whales
The Ocean Cleanup has an ocean of problems, whales, KISS, and more! Weekly Salvage: October 7, 2019
Ballard’s hunt for Earhart’s wrecked plane, sink or swim for deep-sea mining, prints of whales, and more! Monday Morning Salvage, August 19, 2019.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Bob Ballard is off on a quest to find the wreckage of Amelia Earhart’s Electra 10E. Many attempts have been made to discover the famed aviator’s fate, but never with the technological tools at Robert Ballard’s disposal.

- But make no mistake: behind the flashy headlines is a chance to test some of the most advance seafloor searching autonomous systems in the research armada.


Remembering Walter Munk, a photo on a flash drive in a pile of poo from a seal at the bottom of the sea, lucky vikings, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: February 11, 2019

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- So many mesmerizing videos from Deep Sea News! Experience the Life of the Deep Gulf of Mexico in 20 Videos.
- This is a staggeringly beautiful image: One Great Shot: The Guillemot and the Iceberg.

- Did you lose a flash drive? NIWA might have it. They were defrosting leopard seal poo…you won’t believe what happened next!

Mud volcanoes, starfish wasting, the stinkiest fruit, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: February 4, 2019.

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Mud volcanoes, the baby cousins for hydrothermal vents and methane seeps, don’t get nearly as much attention as they deserve. There she blows! Mud volcanoes in the Mediterranean.

- Starfish wasting disease continues to plague the Pacific: A Starfish-Killing Disease Is Remaking the Oceans.

5000 dives under the sea, plastic nomming fungi, scanning Belize’s Blue Hole, the thawing Northwest Passage, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: December 3, 2018.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- With ice melting in Canada’s Northwest Passage, the area will soon be a new route for international shipping. Follow Life Under the Ice on OpenExplorer!
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Legendary submarine pilot Erika Bergman is exploring Belize’s Blue Hole using state-of-the-art SONAR scanning tools and ROVs. A couple floppy-haired dudes are going too.
- DSV Alvin made its 5000th dive. Way to go, little submarine!
- A boon to ocean conservation? Certain fungi can degrade marine plastics.
- I missed this over the summer, but Nash was an incredible guide and touring ancient Chamorro caves with him was the highlight of my time in Guam. He will be missed by many: Traditional seafarer Ignacio ‘Nash’ Camacho dies.

Ignacio R. “Nash” Camacho, a Traditions About Seafaring Islands member, and codesigner of the Chamoru Sakman outrigger replica canoe “Tasi,” talks about his creation during a ceremony at the Guam Museum on June 29, 2017.
Chesapeake Requiem, the Black Friday for Climate Change, whale earwax, killing the GRE, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: November 26, 2018
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- Friend of the blog and submarine legend Erika Bergman is leading an expedition to Belize’s Blue Hole! Follow along as she maps this unique ocean feature: Belize Blue Hole 2018. Some dudes are tagging along, too.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
Climate change affects the natural, built, and social systems we rely on individually and through their connections to one another. These interconnected systems are increasingly vulnerable to cascading impacts that are often difficult to predict, threatening essential services within and beyond the Nation’s borders.
- Meanwhile: The Trump Administration’s Attempt to Bury a New Climate Report on Black Friday Totally Backfired.
- Government Climate Report Lays Out How Screwed We Are If We Don’t Act Now.
The Gam (conversations from the ocean-podcasting world)
- Speak Up for the Blue on art and the ocean.
I want you to have amazing adventures with underwater robots, protecting the oceans like national parks, songs of a ice and warming, cannibals, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: October 22, 2018.
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- I want you to have amazing adventures with underwater robots. That’s why Nat Geo and OpenROV are giving away 1000 robot submarines!
- National Geographic Announces Initiative to Donate 1,000 Underwater Drones to Explore the Ocean.
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Get inspired with the latest TED Talk for OpenROV visionary David Lang.
The real deep reefs of South Carolina, dolphin chatter, autonomous starfish killing robots, an exciting submarine discovery, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: September 3, 2018
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Robots versus Aliens is my favorite genre of conservation technology. Sea-Star Murdering Robots Are Deployed in the Great Barrier Reef.
- Fish Bombardment is my other. Video: Utah Officials Restock Remote Lakes by Plane.
The Gam (conversations from the ocean-podcasting world)
Speak Up for the Blue with two great recent episodes.
Eat hagfish, work at LUMCON, clone Vaquita, question floating trash collectors, and more! Monday Morning Mega-Salvage: August 13, 2018
Foghorn (A Call to Action!)
- It’s time for Africosh! The annual Africa Open Science and Hardware Summit Heads is in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this year!
- LUMCON is hiring! They’re looking for two exceptional coastal and marine science faculty hires in any discipline. And they have the best “come work for us” video!
Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)
- Hakai Magazine is my jam this month.
- How an Epidemic Exposed the Ecological Importance of Sea Stars: The near eradication of British Columbia’s sea stars demonstrated the dynamic role they play in regulating kelp forests.
- How to Dismantle a Blue Whale: In Chile, a team of volunteers confronts stench and gore to ensure a new life for a dead whale. [Warning: Link contains graphic pictures of whale evisceration]
- I’ve been following this project for almost 2 years. Awesome to see how far they’ve come. NinjaPCR is a WiFi enabled, Opensource DNA Amplifier and Thermocycler for Polymerase Chain Reaction developed by 2 hackers in Tokyo.
- Plastic wrap made from shellfish and plants is completely compostable.
Hagfish (just Hagfish)
- Yes, people do eat hagfish. Yum! Snake-like creature writhes, squirms on grill.
- Hagfish are the emissaries of love, not war. Stop it. Synthetic ‘Slime’ To Help US Navy Trap Enemy Ships.