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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

Posted on January 21, 2019January 22, 2019 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage
Logo for Monday Morning Salvage.

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

Jetsam (what we’re reading from around the web)

  • Fish story: How a coelacanth discovery set off a flurry of science, subterfuge
  • 9 Ocean Conservation Groups You Don’t Know about…but Should by the legendary Ayana Johnson.
  • Some of my kids from Make for the Planet Borneo! This Lobster Trap Aims to Protect Endangered Whales — and Fishers’ Livelihoods.
Cormac Hondros-McCarthy, Lauren Shum, Parth Sagdeo and Ted Zhu celebrate their successful top prize spot at the Make for the Planet Borneo hackathon in Kuching, Malaysia in June 2018. (Courtesy of the researchers)
  • Is foreign trawling benefiting West Africa?
  • Deep-sea miner on the verge of bankruptcy. Check out my ongoing coverage of Nautilus Minerals at the Deep-sea Mining Observer:
    • Despite setbacks, Nautilus Minerals struggles towards production.
    • For Nautilus Minerals, the debt comes due.

The MV Nor Sky, a vessel chartered in 2008 by Nautilus Minerals to conduct environmental assessment at Solwara I, steams past the Tavurvur volcano near Rabaul. 
  • Meanwhile: Japan’s grand plans to mine deep-sea vents.
  • Into the deep: Deep sea mining is upon us, whether you would risk it or not.
  • All the golf balls! Teenage Diver Finds Tons Of Golf Balls Rotting Off California.
  • Should whale welfare be considered in sustainable fishing?
  • Study: Conch fishery could disappear in 15 years.
  • 3-D Printing the Ultimate Deep-Sea Christmas Tree, featuring my 3D-printable giant isopod!
Courtesy Deep Sea News.
  • New plan to use Irish fishing trawlers to remove plastic from oceans.
  • Not very, as it turns out: In 2019, how hungry is Japan for whale meat?
  • The North Magnetic Pole is drifting towards Russian at about 50 km per year! Shifting North Magnetic Pole Forces Unprecedented Navigation Fix.
  • What to Do With All Your Stuff That Doesn’t ‘Spark Joy’.
  • The Joshua Tree Fiasco Is Why Parks Should Be Closed During the Shutdown
  • Exxon Is Finally Being Forced to Turn Over Docs Showing What It Knew About Climate Change.
  • It’s a documentary about all the people who love Moby Dick (but they didn’t ask me).

Lagan (what we’re reading from the peer-reviewed literature)

  • Byagathvalli and friends (2019) A 3D-printed hand-powered centrifuge for molecular biology. DOI: 10.1101/519835.
  • Humphreys (2019) Where Angels Fear to Tread: Developments in Cave Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-98852-8_24.
  • Rowlands and friends (2019) Satellite surveillance of fishing vessel activity in the Ascension Island Exclusive Economic Zone and Marine Protected Area. DOI: 10.1016/j.marpol.2018.11.006.
  • Rzeznik and friends (2019) Model investigations of discharge plumes generated by deep-sea nodule mining operations. DOI: 10.1016/j.oceaneng.2018.12.012.

Shipping News (academic and ocean policy wonkery)

  • UC Takes on Publishing Giant, Fights for Open Access to Publicly-Funded Research.
  • What Happens When the President Doesn’t Have a Science Adviser?
  • I couldn’t make it in academia without my invisible support network.
  • Can you afford to be a marine biologist? Or a scientist?
  • Communication Woes: Are we speaking the same language?
  • This is such a weird story: NEON ecological observatory in crisis again: Top scientist quits, Battelle fires advisory board and senior managers.

Feel free to share your own Foghorns, Flotsam, Jetsam, Lagan, Shipping News, Driftwood, and Derelicts in the comments below. If you enjoy Southern Fried Science, consider contributing to our Patreon campaign. For just $5 per month, you can support the SFS Writers Fund, which helps compensate your favorite ocean science and conservation bloggers for their efforts.

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Related

Tags: arctic caves climate change Conservation deep-sea mining discharge plumes Exxon hagfish Japan lobster Moby Dick MPAs Nautilus Minerals NEON open access Putin shutdown trawling West Africa

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❮ Previous Post: Why I don’t bite everyone that stresses me out: The cost-benefit analysis of predators
Next Post: Hagfish, hagfish, hagfish, hagfish, the social value of a hydrothermal vent, more ways plastic booms could kill the ocean, and hagfish. Monday Morning Salvage: January 28, 2019. ❯

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