sanctions | Southern Fried Science

Saving the Great Barrier Reef, bolt cutters, bulk cutters, beak scars, and more! Monday Morning Salvage, August 27, 2018.

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Andrew Thaler

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Do you have a novel idea that could help save the world’s reefs? Sign up for the Out of the Blue Box Reef Innovation Challenge!

Out of the Blue Box is a global search for new ideas to strengthen the recovery of our iconic Great Barrier Reef. We are calling for solutions to the challenges facing the Great Barrier Reef, and reefs all over the world, to fast-track projects that will have an immediate and lasting impact.

source

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

oceanbites has great three part series on undergraduate research.
Conservation and climate change needs fewer aisle-crossing compromisers and more Haydukes. Courage and Bolt Cutters: Meet the next generation of climate activists.

I’ve been excited about these observations for years. Really ecited to finally see them in the peer-reviewed literature: Beaked whales may frequent a seabed spot marked for mining.

L. MARSH, V. HUVENNE AND D. JONES/ROY. SOC. OPEN SCIENCE 2018

Herring Wars: Quotas, Conflicts, and Climate Change in the North Atlantic

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Andrew Thaler

Herring and other fish hung out to dry on a trawler in Klaksvík. Photo by ADT.

A small collection of islands in the North Sea, a few hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle, is preparing for war. The European Union, under the auspices of an international fisheries management agreement, is ready to levy heavy trade sanctions against the Faroe Islands, an independent protectorate of Denmark. The Faroes, with a population of less than 50,000, intends to fight these sanctions, defy EU authority, and defend their economic independence. The object of contention is the right to fish Atlanto-Scandian Herring; the driving force behind this dispute–dramatic shifts in fish distribution brought on by warming seas and altered currents. This may be the first international conflict directly attributable to climate change. It will not be the last. Regardless of the outcome, this confrontation will set a precedent for future climate conflicts. Welcome to the Herring War.

Despite their uninspiring name, herring are a rather handsome fish. Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus, are relatively small with a classically “fishy” (fusiform) body shape. They are among the most abundant fish in the ocean, forming schools that can number in the billions. Along with other planktivorous fishes, such as menhaden, that convert phyto- and zooplankton into higher trophic-level biomass, herring are critical to ocean food-webs. They are considered to be among the most important fish in the sea. Herring are the dominant prey species for many large, pelagic predators like tuna, sharks, marine mammals, salmon, and sea birds, among others. Their dominant predator, unsurprisingly, is us.