pirates
Lost shipwrecks, weaponized hagfish, plastivorous worms, deep-sea mining, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: August 20, 2018.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Did you know that oceanbites also published in Spanish? Go check it out!
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Marine Worms Are Eating Plastic Now. I’m sure this will be fine [Ed: I’m not sure. It won’t be fine.]
- Are you following Diva Amon’s latest expedition: My Deep Sea, My Backyard in Trinidad and Tobago? Join the adventure!
Dr. Amon shows off a deep-sea dropcam. Courtesy OpenExplorer.
Members of the expedition take time to examine a Japanese mini submarine that remains in the historic sub pens on Kiska Island. Image courtesy of Kiska: Alaska’s Underwater Battlefield expedition.
Gently jelly-nabbing bots, deep-coral under threat, albino stingrays, #JacquesWeek, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 23, 2018
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- All Hands on Deck! You’re got one week left to apply to join the MIT Media Lab and NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research for this year’s National Ocean Exploration Forum as an Ocean Discovery Fellow!
- Jacques Week 2018 is here!
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- What just happened? Everyone is going wild for the deep-sea fish attack video.
The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)
- Stitching Hope for the Coast – communicating coastal optimism for Louisiana. Deadline for submissions has been extended to October!
Pirates, conch, and surfing scientists: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, July 19th, 2018
Cuttings (short and sweet):
- Follow Erin Meyer, the director of conservation programs for the Seattle Aquarium, on twitter!
- Piracy Incident Reported in First Half of 2018 at Lowest Level in 10 Years. From GCaptain news alerts.
- She said she didn’t know it was illegal to take conchs. She’s heading to jail anyway. By Gwen Filosa, for the Miami Herald.
- Canada Post releases new shark stamps! By me, for Gizmodo’s Earther.
Spoils (long reads and deep dives):
- Surfing For Science: A New Way To Gather Data For Ocean And Coastal Research. By Nathan Rott, for NPR news.
- Are the fish in Florida’s polluted waters safe to eat? By Ed Killer, for the Treasure Coast Palm.
- What Were Two Humpback Whales Doing with a Dead Gray Whale Calf? By Erica Cirino, for Hakai.
- Warm water threatens what should be bumper year for Fraser River sockeye. From CBC news.
- Canada’s high Arctic glaciers at risk of disappearing completely. By Ashifa Kassam, for the Guardian.
- Taiwan Pushed to Confront Work Abuse in High Seas Fishing Fleet. By Nick Aspinwall, for OceansDeeply.
- Bold initiative aims to protect coral reefs in the Dominican Republic. By Greg Asner, for MongaBay
- Groupers on the Comeback in the Caymans. By Ben Shouse, for Scientific American.
- Seashell Souvenirs Are Killing Protected Marine Life. By Tina Deines, for National Geographic
Please add your own cuttings and spoils in the comments!
If you appreciate my shark research and conservation outreach, please consider supporting me on Patreon! Any amount is appreciated, and supporters get exclusive rewards!
Two new writers, the net that never stops killing, how not to launch a boat, the Blackfish Effect, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 28, 2018
Muster (updates from the blog)
- Southern Fried Science has a fresh, new, mobile friendly look! Let us know what you think in the comments.
- We welcomed two new writers in as many months! Please give a huge welcome to Angelo Villagomez and Rachel Pendergrass. Check out their first articles:
- Spotted in the Chesapeake: We met a friendly Northern Water Snake swimming around the Bay this weekend. Northern Water Snakes are common and completely harmless. If you see one, just say “Hi” and let them be.
Photo by author
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 summer, 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)
“One old gill net found wedged between rocks off the coast of the San Juan Islands reportedly sat atop a pile of marine bird and mammal bones that was three feet deep.”
WHOI
- It’s been far, far too long since we had a really good boat launch fail. Don’t worry, the crane operator bailed out before the flip and is fine.
Fish feel pain, mining feels the pressure, sea lions feel excluded, and science publishing feels like an old boys club. It’s the Monday Morning Salvage: January 8, 2018!
Fog Horn (A Call to Action)
- Abstract submission open for the 2018 International Marine Conservation Congress in Kuching, Sarawak this summer! Get your abstracts in early!
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- This is a pretty big deal: The Year Climate Change Began to Spin Out of Control. The loop is closing fast and if we don’t break the cycle, things will get much worse much faster.
Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)
- Fish Feel Pain. Now What? New research raises big questions about humane treatment of sea life.
- The final first-of-year Bluefin Tuna auction at the Tsukiji Fish Market marks the end of an era. It sold for $323,000, far below historic highs.
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/01/7d362d3cdd9b-tsukiji-fish-market-holds-final-new-year-auction.html
A new Gulf oil spill, opposition to deep-sea mining, DIY drop cameras, and more! Massive Monday Morning Salvage: October 30, 2017
I’ve been away for 2 weeks, so it’s a super-massive edition of the Monday Morning Salvage!
Fog Horn (A Call to Action)
- There’s still an unimaginable amount of work to do in Dominica and across the Caribbean. Support the Rebuild Dominica Hurricane Relief fund or any of the other funds from our list: How to help our island colleagues in the wake of total devastation.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- This is such a cool story: A Trail of Rocks Traces Historical Steamship Routes. We can track old steamship routes from rocks scraped out of the furnaces and tossed overboard.
- Former Papua New Guinea Attorney General attacks deep sea mining project. They always pick pictures for these articles that don’t show how much life is right around the vents.
Sampling SMS under the sea Photo: Nautilus Minerals
- Whose ecological footprint is bigger: Medics, economists, or environmentalists? Spoilers: conservationists still have an impact, but they sure ain’t number 1.
Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)
- There’s a fresh oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s pretty darn huge:
- Some fun from Deep Sea News: When real-life marine biologist and mom goes to sea, she takes the octonauts with her.
- This is fine: Report on U.S. Marine Sanctuary Oil Drilling Sent to White House, Not Released to Public. This is totally fine: Trump Administration Proposes Largest Oil and Gas Lease Sale in U.S. History.
- Alaska’s Oyster Farmers Are Filling an Acidification-Driven Void. The state’s oyster farming industry is gaining ground as growers elsewhere struggle. From Hakai Magazine, which is great.
- Nature is one of the most under-appreciated tools for reigning in carbon. From Anthropocene, which is fast becoming my favorite environmental print magazine. Sorry, Orion.
- Thousands of penguin chicks starve in Antarctica.
Hey, Andrew, how about you give us at least *some* good news today? Ok, fine.
Jellyfish sleep, shark-sucking bots, mole crab parasites, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: September 25, 2017
Fog Horn (A Call to Action)
- The fight for our Marine National Monuments isn’t over. We now know of the contents of Zincke’s monument review memo, and it is not good. The DOI wants to see commercial fishing return to the Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll Marine National Monuments. Longline fishing in these regions has historically been conducted by foreign fishing fleets which have been documented using slave labor. Many ecologists believe that maintaining these protected zones serve as a refuge that boost populations of many important commercial fish and improve the overall health of the fishery. Any change to monuments created under the Antiquities Act must be approved by congress. You’ve got a lot of reason to call you representatives this week, so why not add “I opposed the reintroduction of ecologically and economically destructive commercial fishing to the Pacific Remote Islands and Rose Atoll Marine National Monument.” to your script?
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Jellyfish sleep. Mind. Blown.
- Our Pacific Monuments are also extremely important scientific sites. Commercial fishing could jeopardize decades of research efforts in the remote Pacific. Scientists pan proposal to open pristine Pacific islands to fishing.
Palmyra Atoll. Erik Oberg/Island Conservation/Flickr
It’s #JacquesWeek! Also, lots of other ocean things happened last week. Monday Morning Salvage: July 24, 2017
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- #JacquesWeek! It’s Jacques Week! Join us all week long as we watch and discuss classic Cousteau documentaries.
- This incredible interactive map of deep-sea mining sites, associated ecosystems, and the threats they face, from the Royal Society. And, while we’re on the topic of Deep-sea Mining, I am Wilderness just launched the DSM Observer to track all the latest developments in deep-sea mining.
- A whale making a rainbow. Share the love.
Thursday Afternoon Dredging: December 8th, 2016
Cuttings (short and sweet):
- Rays chew. Who knew? From this paper by Kolmann and friends
From Kolmann and friends 2016, “Always chew your food. Freshwater stingrays use mastication to process insect prey.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
- Follow Dr. Leanne Currey @LeanneMCurrey, a postdoc working on the Global FinPrint project, on twitter! Follow her for great videos of sharks and other marine life approaching baited underwater video stations around the world.
- Our friends at the Fisheries Blog surveyed their readers about their peer review habits. Do these results match your experience?