ecotourism | Southern Fried Science

#IAmSeaGrant, Octopus Beats Dolphins, Deep-sea Mining, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 29, 2017

Posted on May 29, 2017 by Andrew Thaler

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

#IAmSeaGrant. Despite being one of the most bipartisan research programs in the United States, with a huge return on investment for coastal communities and businesses, Sea Grant is under attack from the current administration. Deep Sea News has been collecting stories from marine researchers who’ve benefited from Sea Grant programs: Ben Wetherill, Nyssa Silbiger, and Christy Bowles.
27 National Monuments are under review by the Department of the Interior. Our Nation Monuments are our National Treasures. Don’t let them be sold to the highest bidder! Submit formal public comments on the DOI Monument Review and make your voice heard.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Zach Weinersmith has perfectly capture the essence of what it is to be a marine biologist in the United States right now. Pure. Abyssal. Horror.

The Deep Sea News crew is at sea, and Dr. Craig and his team did a hilarious, fascinating, informative Ask Me Anything over at Reddit. Worth reading the whole thread, even though it’s done for now.

Conservation Wanted – dead or alive?

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Chris Parsons

When I was an undergraduate studying conservation in the dim and distant past, we were told that the way endangered species would be saved would be to give them a financial value, and “wise use” of these species would allow them to survive. Well, that worked well, didn’t it…? The poster species of the “wise use” movement (such as elephants) are much closer to extinction today than they were decades ago.

Shark News Roundup: the ecology of fear, curious whale sharks, and saving the manta rays

Posted on November 16, 2010 by David Shiffman

The shark blog-o-sphere has been busy lately. Here are some of the headlines from the world of shark science and conservation.

Chuck from Ya Like Dags has a fantastic post explaining the ecology of fear and how it relates to sharks. As it turns out, predators can have a major impact on an ecosystem just by being there- prey change their behavior in ecologically significant ways because they want to avoid being eaten. If you’re looking for scientific reasons why sharks are important to the ocean or if you’re just looking for a cool ecology story, check it out!

Al Dove of the Georgia Aquarium explains that whale sharks are curious animals that will sometimes swim over to check out humans. I’ve found that most sharks tend to avoid people, but he has a pretty convincing video.