MPAs – Southern Fried Science

The ongoing wonder of hagfish, deep-sea mining’s race to the bottom, saving whales with lineless lobster traps, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: January 21, 2019

January 21, 2019January 22, 2019 Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

It’s month two of the longest shutdown in US history and there’s only one party who won’t allow a vote to reopen the government proceed. Have you called you senator today?

The Shutdown Is Making the U.S. Less Prepared for Hurricane Season

And while I have your attention, FYI:

Thousands of Scientists Endorse Study Proclaiming Trump’s Border Wall a Disaster for Wildlife

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)3-D Printing the Ulitmate Deep-Sea Christmas Tree

Oceans Warming Faster Than Predicted, Scientists Say and Ocean Warming Is Accelerating Faster Than Thought, New Research Finds.
Ministry hints Putin’s Arctic ambitions are not realistic. There is unease in several Russian government ministries as officials start to understand that the President’s objectives for the Northern Sea Route can not be reached. The only way to please the president might be to expand the sea route itself.
Hagfish are so good. We don’t deserve hagfish.
- How hagfish launch slime missiles that swell 10,000 times in size.
- How hagfish can make enough slime to clog a shark’s jaws in seconds

Voyaging canoes, failed sea-steading sea states, breaching ocean plastic, deep-sea mining, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 2, 2018

July 2, 2018July 1, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

This year’s Jairo Mora Sandoval Award for Courage in Conservation goes to Patima Tungpuchayakul! Between August 2014 and October 2016, Patima helped rescue 3,000 trafficked fish workers stranded on remote islands in Indonesian waters by the Thai fishing industry from their slavery. Read more about Patima’s tireless work to liberate enslaved peoples in the fishing industry.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Atlas Obscura is on a roll this week with some seriously fabulous ocean coverage, including my new favs:

The Canoe That Changed Hawai‘i: How Hōkūleʻa and its amazing voyage across the Pacific helped kickstart a Hawaiian cultural renaissance.
Abalonia: The Island Nation That Never Was.

The wreck of the Jalisco. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Whale made from 5 tons of plastic waste breaches Bruges Canal.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Stitching Hope for the Coast – Christmas trees provide coastal optimism by the incredible Dr. Guertin.

Cinnamon-flavored hagfish, how to open a coconut, hunted by sperm whales, speaking up for the blue, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 11, 2018.

June 11, 2018June 10, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Great ocean outreach webinar: Bless your coast: communicating acidification with lessons learned in the Southeast. Tune in June 13th at 1 PM EDT!

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Another entry into the “A Deeper Sea” keeps coming true file: Sperm whales are tracking fishing boats and stealing their fish.
I’m bummed to be missing Dinacon, but they’re putting out some awesome videos. Ever wonder how to crack open a coconut?

Join in on an oceanographic cruise already underway! Follow along with the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Observatory.
Introducing #OceanX and #Alucia2, a bold new initiative to explore the ocean and bring it back to the world! Yes please!

Saturation diving, destroying the world with Bitcoin mining, deep-sea mining, Arctic shrinkage, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 21, 2018

May 21, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Yale study: Newspaper op-eds change minds and The Long-lasting Effects of Newspaper Op-Eds on Public Opinion. Scientists and conservationists, this May, make an effort to publish a Letter to the Editor or OpEd in your local paper. If you’ve done so, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Immediately after college, my backup plan if I didn’t get into grad school was to go to work as an underwater welder doing saturation diving. After reading this, I’m pretty glad I didn’t go that route. The Weird, Dangerous, Isolated Life of the Saturation Diver.

Walking the talk in Vanuatu, the first country in the world to ban plastic straws.
We’ve been saying this for a awhile now. Cryptocurrencies that rely on ever increasing processing power to resolve transaction are an environmental disaster. Alarming Study Suggests Bitcoin Consumes an Astonishing Amount of Energy and It’s Only Getting Worse.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Stitching Hope for the Coast is still accepting contributions from knitters around the world. Join the fun!

Write to your newspaper, banning plastic in the Bahamas, vanishing atolls, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: April 30, 2018.

April 30, 2018April 29, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Yale study: Newspaper op-eds change minds and The Long-lasting Effects of Newspaper Op-Eds on Public Opinion. Scientists and conservationists, this May, make an effort to publish a Letter to the Editor or OpEd in your local paper.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Rescued octopus returns to thank its rescuers.

The government of the Bahamas will ban plastic bags and other single use plastics by 2020!
Are you listening to Offshore by Civil Beat? The current season on adoptions in the Marshall Islands is a gut punch.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Saving the Coast through Storytelling.

Alvin dives for early-career scientists, join me in the Marianas Islands, stump a scientist, embraces MPAs, and more! Tuesday (?) Morning Salvage: April 17, 2018

April 17, 2018April 16, 2018 Andrew Thaler 1 Comment

Weekly Salvage

We’re late because Andrew doesn’t understand time zones.

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

This is an incredible oportunity for an early career researcher to get their feet wet leading a deep-sea science cruise: Announcing a NSF-UNOLS Early Career Training Cruise Opportunity to the East Pacific Rise 9° 50’N – December 2018

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

We have a new writer! Please welcome the Original Saipan Blogger, Bucky Villagomez!
Hafa Adai from the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands! Are you following along with our adventure on OpenExplorer? Yesterday was one of the highlights of my career: Marine Ecology and Underwater Robotics in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Okeanos Marianas. Our research vessel for the day.

Add this to the list of things that are really not good: Atlantic Ocean Current Slows Down To 1,000-Year Low, Studies Show.
Look, if anyone could actually pull this off, it’s Phil Nuytten, but I. Have. Questions: Who’d like to live under the sea? H/T to Dr. Diva Amon.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Behold, the interactive Salt Marsh!
David S. and S. David did a thing!

Sea monsters and saving kelp: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, April 12, 2018

April 12, 2018April 11, 2018 David Shiffman 1 Comment

Uncategorized

Cuttings (short and sweet): Follow graduate student Justine Hudson, who studies arctic marine mammals, on twitter. Prehistoric “sea monster” could be largest that ever lived. By John Pickrell, for National Geographic. Right whales think before they speak. By Jason Goldman, for Scientific American. UK could create 5,000 jobs by improving seafood sustainability. By Fiona Harvey, for … Read More “Sea monsters and saving kelp: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, April 12, 2018” »

Hagfish, chill Puffins, swamp monsters, the mining boat floats, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: April 2, 2018

April 2, 2018March 31, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Want to help stem the tide of misinformation online and off? Do you have it all figured out and just need resources to implement your world-saving solution? The Rita Allen Foundation is looking for Solutions to Curb the Spread of Misinformation.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Hagfish. Tough. Lovable. Slimy. But not too slimy. Hagfish Take Weeks to Recover from Sliming Someone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmaal7Hf0WA

Kevin D’Angelo integrated the OpenCTD with a new protocol for detecting salinity using the gold pins of a microUSB controller and I am blown away! Outstanding work.
This is a puffin wearing sunglasses for science.

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Installed as a beacon of hope for a hurricane-racked island, the statue had to be moved multiple times due to the eroding coast: Our Lady of the Sea by Russel Arnott.
Russell also created these outstanding posters to warn us away from Louisiana’s famed and fearsome swamp ghosts:

Beware the Feu Follet, by Russell Arnott

Frisky Anglerfish, Persistent Aquatic Living Sensors, Make for the Planet Borneo, Sea Cucumber Mafia, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: March 26, 2018

March 26, 2018March 25, 2018 Andrew Thaler

Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Sign up for Make for the Planet Borneo and help push forward the next generation of conservation technology!
Announcing the Con X Tech Prize for Hacking Extinction! Apply for funding to create a working hardware prototype and win up to $20,000 in awards.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)