels became larger and more full of starch, cows became more docile, and all farm organisms became accustomed to life in rows or pastures tended by humans. But some of what we eat depends on more than just these plants and animals – example, take beer. A new study in PNAS by Diego Libkind et al. describes the domestication of the microbes and yeast needed to make lagers of old and describes an unwitting process paralleling agricultural domestication.
Read More “Happy Hour Science – Domesticating Microbes for Beer” »
ScienceLIVE will be featured noted marine biologists Dr. John Bruno and Dr. Mark Eakin who will be discussing the state and future of coral reefs. From the website: Coral reefs from Australia to the Gulf of Mexico are some of the planet’s most vibrant ecosystems. They’re also among the most threatened habitats in oceans today. … Read More “Saving Coral Reefs, today at 3 EDT” »
In the last century, humans have made dramatic changes to both local and global ecosystems. Some of these changes have been subtle and remained unnoticed until very recently, while others were so visible and so destructive that their names are indelibly etched into our collective consciousness. Despite a legacy of desolation, many of these places, unsafe and long-abandoned, have made dramatic recoveries. Standing tall, but not alone, among these environmental catastrophes is the melt-down of reactor 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
In this week’s edition of Shark Science Monday, Austin Gallagher of the University of Miami discusses the stress physiology of sharks. If you have a question for Austin, please leave it as a comment below.
After the recent American Elasmobranch Society conference in Minneapolis, Chuck and I hit the Mall of America and the Minnesota Sea Life Aquarium. I was impressed with the quality of the exhibits, their focus on education and conservation, and with the creative use of space (the aquarium is essentially underneath the Mall).
The Minnesota Sea Life Aquarium is a great example of how zoos and aquarium can help promote conservation- Minneapolis is pretty darn far from an ocean, and this facility gives the public a chance to see and learn about some amazing sea creatures. On our behind the scenes tour, the guide showed some shark fins and sea turtle shells that had been confiscated by customs officers and donated for educational purposes. She explained a variety of threats facing our oceans, and how people could help even from somewhere as far from the sea as Minnesota. Additionally, most exhibit signage included the IUCN Red List status of their animals and brief descriptions of what the main threats facing the animals were. I’ve rarely seen a zoo or aquarium have more conservation information on their signs.
Read More “WhySharksMatter and SpinyDag visit the Minnesota Sea Life Aquarium” »
