Less than 60 vaquitas left in the world!
In July 2016, the United States and Mexico renewed their commitment to saving the vaquita porpoise, the smallest and most endangered cetacean on Earth.
PANDA OF THE SEA
Known as the “Panda of the Sea”, because of the dark rings around its eyes and overall cuteness, the vaquita porpoise is the most endangered and smallest marine mammal on the planet.
With less than 60 documented individuals left in their native habitat in the northern part of the Gulf of California, Mexico, gillnet fishing for shrimp and the endangered totoaba fish has decimated the population.
Known as “aquatic cocaine”, the bladder of the totoaba fish is prized as a delicacy in soup in China and Hong Kong where it can sell on the black market for US$10,000 per bladder.
Want to help?
Stop eating totoaba soup. Pass the word! For more actions, go to Viva Vaquita: http://www.vivavaquita.org/act-now-to-save-the-vaquita.html.
The Mexican government has now permanently banned gillnets and night fishing in the upper Gulf of California, which is the only place in the world where the critically endangered porpoise is found.
Illegal gillnet fishing for totoaba fish, another endangered species, has been the main threat to the vaquita. Fishers with small boats have used the cover of night to hide their nets and illegal fishing activities. Totoaba swim bladders, infamously known as “aquatic cocaine”, are prized as a soup delicacy (believed to enhance one’s complexion) in China and Hong Kong, where they are sold on the black market for upwards of US$10,000 per bladder. The rest of the fish is discarded.
The vaquita porpoises, which are about the same size as the totoaba fish, get entangled in the gillnets and drown.
In the July 22 statement from the US Whitehouse, both US President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto pledged to intensify bilateral cooperation in the protection of the critically endangered vaquita marina porpoise. In addition to the gillnet and night fishing bans in the Gulf of California, both countries will increase enforcement efforts to stop illegal fishing and trade of totoaba bladders, develop alternatives to gillnets and establish “vaquita-safe” fisheries, and initiate a long-term program to remove ghost nets (nets dumped on the seafloor) in the region, which also kill vaquita.
Conservationists welcomed the moves by the two governments, many declaring that the decline of the vaquita population was man-made and its extinction is preventable.
What you can do
Want to help? Stop the demand for totoaba bladders. Stop eating the soup and encourage others to stop consuming it, as well. Share the slogan on social media. Education is key. Pass the word.
For more actions you can take to help, go to Viva Vaquita: http://www.vivavaquita.org/act-now-to-save-the-vaquita.html. ■
SOURCES: AWI, CIRVA, CNN, FIS, GUARDIAN, JUSTICE.GOV, PORPOISE.ORG, VIVAVAQUITA.ORG, WASHINGTON POST, WHITEHOUSE.GOV


French fishermen pursuing sea bass may be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of dolphins off the coasts of Britain and France, Britain's Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society believes.
In the past month, 80 dolphins have been washed up dead off England's south coast, three times the number last year, while 300 dolphins were found dead on the beaches of France's Atlantic coast in nine days in late January.
Marks showed they had been caught in nets, and some had been mutilated in an attempt to make them sink.
The deaths are occurring during the winter hunt for sea bass – for which there is now a huge demand – in the waters south-west of the British Isles by about 50 French trawlers.
The French boats are operating as pelagic (open sea) pair trawlers, a technique in which two boats draw a net rapidly near the surface water. Research shows this technique can produce a big unintentional entrapment of dolphins, porpoises and small whales. The French boats will not allow observers on board.
The conservation group is calling for the EU to monitor pelagic pair trawling closely. Ali Ross, of the group, said: "We think the finger of suspicion points at the French sea bass fishery over the recent dolphin kills, but pair trawling for all species presents dolphins with a serious threat."Reuse content


New Developments for Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Sperm Whales in Hawaiian Waters
February 17, 2021
Dr. Yvonne Barkley, PhD candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
Dr. Yvonne Barkley shares research findings related to tracking whales using passive acoustic monitoring. This talk will discuss a new approach for localizing passive acoustic data of sperm whales collected using towed hydrophone arrays and demonstrate how this information can be incorporated into species distribution models to improve our understanding of sperm whale habitat preferences in Hawaiian waters.


Photos taken on Whale Shark dives from Hamanasi resort in Belize.
NOTE: DUE TO HAVING NO WHALE SHARK SIGHTINGS IN 2016, HAMANASI WILL NOT BE OFFERING SCHEDULED WHALE SHARK TOURS IN 2017. We do not know why the whale sharks were not there in 2016. Too many fishing boats? Too many divers? Climate change?
If sharks are sighted in 2017, we may choose to run a trip at that time.
Hamanasi offers Belize diving on the barrier reef and all 3 of Belize’s coral Atolls, as well as many other adventures all around Belize. Explore the best of Belize both on and offshore, all from one convenient location! You can visit our homepage to see why we are consistently voted the best Belize Resort. Let the experts at Hamanasi’s Adventure Center help you find the perfect adventures for your interests, and plan the ideal Belize Vacation. You can customize an all-inclusive Belize package to fit your interests and length of stay, and enjoy the best of Belize at our award-winning resort.
Our Belize reservation staff are at the resort and ready to assist you 365 days per year.


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Today there are few virtually undisturbed sections of mangrove forest remaining: along the Pomeroon River where the growth is thickest and other small pockets stretching from Charity to Crabwood Creek.
The importance of the mangrove to the country’s wave battered coastal shore is well known as it forms a protective barrier, which breaks the wave action.
In addition its roots provide a nesting ground for coastal bird life and for countless species of fish.
Chief Sea and River Defence Officer, George Howard, told Stabroek News that the mangrove forests prove an invaluable complement to the seawalls.
This is because the mangrove aids in reducing the force of the waves as they reach the shore and crucially they allow for the active build up of the shoreline through accretion.
The vegetation plays a role in stabilising the country’s dynamic coastline, which experiences both accumulation and removal of sediment by huge mud banks that are 30 to 40 km apart and slowly travel up the coast either encouraging erosion or accretion as they pass.
In light of this the government, through a European Union-funded project, is keen on taking measures to ensure that the once thriving seashore forest is revitalised.
The project will see the institutional strengthening of the capacity of the respective agencies responsible for protecting the shore zone to allow them to better manage the entire coastal sector.
One of the methods to be used in the preservation of the mangrove forest is a public awareness campaign targeted at coastal fishermen, farmers and other people living in the coastal areas who will learn about the value of mangroves and other natural or man-made defences.
This will be complemented by effective policing of the sea defences once the legislative measures are strengthened as recommended by the study.
This, according to Howard, would also see drastic reductions in the cost associated with the maintenance of the seashore, which currently expends up to $450,000 per linear metre for riprap structure.
It would cost around $15,000 per linear metre to construct an earthen dam once it is protected or buttressed by a mangrove forest.
Apart from the mangroves, ‘sling mud’, which consists of water with a high concentration of mud also helps to dampen wave energy and this would normally occur for a few months after which it is pulled away as part of the natural process associated with the migratory mud banks.
It is then that larger waves can uproot the mangrove trees as the constant ebb and flow leaves the roots exposed resulting in their easy dislocation.
It is exactly this process that is occurring along the West Coast Berbice foreshore and Howard noted that it is difficult to stop.
However, once the sea begins to deposit matter on the shore again there is usually a regeneration of the mangroves.
Stabroek News on a recent visit to the WCB foreshore and Belladrum and Onverwagt noted the massive erosion of the shoreline leading to the uprooting of the existing mangrove forest.
At one point the wave action had begun to attack the existing earthen embankment resulting in serious erosion necessitating urgent remedial attention to avert inland flooding.
However it was only approximately a year ago when on a previous visit, that there was a build up of matter on the shore, which was affecting drainage in the area.
A similar situation is said to have led to the current breaches at Profit/Foulis where the earthen dam buttressed by the once existing mangrove forest was helplessly eroded by the fierce wave action striking that coastal zone.
On both sides of that eroded shore there was evidence of once vibrant mangrove growth for several miles along the coastline.
Similar destruction of the mangrove forest was sighted along the foreshore between the East Coast Demerara villages of Mon Repos to Lusignan where almost two kilometres of sea defence had to be buttressed by bouldered revetment.
This area, which once featured a cremation site similar to one presently existing on the Ruimzeight foreshore amongst the mangrove, was systematically destroyed by a combination of wave action and human mismanagement.
This situation also exists at Ruimzeight where there is clear evidence of the removal of a portion of the mangroves to facilitate the erection of a sea defence wall while some of the wood has been used by the fishermen to tie up their nets and vessels as well as to make traps for fish and crabs.
The bark is also used in tanning leather, in the charcoal industry and in making burnt earth for rural roadways.
The mangrove forest has the capacity to develop strong growth within a 15-year span as shown on the West Coast Demerara at Harlem where in the mid-1980s a severe sea defence threat was drastically lessened with the growth of the forest.
Howard recalled that with the dredging of the Demerara River the deposits thrown on the western back were transported by tides to the shores of that area leading to the rejuvenation of the forest. It continues to act as a buffer for the existing sea defence.
The EU study, which targeted the Essequibo Islands, recognised that unpopulated islands like Bird Island actually have an expanding landmass, which is visible by its sand build up on the shores.
Experts say this is due to the preservation of the natural vegetation which offers that island a natural source of protection while promoting growth in the landmass.
Leguan on the other hand, which has had a great deal of its natural protection removed, is vulnerable to the elements of the river which during extreme high tides has caused massive flooding.
Communications Consultant in the Ministry of Public Works, Ajay Baksh reiterated the ministry’s commitment to the protection of the natural defences. According to Baksh, the ministry is 100% behind the protection of the mangrove as studies have shown that with its preservation the likelihood of threats from the sea would be greatly reduced.
The ministry, he further said, would continue to work towards having persons educated as to the importance of the mangrove although they acknowledge that some social and economic conditions help to influence the activities of some communities with respect to the forest.
The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) as part of its mandate to protect the country’s forest reserves is currently involved in several projects to effectively manage the precious resource.
The studies conclude that the removal of mangroves for fuel wood from the Essequibo River to the Corentyne has not only exposed lengths of coastline to erosion but also degraded these ecosystems, limiting their ability to act as nurseries for fish species (an estimated 75 percent of fish caught commercially spend some time in the mangroves or are dependent on food chains which can be traced back to these coastal forests).
Mangrove plants and sediments have also been shown to absorb pollution, including heavy metals.
Mangroves along the Northwest coast are still largely intact. The GFC was expected to carry out an evaluation of the mangrove resource and plans for its protection and management.
Meanwhile a lot of quick profit enterprises, which degrade coastal resources, for example beach sand and seashell removal is viewed as a lack of understanding of the economic contribution of coastal resources to society.
There is also the issue of over-harvesting of mangrove vegetation and consequential habitat destruction while threatening the bio-diversity of other organisms.
There are currently three types of identifiable mangrove forests these being the black, which is the most widespread on the coast, the red and the white varieties.
With the assistance of the EU-funded project it is anticipated that with the collection of data there would be the ability to predict likely trouble spots. This would be facilitated by the development of models and a database to identify areas of sediment transport and seabed evolution as part of a wider study.
Rangers police the existing sections of mangrove forest with residents acting as backup to ensure their integrity.
As Guyana faces rising sea levels in the coming decades, it is ironic that centuries after mangroves were removed for the establishment of key parts of the coast, it should now be returning to play its part as nature’s best sea defence.


Monitor National Marine Sanctuary – A Maritime Heritage Site
Monitor National Marine Sanctuary – Bringing People and History Together to Preserve Our National Heritage
Though the US has had national parks since the 1870s, the National Marine Sanctuaries Act wasn’t established until a century later in 1972! Monitor National Marine Sanctuary (MNMS) became the first national marine sanctuary when it was established in 1975. Like many historical sites on the East Coast, MNMS is based on a battlefield—but not just any battlefield. Its namesake, the USS Monitor, was a history-making vessel in the civil war; however, the sanctuary is expanding to preserve relics from, and educate people about, the WWII Battle of the Atlantic, especially the ships and almost 1,600 men who were lost off the coast of North Carolina.
The Monitor in History
The sanctuary was founded to protect the shipwreck of the USS Monitor, the first armored ship designed and built by the Union during the Civil War. Firepower technology had evolved to the point where no practical wooden ship design could withstand it, so armoring ships with iron was the next advancement in naval warfare.
The Confederacy had started armoring the captured Merrimack (renaming it CSS Virginia), and the Union responded by pushing hard to get the Monitor constructed and engaged. In addition to the introduction of ironclad vessels, the Monitor had several other innovations. Among them, the shape of the ship was very unusual, and it was the first to have a rotating turret. It stood nine feet tall and was 20 feet in diameter and housed two Dahlgren guns (muzzle loading cannons).
The Monitor and Virginia fought the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862, and the Monitor went on to participate in several other confrontations. In December of that year, it was being towed off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and sunk during a storm.
It was not until 1973 that the sunken wreck of the Monitor was discovered, and documentation and recovery efforts began.
World War Two’s Battle of the Atlantic—Right off North Carolina’s Shores
Shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, German submarines called U-boats began patrolling off of the coast of North Carolina. In January of 1942, they torpedoed a steam tanker about 60 miles northeast of Diamond Shoals, and by the end of the war dozens of vessels would be sunk off of North Carolina. Almost 1,600 men were killed, most of them merchant marines.
MNMS is playing a key role in the exploration of these shipwrecks, and creating memorials for the lives lost. A comprehensive study is being conducted to learn as much as possible from this underwater maritime museum.
Opportunities at MNMS
As a marine sanctuary, MNMS works to study and preserve the natural environment as well as this undersea historical resource. The Monitor itself is at a depth of about 240 feet under the sea, but visitors have many ways to learn more about it and the other shipwrecks in the sanctuary.
The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia serves as the primary visitor’s center, and stops all along the Outer Banks Maritime Heritage Trail (outerbankstrails.org) off of the coast of North Carolina provide additional resources.
SCUBA diving allows visitors to see the shipwrecks in person, and MNMS has launched an exciting initiative to engage divers in the conservation of the wrecks and the artificial reef environments they create. It is called ANCHOR (Appreciating the Nation’s Cultural Heritage and Ocean Resources) and its mission is to “work in partnership with dive businesses and charter operators to reduce human impacts on shipwrecks and other maritime heritage resources.”
Volunteers are a vital part of the ongoing projects at MNMS, and there are a variety of opportunities to help out. Booths at community events are a fun way for socially-inclined volunteers to spread the word about the great work being done, and those who prefer something less outgoing are encouraged to help archive and organize research material, preserve photographs and conserve maritime artifacts.
Whatever your level of interest, there is something for you at MNMS, from learning about a particular aspect of naval war history to leaving your own legacy through contributing to the nation’s deepened understanding of the maritime heritage encompassed by the sanctuary. Contact us to find out about current activities and opportunities today at monitor.noaa.gov.


1997-1998: the dawn of Girlpower, Harry’s first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the epic story between love, an iceberg and a ship. Oh, and yeah…..El Niño.
Documented as the strongest El Niño to ever occur within the past 50 years, the 1997-1998 ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) event broke records for heightened sea surface temperatures, rainfall, and drought conditions globally. With ENSO occurring regularly every 4-5 years there’s no lack of expectation of what’s to naturally happen. It is, although, varied by intensity. 2015 marks the beginning of another El Niño event, and this year is anticipated to steal the cake. Recent trends give evidence to the possibility that this year could reach and even surpass 1997-1998 records with how high sea surface temperatures of the water have been.
This natural, cyclical phenomenon transpires when easterly trade winds along the equator weaken, shifting atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. Normally, cold-nutrient rich water is upwelled along the eastern Pacific coast near Peru due to strong trades pushing west. This keeps the areas around the eastern portion of the equator relatively cool and dry during portions of the year, and highly productive given the movement of bottom-dwelling nutrients to the surface. Along the western side, the warm water being pushed by the strong winds eventually warms the overlying air over Indonesia and other portions of Southeast Asia. The air then gets lifted into the atmosphere and produces variable stormy activity that keeps this area relatively warm and wet during the year.
What commences an El Niño event is the weakening of the easterly trade winds. The normal cold-water upwelling occurring along the eastern Pacific coast that we typically see comes to a halt, allowing warm water to pool up. Atmospheric weather patterns shift more eastward, producing more wet, stormy conditions along the eastern coastlines. As a result, we find more warm, wet, and non-productive conditions along the east side and more warm and dry conditions over towards the west.
The intensity of ENSO events varies each year based upon the overlay of building oceanic and atmospheric conditions throughout the designated year. Only time will tell on how strong this year’s El Niño will be. What is anticipated to happen around California and Catalina Island, although, is higher than normal precipitation in the form of rain and even snow up in higher elevated areas, increased susceptibility of weather-induced natur al disaster events, including landslides and mudslides, and major ecological shifts within our local terrestrial and marine environments. We’ve already seen a number of non-native marine critters visit, including the recently sighted venomous Yellow-Bellied Sea Snake…..watch out!
The important thing to understand is that El Niño is a natural reoccurring phenomenon. It’s not alien that we are going to experience an intense shift in climate and weather patterns this winter seasons or quite possibly even see Godzilla emerging from the sea. What is curious, although, is the question of how intense that shift will be and how our ever changing world has contributed to that intensity.
Written by John Cornett
Blog Photo Credits
-“Global Climate Conditions”
-“Yellow Bellied Sea Snake”
Video Photo Credits
-“Yellow Bellied Sea Snake”


Which animals do fish eat?
There is a diverse variety of fish in the ocean that eat small crustaceans, like krill, crab, barnacle, prawn, shrimp, lobster, etc. to large mollusks and invertebrates. Other foods that fish eat include small fish, seals, sea lions, and certain sharks had been seen attacking whales.
What is it called if a fish eats a fish?
A piscivore /ˈpɪsɪvɔːr/ is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name “piscivore” is derived from the Latin word for fish, piscis. Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean “fish eater”.
Do fish eat their poop?
Do fish eat poop? They might, but they probably don’t. You may sometimes see a fish nibble on poop from other fish, and fish do have a tendency to eat whatever they see floating in the water column – but they also have a tendency to spit non-food items back out (including poop).
Why did my fish eat my other fish?
New Fish in the Tank
Just like any other species of animals, in fish, territories are marked. Therefore, the existing fish tend to keenly observe the new fish and the space they occupy. If the fish feels threatened in some way, they will come up with a plot to eat up the new fish.
Do fish eat rice?
Boiled rice: Fish loves to eat boiled rice. Even frozen rice is appreciated by these aquatic pets. Defrost the rice before feeding your fish. This is another easy alternative for fish food.


Working with students on an abalone diver’s boat, recording data from an experiment
I am passionately curious about how the world works, especially the marine world.
I grew up in South Africa – my undergraduate training was at the University of Cape Town, a centre for Marine Biology and Oceanography (and a great place for diving).
After a year in the navy, studying the sessile animals that slow down ships, I came to Australia to do a PhD under Charles Birch, on the ecology of sessile animals on the Great Barrier Reef. From there I moved to a post-doc, with Joe Connell, at the University of California at Santa Barbara. I worked on the effects on sessile animals of the hot water from a nuclear power station, and also began studying abalone -seeding hatchery reared abalone to see if this would enhance the abalone fishery.
When I joined the University of Melbourne I found abalone were a wonderful model species for ecological field experiments as well as work on sustainable management – they are commercially important, the fishers know a lot about them as they search for them underwater, and abalone don’t move around much!
Also, as abalone farming has grown, there has been a demand for information and thus opportunities for research on their physiology – feeding, growth, reproduction, and immune system. As there are abalone species all around the world, knowledge about them has accumulated fast – more so than other marine animals.
In addition, I have supervised projects on other fishery species – shark species, rock-lobsters, Trochus snails and fin-fish. My students have used their PhD experience to move into work on abalone farms, in government fisheries agencies, and also starting their own companies.


Scientists use a hexacopter to study humpback whales
Drones are a noninvasive way to get biological samples
Aerial photos can provide clues about whales' health
The remote-controlled drone whirs through a whale’s spout at 10 feet above the sea to capture exactly what it exhales.
Researchers are using a remote-controlled hexacopter to study endangered humpback whales in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary off New England, according to a statement released by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Whale breath condenses on the sterile surface of the drone, giving a more accurate picture of health in the humpback.
Using the toy-looking tool, scientists can non-invasively test whales for stress levels, family history and general well-being by analyzing DNA, hormones and bacteria levels, according to the statement.
A hexacopter at Woods Hole has taken aerial photos of 36 humpbacks to find out how fat they were and whether their skin had lesions.
A sense of scale is needed here: The hexacopter is about 3 feet in diameter. Humpback whales can measure as long as 60 feet.
Their scientific name, Megaptera novaengliae, means “big-winged New Englander,” due to the 15-foot-long fins they use to traverse thousands of miles in an annual migration.
The whales are known for their complex songs that can last for 20 minutes. The songs can be heard from miles away. All males sing the same song, but the song keeps evolving, making it different from year to year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website. The why of whale song is one of nature’s great unsolved mysteries.
An estimated 60,000 humpbacks exist worldwide, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Red List reports, and numbers are rising.
Scientists plan to compare samples from humpbacks living near the unpolluted Antarctic Peninsula with samples taken in Stellwagen, where there is much more ship traffic and pollution, according to WHOI.
“This will give us a new understanding of the relationship between whale body condition and health in the context of habitat quality,” said Michael Moore, director of the WHOI Marine Mammal Center.


The first offshore wind turbine in the U.S. was recently deployed off the coast of Maine. The pilot project uses a floating platform with a small wind turbine affixed to a tower. The project is a small, but significant step toward developing an abundant clean energy resource in the U.S.
Offshore winds are stronger and steadier than onshore winds and they blow during the day and in heat waves, when the demand for energy is the greatest. The East Coast is dubbed the “Saudi Arabia” of offshore wind, because there is enough offshore wind energy there to provide the entire U.S. with electricity, if it is fully developed.
The U.S. still lags behind Europe in developing offshore wind farms, where they have been providing jobs and clean energy since 1991. There is a lot of catching up to do, but floating offshore wind technology is an encouraging step forward. Developing floating turbines is exciting because some of the strongest offshore winds are located in areas of deep water that cannot be accessed with a conventional offshore wind turbine which uses a steel foundation placed into the seabed. Floating offshore wind platforms could be placed in deep water locations near Maine, California, Oregon, Hawaii, and within the Great Lakes.
Another big milestone for offshore wind happened this week when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM ) announced that the nation’s first competitive lease sales for offshore wind development are scheduled for next month in an area off of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Offshore wind farms in this location could provide one million homes with emissions-free electricity. Oceana has been supporting this progress, and providing input to the government about how to protect marine wildlife during the construction of our first offshore wind farms.
The technology is here and the demand for clean energy is high, but we will need political support to truly establish an offshore wind industry in the U.S. For one, Oceana has been working to establish a long-term extension to the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for offshore wind. This policy would allow offshore wind to flourish, and help us transition away from fossil fuels and dangerous offshore drilling.


Posted on Care2: 7 Dec 2012 — By Beth Buczynski
As one of the largest producers of U.S.-farmed shellfish, Washington state has a lot to lose if ocean acidification continues. Rather than denying the reality of climate change like some other states, Washington has decided to take action to protect its natural resources.
The state recently launched a $3.3-million, science-based plan to slow ocean acidification on its own shores, and around the world. The strategy – detailed in a report by a governor-appointed panel of scientists, policy-makers and shellfish industry representatives — marks the first US state-funded effort to tackle ocean acidification, a growing problem for both the region and the globe,reports Nature Magazine.
According to the Washington Department of Ecology, shellfish growers in Washington and Oregon became the first to discover that ocean acidification was undercutting their jobs and businesses around 2007, when corrosive seawater began killing off tiny young oysters by the billions in Pacific Northwest hatcheries. For Governor Christine Gregoire and many in the state’s government, to surrender this profitable industry to the consequences of human-accelerated climate change is unthinkable.
The detailed report titled “Sweetening The Waters” [PDF], outlines 42 different strategies Washington can undertake to adapt to, remediate, and mitigate the effects of ocean acidification on the state’s coastline. Possible actions include relatively well-established approaches such as buffering sediments in shellfish beds with recycled shell hash and cultivating seagrass to protect nearby larvae by absorbing CO2; as well as less-recognized tactics like breeding OA-resistent strains of vulnerable marine species.
In late November, Gov. Gregoire signed an executive order underscoring the importance of these recommendations from her Blue Ribbon Panel on ocean acidification. “A healthy ocean is critical to our health and our coastal economies,” said Gregoire. “We have learned that human caused emissions of carbon dioxide are dramatically altering the ocean’s chemistry at an alarming rate. These emissions, mostly resulting from burning fossil fuels, are now threatening our ocean ecosystems. Ocean acidification is yet another reason to quickly and significantly reduce emissions of carbon dioxide across the planet.”
Top Image: Algae blooms in central Puget Sound. Credit: Washington Dept. of Ecology


- Mesh size: 37 micron
- Quantity: 250 cubic meters of sea water per hour
- Sampling location: Ballast Water Detecting Laboratory of Shanghai Ocean University, Land-Based Testing Base
- Viable organisms of > 50 um in minimum dimension before filtering: 19,500 per m³
- Viable organisms of > 50 um in minimum dimension after filtering: 0 per m³
- Remarks: SHOU BWDL certify that TWF Co. Ltd. has successfully tested their filter system on the ocean as-is directly from Yangshan Port Shanghai
with 250m³/h Flow.
The system from TWF is the unique filter tested the raw water without any sedimentation at this location.
The 2018 Test Report is listed below:


Tuna is versatile pelagic that can be found in all temperate oceans around the globe. Tunas are harvested in many different forms, from artisanal hand lines to longlines to purse seiners. Tuna being one of the very few warm blooded fishes in the ocean require special handling on board the vessels. All of our tunas are graded by a specialized tuna grader for color, fat content, texture, and freshness at the origin and again in our plant, to insure quality, grades, and specific needs. Tunas include about 15 different species, however we will only consider four species (Yellowfin, Bigeye, Bluefin and Albacore) below for our commercial purposes. Fresh tuna has grown rapidly in popularity over the last 25 years and is now one of the most popular finfish on restaurant menus worldwide.


Type of Document Dissertation Author Piazza, Bryan Patrick Author's Email Address firstname.lastname@example.org URN etd-04132009-091738 Title The Role of Climate Variability and Riverine Pulsing in the Community Dynamics of Estuarine Nekton in Breton Sound, Louisiana Degree Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Department Oceanography & Coastal Sciences Advisory Committee
Advisor Name Title Kenneth A. Rose Committee Co-Chair Megan K. La Peyre Committee Co-Chair Barry D. Keim Committee Member Jaye E. Cable Committee Member Lawrence P. Rozas Committee Member Harris H. Wong Dean's Representative Keywords
- resource pulse
- Farfantepenaeus aztecus
- Gambusia affinis
- trophic relay
- El Niño Southern Oscillation
- brown shrimp
Date of Defense 2009-03-11 Availability unrestricted AbstractClimate controls biotic community composition at multiple spatiotemporal scales through variability in environmental control mechanisms (assembly filters). This research investigated the role of climate variability in the community dynamics of estuarine nekton in Breton Sound estuary, Louisiana, and, specifically the effects of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), freshwater discharge, and a tropical cyclone. A teleconnection was found between ENSO and juvenile brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus) abundance in Breton Sound from 1988 – 2007. ENSO affected winter weather conditions (air pressure, temperature and precipitation), and spring brown shrimp abundance in Breton Sound. Juvenile brown shrimp abundance lagged ENSO by three months; below-average abundance of juvenile brown shrimp was caught in springs following El Niño winters while above-average abundance of brown shrimp was caught in springs following La Niña winters. Salinity was the dominant ENSO-forced assembly filter that regulated brown shrimp abundance. Study of short-term freshwater pulses revealed higher nekton density and biomass in marshes receiving pulsed riverine flow (inflow) than in reference marshes, due to differences in water depth and flooding duration caused by the pulses. Communities consisted mainly of marsh resident species; individual-species examination revealed habitat preference related to water depth. Inflow marshes were capable of producing optimum growth of Gambusia affinis (0.001 g DW
d-1) and energetically valuable habitat (> 6,000 cal g-1) for trophic transport. Riverine pulses may enhance secondary productivity in Breton Sound estuary. Breton Sound was directly hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, causing extreme physical habitat damage and a protracted period of elevated salinity in tidal freshwater marshes. Results included higher nekton densities and a nekton community shift from one dominated by Tidal freshwater / Resident (T/R) species toward one that included Brackish / Migrant species. Effects were short lived; by spring 2007, the nekton community had returned to T/R species, despite the lasting loss of vegetated marsh habitat. These findings provide greater understanding of large-scale climate effects on local estuarine nekton community dynamics and productivity.
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Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Wilfred Abrahams, and officials at the Barbados Meteorological Services (MET Office) are appealing to the public to stay out of the sea today, as conditions can become hazardous due to the passage of Tropical Storm Tammy.
Abrahams said due to the potential for rip currents and above normal swells, the public is advised to stay away from beaches for their own safety.
The MET Office reported that sea conditions have deteriorated with moderate to rough swells of between eight and 11 feet in open water.
In addition, a high surf advisory and small craft warning remain in effect for the island, given the potential for large open water swells which could be hazardous to some vessels.
A high surf advisory is issued when breaking wave action poses a threat to life and property in the surf zone within a 48-hour period. A small craft advisory is issued when sustained winds of 20 to 25 knots and or sea swells of between eight and 10 feet are affecting, or forecast to affect the marine area within the next 48 hours. (PR)


DescriptionHow fisher self sampling can enhance pelagic fisheries data collection.
There is increasing interest throughout global fisheries to enhance traditional methods of fishery monitoring through the involvement of the fishing industry in data collection. Fisher self-sampling has the potential to provide valuable information, across fishing seasons and grounds, in an efficient and cost effective manner, and collaboration between industry and science can build valuable partnerships. In 2018, the Scottish Pelagic Industry Self-sampling Scheme began its development and testing phase, in partnership with the NAFC Marine Centre (NAFC), Scottish Pelagic Fishermen’s Association (SPFA), and Marine Scotland Science (MSS), supported by the EU project ‘PANDORA’ (Paradigm for New Dynamic Oceanic Resource Assessments). The testing phase aims to design and develop robust self-sampling data collection methods that can be applied across the Scottish pelagic industry to provide quality data to inform stock assessment. To fulfil this aim - and establish a new approach to Scottish pelagic data collection – the scheme needs to address two important questions: (1) Can it prove the methods are fit-for-purpose? And, (2) Can it demonstrate that the resulting data are of sufficient quality & utility for application to current, and possible future, stock assessment methods? Here we take a critical look at these questions: methods are analysed and evaluated (with input from both industry and science), and data are examined and compared with traditional market sampling data (which currently provide catch-at-age numbers for stock assessment). The significance of the scheme is also considered in the wider context of international coordination of fishery data monitoring, with the potential to contribute to and improve regional catch sampling of widely distributed pelagic stocks in the north-east Atlantic. Finally, comment is provided on next steps for the future of Scottish pelagic industry self-sampling.
|21 Sept 2021
|Degree of Recognition


The primary diet of blue whales is krill, a small shrimp-like animal, but fish and copepods may occasionally be part of the diet as well. Blue whales are the largest animals in the world, with a body mass of up to 1,000 tons. They can grow to more than 20 feet in length, and can reach speeds of 40 miles per hour.
Table of Contents
What does a whale eat?
Most whales do not eat large prey. The baleen whales feed on some of the smallest animals in the ocean. The whales are fed on small plankton and krill that drift with the waters. Some whales don’t feed on plankton, but most do. In fact, it is estimated that 90% of all the food eaten by whales comes from small fish and crustaceans. Whales are not the only animals that eat small animals.
Many other animals, including birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, also eat smaller animals such as worms, snails, slugs and mollusks. These animals are known as scavengers and they eat the dead or dying animals of their prey to get the nutrients they need for their own survival. Some of these scavenging animals can be as small as a grain of rice or as large as an elephant.
Does whale eat human?
According to experts, whales do not eat people, but consume small aquatic lifeforms like fish, squid and crustaceans. They eat a wide variety of marine life, including fish and squid,” said Dr. David Goulson, a marine biologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, who was not involved in the study.
Do right whale eat fish?
Atlantic right whales are baleen whales that feed entirely on zooplankton and their favourite types are large copepods which are about the size of a grain of rice. They eat smaller crustaceans and copepods. The right whale is one of the largest animals in the world and can reach a length of up to 1,000 metres. It is also the fastest animal on the planet, reaching speeds of more than 30 kilometres per hour.
Do whales eat sharks?
Some of the whales like to kill and fulfill their food requirements, which is why they are peaceful mammals. The killer whale (Orca) is the only whale known to have killed and eaten a human being. SRKWs are the largest and most aggressive of the two species.
They are found in the waters off the coast of California, Mexico, and Baja California. Both species are known for their aggressive behavior and for killing and eating dolphins, porpoises, seals, sea lions, walruses, whales, dolphins and other marine mammals.
Do whales eat meat?
The majority of toothed whales will eat whale food species such as squid, octopus, crustaceans and fish. The killer whale and other toothed whales will hunt larger marine mammals such as seals, sharks, birds, and sea turtles. Whales and dolphins are not the only animals that can be eaten by whales.
Do whales sleep?
Observations of bottlenose dolphins in aquariums and zoos and of whales and dolphins in the wild show that they either rest quietly in the water, vertically or horizontally, or sleep while lying on their backs. This position is known as a “tetrapod” position, because it is similar to the position of a fish or amphibian in water.
Tetrapods sleep in a similar way to humans, but they do not sleep horizontally. Instead, they sleep vertically, with their head resting on one side of their body and their other side resting against a rock or other object. In this way, dolphins and whales are able to stay awake for long periods of time, even when they are in deep sleep.
Are whales friendly?
The whales seem to be non- aggressive from a historical perspective. Their relatives, the dolphin’s species, tend to be very friendly and curious towards humans, often displaying a desire to greet and play with them. Whales have also been known to attack humans in the past.
In the early 20th century, for example, a man was attacked by a humpback whale off the coast of New Zealand. The whale, which had been feeding on the man’s boat, attacked him with its flukes, knocking him out of the boat and into the water.
Do whales bite?
Press reported that a surfer was bitten in California in the early 1970s, which is the only relatively well-documented case of a wild orca actually biting a human. Orcas in captivity have attacked and killed at least one person.
“It’s very rare for an orcas to actually attack a person,” said NOAA marine mammal expert Dr. David Shiffman. “But it’s not unheard of for them to do so.
Is whale vegetarian?
Their enormous weight is supported by the water. The whale’s diet consists of fish, squid, crustaceans and other marine invertebrates. They also feed on plankton and small marine animals such as zooplankton.
How do whales swallow?
The whales swim slowly with their mouths open to take in large amounts of water and food. The food gets trapped inside the whale’s mouth when they push the water out past their baleen plates. The whale then swallows it whole.
This is a very efficient way of getting food into the whales’ stomachs, but it also means that whales have to eat a lot of food in a short period of time, which can lead to them becoming very hungry very quickly.
This is one of the reasons why humpback whales and blue whales are considered to be the world’s most endangered species.


Scientists are investigating and fighting back against this serious risk to the marine environment
Oceans soak up as much as 30% of total carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and other human activities. But this carbon removal service comes at a considerable cost, increasing ocean acidity and contributing to a loss of biodiversity. This is not only bad for the oceans but also hits human populations, cutting seafood stocks and damaging coastlines. The only real solution on a global scale is to cut CO2 emissions, but scientists are working on effective ways to decrease acidification locally.
Seawater has a pH of around 8.1, down from 8.2 in pre-industrial times. Open ocean surface pH has declined by up to 0.027 pH units per decade since the late 1980s, according to a 2019 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The surface pH could continue to decrease by around 0.3 units by 2100, it predicts.
This may not sound dramatic but a decrease of one pH unit marks a tenfold increase in acidity. Ocean chemistry is finely tuned and affected by any change in acidity. Carbon dioxide dissolves in seawater and forms ionic and non-ionic species, including carbonic acid (H2CO3), bicarbonate (HCO3-) and carbonate (CO32-). The ratio of these species depends on factors such as temperature, pressure and salinity. Dissolving CO2 in seawater increases the hydrogen ion concentration, making the water more acidic: CO2 (aq) + H2O ⇌ H2CO3-⇌ CO32- + 2H+
As the pH drops, the concentration of carbonate ions also decreases. Many marine organisms need carbonate to grow shells or skeletons, so acidification has significant physical effects. For example, acidification affects coral’s ability to build and repair its hard structures, which in turn affects the whole ecosystem that depends on reefs for survival.
Shellfish are particularly sensitive to ocean acidification at the larval stage. As well as shell effects, acidification can also reduce immune defence against parasites and pathogens.
While effects such as thinning shells and damaged coral reefs are clear to see, others are more subtle. For example, researchers have found that acidification may damage clownfish hearing, affecting their ability to detect predators.
In your class
We are all becoming increasingly aware of the impact of human activity on our oceans, and microplastic pollution and the bleaching of coral reefs are now regular topics for discussion. This article reveals the dramatic effect relatively small changes in pH can have on our oceans and its marine life. This article can be used in class to add context to the teaching of acid-base chemistry and help students realise its importance in understanding the impact of climate change on our oceans.
A team at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, reported that young snapper fish raised in predicted future CO2 conditions are less sensitive to low frequency noises. Using computer tomography (3D imaging using X-rays), they found that acidity affected the growth of a key calcium carbonate structure in the fish ear called an otolith. The acid enlarges the structure, possibly because the fish pull in more bicarbonate to maintain the acid-base balance in high CO2 conditions, the researchers suggest. If the fish are unable to adapt to increasing CO2 levels over coming generations, there could be serious effects on the structure and function of future aquatic communities, they warn.
Many studies on the effects of ocean acidification are carried out in tanks. But for over a decade, studies have also been carried out on underwater hydrothermal vents near active volcanoes. Known as hydrothermal CO2 seeps, the vents bubble large amounts of gas into the water.
‘These natural gradients in carbon dioxide are like analogues of the future, showing what will happen to marine life,’ says Jason Hall-Spencer from the University of Plymouth.
Jason has long studied CO2 seep sites off Vulcano island in Sicily. In areas of intense bubbling, with a high partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2), the seawater pH drops below 6 and there are no calcified organisms such as shelled molluscs and hard corals. A few hundred metres away, where CO2 levels are lower, the geochemistry is like future ocean acidification conditions in the open ocean and the community becomes more diverse.
‘Whenever we see these gradients of carbon dioxide in the sea, you get a gradual loss of ecosystem properties like habitat complexity, a gradual loss of ecosystem services like the ability to provide coastal protection or food for people, and a decrease in ecosystem functions like nutrient cycling,’ he says.
There are seagrass meadows that can store tonnes of carbon for hundreds of years, even millennia
Jason is also based at the Shimoda Marine Research Centre at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, which has access to underwater seeps. There, he is part of a team studying the combined effects of warming seas and increasing acidification by carefully selecting different natural locations.
A recent study used one location to represent a temperate marine ecosystem, while two others were warmer – one with high CO2 levels. The team found the warm, acidic water was dominated by thick, carpet-like beds of seaweed called turf algae, with few corals and very low habitat complexity. The researchers suggest that declining kelp forests off the coast of Japan will be replaced by turf algae if warming and acidification continue.
Similar patterns are seen in tropical, subtropical and temperate seep sites, where habitat degradation and loss of biodiversity are a common theme. Based on this seep evidence, ocean acidification will have serious consequences for the millions of people who depend on coastal protection, fisheries and aquaculture. If we can make major cuts in fossil fuel emissions though, coastal ecosystems will remain in a far better state than predicted at pCO2 levels matching the IPCC’s worst-case scenario.
Super seagrass and kelp
The best way to prevent further ocean acidification across the planet is to cut atmospheric CO2 emissions. However, local measures can combat acidification. These include boosting coastal populations of seagrass and seaweeds, which use CO2 for photosynthesis.
As well as reducing acidity, they also lock away organic carbon in sediments. ‘There are seagrass meadows that can store tonnes of carbon for hundreds of years, even millennia,’ says researcher Aurora Ricart, currently based at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Maine, US. Mangrove trees and salt marshes are also remarkably good at sequestering carbon in coastal areas, but because they are not fully submerged, they contribute little to the fight against acidification.
Aurora was part of a study which found that underwater seagrass meadows can alleviate acidic conditions over long periods, even during the night when photosynthesis halts. The water around the seagrass reached pre-industrial pH levels. At night, the researchers suggest that the water was not moving around enough to bring in more acidic water from outside, preserving the higher pH until the sunlight returned.
Adding silicate materials could help with climate change and decrease ocean acidification
Aurora is now studying a kelp farm in Maine, looking to understand spatial aspects of pH effects. The buffering effects for both seagrass and kelp appear to be highly local. ‘Now we are monitoring the water chemistry at very high spatial resolution. Instead of having one sensor inside the system and one sensor outside, we have different sensors all over the place,’ she says. The researchers are looking to see if there is a ‘halo effect’ protecting the kelp forest water.
The experiments are complicated by seasonal differences, currents, tides and fluctuating water temperatures. The kelp reaches peak productivity in spring and the researchers can track this very well using pH and pCO2 data. Kelp is more productive than seagrass and can sequester more CO2 through photosynthesis over a particular period, says Aurora.
Worksheet, for age range 16–18
Use the questions in this exercise to help students further their understanding of acid-base equilibria specifically applied to indicators.
Download the student worksheet and answers from the Education in Chemistry website: rsc.li/3LfnL2X
Some researchers favour adding alkaline substances, such as a magnesium silicate mineral called olivine, directly to the sea. Recent modelling by a team from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Marine and Atmospheric Research in Australia suggests that adding large amounts of alkaline materials to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) every three days for a year offsets over four years of acidification at the current rate of carbon emissions. But the researchers found the water would return to its former state within six months of treatment. They conclude that ameliorating decades of acidification in the GBR is feasible using existing infrastructure but is likely to be ‘extremely expensive’ and would need to be carried out continuously until humans cut CO2 emissions.
Through its Horizon 2020 programme, the EU funds a project looking into ocean-based negative emission technologies (OceanNETs). One aspect of the project is to look at increasing the alkalinity of the upper ocean to boost seawater’s carbon storage capacity and reduce acidity. One suggestion is to add lime powder. Another suggested approach is to react seawater with alkaline minerals using desalination plants before releasing the alkaline solution back into the ocean.
As part of the OceanNETs project, scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh are exploring proposals to increase alkalinity through enhanced weathering. This involves adding carbonate or silicate minerals to the land so that they enter water systems through natural weathering processes. Crushed carbonate materials have long been added to soils. Adding silicate materials could help with climate change and decrease ocean acidification. The scientists suggest that by increasing the ‘alkalinity flux’ from land to the ocean via enhanced weathering, it may be possible to partially replenish the ocean’s buffering.
The UN has a sustainable development goal to ‘minimise and address the impacts of ocean acidification’. Through UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, it aims to encourage scientific research and cooperation to help fill ocean acidification data gaps. Jason and his colleague Ben Harvey are calling for a binding international agreement for the oceans, saying that the time is ripe for a ‘Paris agreement for the oceans’ to build on the UN’s sustainable development goal.
Jason would also like to see a reduction in trawling and dredging, which damage the seabed and release trapped CO2. ‘We need a healthy, functioning ocean to protect us from the effects of ocean acidification,’ he says. He is hopeful for the future though: ‘Oceans have a remarkable ability to bounce back.’
- Add ocean acidification to your existing lessons at 14–16 with this article and resources from the Sustainability in chemistry series.
- For more contexts as well as ideas and activities for discussing pH and indicators, read Teaching acids and bases post-16.
- The worksheets in this acids and bases resource provide further practise on acid-base equilibria.
- Find out more about what is involved in working as a marine biogeochemist in one of the many job profiles on A Future in Chemistry.
- Add ocean acidification to your existing lessons at 14–16 with this article and resources from the EiC Sustainability in chemistry series and this article: rsc.li/3B78lJA
- For more contexts as well as ideas and activities for discussing pH and indicators, read Teaching acids and bases post-16: rsc.li/3rsyxuN
- For further practise on acid-base equilibria, use the worksheets in this acids and bases resource: rsc.li/3J9yfyZ
- Find out more about what is involved in working as a marine biogeochemist in one of the many job profiles on A Future in Chemistry: rsc.li/3Gwy7bg
Emma Davies is a science writer based in Bishop’s Stortford


Have you ever found something that should not be found where you are and no idea how and why it got there?
On February 27, 2019, an unprecedented and surprising event happened in the Mangrove Forest. A local Brazilian fisherman came across a dead carcass of a humpback whale while walking through the forest.
A lot of questions were raised when the humpback whale was found. How did it end up in the Mangrove forest? Where did it come from? Was it dead before it appeared in the Mangrove Forest? Why did this happen? According to Bicho D’agua, a nonprofit research group, the 26 feet long sea creature was found 50 feet from the shore of Araruna Beach, Soure. Soure sits at the mouth of the Amazon River on the islands of Marajó.
From further research and investigating, it was identified as a baby whale. The research group shared a caption under multiple photos on Instagram, “It was not an adult animal, nor as large as it seems in the pictures.” The whale was thought to be 12 months old.
The baby humpback whale likely died in four or five days before the fisherman found it. However, this event baffled many biologists, making them form their own explanations of how the marine mammal ended up there. Some thought it was being picked up by vultures in the midst of trees while others thought it was swept by a recent storm.
Sousa, an oceanographer at Bicho D’agua, provided her comment by saying “During this season, the tide normally rises twice a day to almost 13 feet and floods the mangrove forest, bringing lots of trash, including trash from ships from a lot of places in the world”
Scientists were also wondering why it was so far from its natural summer habitat. Many have guessed, including Emin, marine mammal expert, that the calf got lost from its mother or separated during the migratory cycle. Science News explained that during the Amazonian summer, the local humpback whales should have travelled over 4,000 miles to their feeding grounds in Antarctic, where it has krill filled summer oceans.
In addition, researchers tried to uncover more factors that caused the death of the poor whale by testing tissue samples. However, some details about its short life and enigmatic death may have been lost due to days of scavenging and decomposing before it was found. Maritime Herald shipping journal suggested that the death was caused by plastic pollution. Public Library of Science journal published a study in 2014 revealed that there’s a minimum of 5 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing 268,940 tons, are in our oceans and the numbers are expected to grow.
Despite many NGOs such as Parley who teamed up with Adidas to create their sub-clothing line using plastic in oceans, plastic pollution is still a huge issue. We should be more conscious about our environment, but instead of always talking about it, we need to take action. If more action is taken, deaths like humpback whale calfs will not die at such an early age in areas where it should not be at the time. Something everyone can do is to have a trash clean up on decks and beaches. The result of the necropsy will be available in about 15 days and will give researchers a better idea of the cause of its death.


These intelligent mammals are mystic, marine animals that are playful and lively by nature. Two subspecies of the common dolphin are sighted in the waters of False Bay; the short beaked and long beaked common dolphin with the long beaked the more commonly seen of the two. Dolphins have slender yet firm bodies with a long rostrum (beak) and a blow hole situated on top of their heads to breathe.
Common dolphins are mainly shades of grey and white in colour. The back is grey in colour, stretching from their head to fluke plunging to form a V on each side below the dorsal fin. On either side is an hour glass pattern coloured light grey or yellow in front and dirty grey in back. The dorsal fin is light grey, located near the middle of their back and is triangular, curved shape. The belly is white while their flippers are long, thin and grey in colour.
Common dolphins live in salt water around the world, preferring a warmer temperature and so avoid the icy Arctic and Antarctic oceans. The long beaked common dolphin resides in shallow and warm coastal water while the short beaked common dolphin prefers offshore waters, deeper out at sea.
Common dolphins are active, nocturnal feeders who gather in pods to hunt for squids and small schooling fish such as anchovies, sardines and pilchards.
These dolphins have between 50 to 60 pairs of teeth on both their upper and lower jaw that help to hold their prey. They do not chew their feed, preferring to swallow and so catch prey that is small enough to swallow whole. Common dolphins eat up to about 5% of their body weight on a daily basis.
Pods of dolphins can range in numbers between 100 to 500 and have been seen in the thousands. Dolphins are known to be intelligent and social animals, that thrive on interaction and bonding with one another. They live within a complex hierarchy and tend to create subgroups based on factors such as age and gender.
Dolphins communicate and hunt using vocalisations and echolocation. Their vocalisation includes making sounds such as whistling, whining and clicking, with languages even differing between pods. Echolocation is a process whereby dolphins send out sounds waves through the water, with the sound hitting an object, bouncing off and echoing back to the dolphin. Dolphins can identify what an object is, such as the shape, size and texture, by the sound of the echo sent back.
Common dolphins are the fastest of all dolphins reaching speeds of up to 40km/h or more. Dolphins are active marine animals; often seen breaching out of the water, somersaulting, bow riding or playing and teasing one another. Bow riding are when dolphins surf in the waves created by boats and ships, with the dolphins propelled forward by the wave.
|Dolphin in the womb.|
Female dolphins are called cows and males are called bulls while young dolphins are referred to as calves. Common dolphins become sexually maturity between the ages of 3 to 4 years old or when reaching 1.8 to 2.1 metres in length; whichever comes first.
Males tend to become aggressive towards other males with regards to potential mating partners, often making sounds to warn each other off and may even collide their bodies against each other. Using their flukes (tails) as a weapon is common to show off their strength. Females choose to mate with the strongest and most dominant of the males. Dolphins, like humans, are known to take part in copulating activities other than for reproduction.
Females give birth to one calf, measuring between 76 to 86 cm, after carrying for 10 to 11 months. The dolphin calf is born tail first instead of head first, and is the only mammal on earth to be born in such a way. During birthing, other dolphins in the pod play a key part, keeping a close circle around the calf and mother for their protection. The dolphins soothe both mother and calf during the birthing process and assist the calf to the surface of the water for its very first breath. Juvenile dolphins stay by the mothers’ side for up to 3 years.
Did you know?
Major threats that common dolphins are faced with include metal and plastic pollutions in oceans and being caught by accident in industrial trawler nets intended to catch fish.


The Story of the game Marine engineer you started travelling into sea for a organic research using a submarine provided by your government. After a long travel your submarine gets repair so you can't move it further. Try to collect the appropriate objects need to start the submarine again and get escaped from their. Click on the objects inside the sea to interact with them and solve puzzles. Good luck and have fun!
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Created By: UF IFAS Nature Coast Biological Station
6211 Riverside Dr, Yankeetown, FL 34498
The third kiosk at this location describes the shrimp fishery. Look out over the river to see boats with large roller frame trawls. These are shrimp boats, and they can travel long distances offshore. Several species of shrimp are harvested, but the pink shrimp, locally known as hopper, is the most abundant species found in the Big Bend.
The shrimp fishery is an important industry in the Yankeetown area, beginning in the 1960s and booming during the 70s and 80s. More recently, the fishery has been revitalized due to the high-value market of live shrimp for Asian consumption. Additionally, the bait shrimp fishery has become increasingly important as the demand for shrimp by sportfishing enthusiasts grows. You can find wild-harvested shrimp for sale at local restaurants so make sure you find a way to enjoy these delicacies during your visit! Read the rest of the kiosk panel for more information about this fishery.
This point of interest is part of the tour: Big Bend Shellfish Trail - Yankeetown (Walking)
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Hope Spots, like the name suggests, are geo-pins in the world’s oceans of marine environments that need protection. They are sites of hope. They are spectacles of nature. There are over 130 Hope Spots around the world, selected by the Mission Blue network, and supported by Rolex through its ‘Perpetual Planet’ initiative. The initiative is a collaboration of sorts, focusing on preserving nature, aiding explorers and scientists, much like American marine biologist Dr Sylvia Earle, who masterminded Mission Blue in 2009. It was Earle who introduced the idea of Hope Spots, giving international visibility to vulnerable sites nominated by local communities. Furthermore, both Earle and Rolex have pledged to protect 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030. “Through Mission Blue my goal is to increase protection of the oceans over the next decade,” Earle tells Vogue. “Rolex is assisting us as part of its commitment to join forces with organizations that are trying to find solutions to the challenges the planet is facing. Together we can make a difference,” she urges.
Here are five Hope Spots that have caught our attention:
What: Providing a protected swim way between the two islands.


Every year, plastic waste discarded by humans — everything from plastic straws and food packaging to fishing nets and industrial products — ends up in the oceans. This trash floats around, eventually bumping into each other, where it becomes trapped and forms an ‘island’ of trash. A new study sheds light on what happens to this plastic over time, namely the microplastic hotspots it can produce.
Microplastics are small — often microscopic — bits of plastic that have broken free from larger pieces over time; examples include plastic fibers released from synthetic clothing and that scrape free of larger materials like barrels and nets. These microplastics have been found in drinking water and even in fish, raising concerns about both their environmental and health impact.
A new study out of the University of Manchester reveals the discovery of where this plastic pollution ends up. Researchers describe ‘huge sediment accumulations’ of microplastics, areas they’ve dubbed hotspots. The study compares microplastic hotspots on the deep seafloor with the floating islands of trash that have formed on the ocean’s surface.
The discovery reveals that these microplastics aren’t uniformly dispersed across the ocean floor, but rather that they tend to build up in certain areas, a process made possible by riding currents along the seafloor. Unfortunately, these same currents also carry nutrients and oxygenated water, making the hotspots ecosystems where creatures may end up ingesting the plastic particles.
The study found that most of the microplastics in these hotspots are sourced from clothes and textiles; the fibers may be, for example, pulled from fabrics when clothes are washed, eventually making their way into rivers and oceans. The findings were based on deep ocean current models and data on sediment samples collected from the Tyrrhenian Sea.


The curious case of the disappearing sea rubbish
When you think about the Earth’s oceans you probably imagine stretches of deep, dark water, exotic marine life and pristine waves. You probably don’t think of vast islands of plastic waste such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an expanse of rubbish which some say is bigger than the continental United States. It was feared that collections of plastic debris like this were growing in line with our increasing rates of plastic production over the past decades. However, scientists have recently discovered that these floating eyesores are mysteriously receding – and that’s actually not a good thing…
Forbes tells us that the plastic is possibly being drawn down into the depths of the ocean: ‘Various marine plants and animals could be anchoring themselves to the debris – a process called biofouling – making it so heavy that it no longer floats’. Alternatively, the tiny plastic particles are being eaten by small marine creatures, which are in turn eaten by larger fish which may ultimately end up in the human food chain.’
Another possibility is that marine bacteria are breaking smaller pieces of plastic down to sub-microscopic sizes. A fourth scenario, which Forbes tells us the study authors offer little credence to, is that the smaller particles could be washing ashore.
Live Science quotes Andrés Cózar, the study co-author and an ecologist at the University of Cadiz: ‘The deep ocean is a great unknown. Sadly, the accumulation of plastic in the deep ocean would be modifying this mysterious ecosystem — the largest of the world — before we can know it.’
According to Live Science, researchers drew their conclusions by analysing the amount of plastic debris floating in the ocean, as well as global plastic production and disposal rates: ‘In the 1970s, the National Academy of Sciences estimated that about 45 000 tons of plastic reaches the oceans every year. Since then, the world's production of plastic has quintupled. Cózar and his colleagues wanted to understand the size and extent of the ocean's garbage problem.’
The research team did this by circumnavigating the globe in a ship called the Malaspina in 2010, collecting surface water samples and measuring plastic concentrations. The team also analysed data from several other expeditions, looking at a total of 3 070 samples.
In light of the drastic increase in plastic produced since the 1970s, the researchers estimated that there would be millions of tons of garbage in the oceans. However, the vast majority of the small plastic pieces, measuring less than 5 mm in size, were missing. The research summary states: ‘The global load of plastic on the open ocean surface was estimated to be on the order of tens of thousands of tons, far less than expected. Our observations of the size distribution of floating plastic debris point at important size-selective sinks removing millimeter-sized fragments of floating plastic on a large scale.’
It seems that the mystery of the disappearing sea rubbish will remain a secret of the ocean for now!
last modification: 2015-01-02 23:19:02


Nov 30, 2021
Ahhh, offshore wind. It's a beautiful thing for waves. Except this week your favorite surf coaches are talking about RIPPING offshore wind and the three ways it keeps you from catching waves. Bet you can guess the first way, but what about the other two consequences of ripping offshore wind?


Beneath vibrant coral reefs, but above the lightless depths of the sea, lies the “twilight zone” of reefs. The declining health of shallow-water reefs has inspired increasing scientific interest in the so-called “mesophotic” (meaning middle light) zone, which starts at depths of about 40 meters (130 feet). But what lies beyond the mesophotic zone? Scientists have begun to explore these even deeper and darker areas, recently dubbed the rariphotic (meaning scarce light) zone. The reefs there turn out to be home to a startling variety of sea life, much of it yet to be discovered.
The newly recognized rariphotic zone ranges from 130 meters to at least 309 meters (427-1,014 feet). It is too deep for corals with photosynthetic algae to grow, and it is also too deep for even the specialized SCUBA equipment used to explore mesophotic reefs. Submersibles and remotely operated vehicles can explore the region, but they are expensive and normally used to scope out even deeper depths of the ocean. As a result, most reef researchers seldom make it to the rariphotic zone.
But Dr. Carole Baldwin, a research zoologist at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, has now spent a good deal of time in this long-ignored zone. It was her team that conceived of the rariphotic zone, when they realized that the fish found there were not the same as those in the shallower mesophotic zone.
Baldwin began her “twilight zone” submersible dives when she received a phone call from Adriaan “Dutch” Schrier in 2010 The Curaçao-based entrepreneur and diving enthusiast owned a submersible that reaches depths of 1,000 feet, and he convinced Baldwin to join him on a couple of dives to help identify species below the shallow reef. The location is perfect for someone looking at deeper reefs, due to the island’s abrupt drop-off directly offshore.
On the first dive in the Curasub, she found several putatively new fish species. “I couldn’t have been more impressed,” Baldwin said. “I was seeing all these reef fishes that I didn’t recognize, and so right off the bat I knew that because those depths were just below what we could access with scuba gear, there was a whole realm there that we didn’t know much about.”
The idea of a new ocean zone was started on a hunch and just a little data. But thanks to rigorous analysis of a lot of fish-depth data accumulated over many years, the team was able to show that the fishes living in reef ecosystems below the mesophotic zone were distinct enough that the area they were inhabiting deserved a designation of its own.
Soon after the first dives, Baldwin created the Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP) in order to continue to explore the deep coral ecosystems, in the process discovering and describing numerous new species of fishes, crustaceans, echinoderms (a phylum that is best known for including sea stars), and mollusks. As Baldwin and her team made trips in the submersible, they kept track of the depths where the different fish species were found.
In total, the team observed 4,436 individual fishes belonging to 71 species during 80 submersible dives. Of these, 31 species belonging to 23 genera were mostly or only found in the rariphotic zone. Many of the species that Baldwin and her team observed and collected during the submersible dives are new. Since the project started in 2011, the DROP team has described 30 new species of fishes and invertebrates and six new genera, though Baldwin says the number of new species found is probably closer to one hundred when you consider those that are not yet named and described in scientific publications.
“Discovering new species is rarely one of those eureka moments,” she said. After Baldwin collects specimens representing presumed new species, she spends hours comparing color patterns and anatomical features, as well as analyzing DNA to verify the specimen is not a known species. When she does find new species, she likes to name them after donors and other people who have helped move the expensive project along. One of Baldwin’s favorites is the blenny fish, Haptoclinus dropi, named after the DROP program itself.
Thanks to this research, there are now three well-defined reef zones: the newly recognized and named rariphotic, the mesophotic, and the newly named altiphotic (meaning high light—surprisingly, the well-studied shallow water reefs also didn’t have a name before). Baldwin believes that naming the rariphotic and showing how distinct it is will inspire scientists to do more research in this previously neglected zone. Already she has heard from colleagues investigating deep-reef ecosystems off Bermuda that have observed many of the same rariphotic fish species that occur in Curaçao. Because DROP has discovered so many new deep-reef species off the coast of Curaçao, Baldwin believes there are a lot more to be found in mesophotic and rariphotic ecosystems at other locations around the globe.
This research also lays the groundwork for detecting future changes in reef biodiversity. With colleagues Ross Robertson, from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Luke Tornabene, formerly a Peter Buck postdoctoral fellow at the National Museum of Natural History, Baldwin’s next mission is to explore whether reef fishes are moving to deeper ocean depths in response to warming surface waters. Unpublished preliminary data suggest the answer may be yes.


Data used for SSIM test in Sequeira et al, 2018 - Methods in Ecology and Ecolution
Predictions of fish species richness in Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia obtained when using (i) a model developed for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and predicting to Ningaloo Reef, and (ii) a model developed for the Ningaloo Reef (NR) and predicting to Ningaloo Reef.
Martins Sequeira, A. (Creator) (18 Apr 2018). Data from: Transferring Biodiversity Models for Conservation: Opportunities and Challenges. The University of Western Australia. GBR_Model_prediction_to_Ningaloo_Reef(.txt), NR_Model_prediction_to_Ningaloo_Reef(.txt). 10.4225/23/5a979b84c81ff


National Ocean Survey. Office of Coastal Zone Management. HAZARDS Natural hazards pose a large and growing threat to lives and property along much of the Nationa#39;s shoreline. Intense development pressure has resulted in rapidanbsp;...
|Title||:||Biennial Report to the Congress on Coastal Zone Management|
|Author||:||National Ocean Survey. Office of Coastal Zone Management|


Here, we report the new occurrences of four deep-water prawn of the genus Gennadas in the southwestern Atlantic: G. gilchristi recorded from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge region; G. capensis recorded from Brazilian waters off Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Atol das Rocas and Ceará Chain; G. talismani and G. scutatus recorded both to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and to Brazilian waters.
Alves-Júnior F., Feio de Lemos R., Azevedo Cardoso I., Leitão Câmara de Araújo M., Bertrand A., Souza-Filho F. 2018. New records of deep-sea prawn of the genus Gennadas Spence Bate, 1881 (Crustacea: Decapoda: Benthesicymidae) from Southwestern Atlantic. 2018. Zootaxa, 4450: 376–384.
Abracos 2, Mar-Eco, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Oceanic Islands, Brazil


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The granite boulders are barnacle encrusted and urchin infested.
bring some type of flotation device to be used for rescue in case someone falls into the surf.
An undertow can drown a person just feet from safety.
Riptides are found in channels, passes and cuts through which large volumes of water travel from the bay to the surf during the tidal exchange. Rip currents are commonly and mistakenly called riptides.
Seaside you can enjoy a dolphin watch or a narrated cruise and eco tour of the surrounding Gulf waters of South Padre Island and the Laguna Madre bay.
And when you come ashore, visit Sea Turtle Inc, the sealife and dolphin research center, or the coastal studies lab and marvel at the aquatic life of the South Texas Gulf Coast and the Atlantic Ocean.
Welcome to South Padre Island, the Tropical Tip of Texas! Even the best Olympic swimmers are not able to successfully swim toward shore in the strongest rip currents., especially in the vicinity of groins, jetties, and piers.
Enjoy live cam views of our beautiful beaches with the South Padre Beach Cam™, the surf in the Gulf of Mexico with the South Padre Surf Cam™, and the sunset over the Laguna Madre with the South Padre Bay Cam™! Moderate Risk - Wave Heights 3-5' and/or Wind Speed 10-20 kts.
Eventually, the excess water starts to return seaward through low areas in the sandbar, "ripping" an opening.


A mini boat which sailed from Charlestown, South Carolina, USA and arrived in Cork inspired a project to connect Cork primary children to their peers on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The project titled "Cork Mini boat Atlantic Adventure" included the creation of the mini-boat art booklet to document the journey and also showcase the collection of amazing art work highlighting Cork's rich maritime heritage. The artwork created by over 300 primary school children was used to create a montage to cover the hull of the boat to prepare for the return journey. The flipbook below charts this story.
You can follow the ocean journey of our mini boat in real time by clicking here
“Cork Mini Boat Atlantic Adventure” is supported by the Creative Ireland Programme, an all-of-Government five-year initiative, from 2017 to 2022, which places creativity at the centre of public policy. Further information from www.creativeireland.gov.ie


***Please be advised that orders of 5gal+ are subject to a possible 4-week lead time***
Relax and soak your cares away in this sea salt blend enriched with ocean kelp. Proteins and minerals from the sea are added to the water through the kelp and Dead Sea Salts. Helps tone the skin and detoxify the body. This blend will also help keep your bath water warmer longer. THIS IS NOT A SPA SAFE PRODUCT.
SODIUM CHLORIDE, MACROCYSTIS PYRIFERA (KELP) EXTRACT, GLYCERIN, GLUCOSE, WATER, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, PHENOXYETHANOL -- February 2023
DSMS Dead Sea Salts
CSSB Solar Salt Glow
Small Grind Therapy Sea Salts with Kelp - CSBK
Coconut Milk & Honey Crystals -CMHC
C Mineral Spa Crystals


Highway 37 east of Novato has flooded multiple times since the beginning of the year…but this winter’s storms aren’t all that threatens this waterlogged roadway.
The North Bay’s Highway 37 is one of the Bay Area’s many roadways that’s been plagued by flooding during this winter’s very wet season. But a recent U-C Davis study suggests sea-level rise is also playing a major factor in the highway’s flooding and transit agencies are taking note. KRCB’s Tiffany Camhi has more.
Find out more about sea level rise and highway 37 on the North Bay Report webpage at KRCB dot org/news. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.


The demise of the dinosaurs was brought about by a city-sized asteroid striking our planet directly, according to what we learned in elementary science lessons.
After the massive space rock, about 8.7 miles or 14 kilometers wide, slammed the area near the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico 66 million years ago, more than 75% of all animal and plant life on earth became extinct.
Recent research, however, contends that the asteroid damaged the region it impacted and brought about a global tsunami.
The effects of the collision were enough to create the preconditions for the extinction of countless species. Wildfires damaged habitats and flora, global temperatures went crazy, and aerosol, soot, and dust were in the air.
With a scale that eclipses all tsunamis recorded in human history, the global tsunami reached the furthest locations within just 48 hours of its impact. In addition, scientists contend that the tsunami’s intensity was 1,000 times greater than that of current tsunamis brought on by earthquakes.
The American Geophysical Union Advances built a model to trace the tsunami’s route by analyzing sediment cores to determine the degree of the damage and reach of the tsunami.
The study group released the journal on Tuesday. This is the first simulation of the subject that was peer-reviewed and published by the journal.
The study also stated that the impact produced a mile-high tsunami that traveled thousands of miles from the point of impact. The mega-tsunami, therefore, completely erased the sediment record that existed before and during the event.
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The lead author of the study, Molly Range, said, “This tsunami was strong enough to disturb and erode sediments in ocean basins halfway around the globe, leaving either a gap in the sedimentary records or a jumble of older sediments.”
Researchers examined the energy produced by the tsunami that struck the Indian Ocean in December 2004 to put the incident on an imaginable scale. Over 230,000 people lost their lives in what is regarded as the deadliest tsunami in history.
However, 30,000 times more energy than the Indian Ocean tsunami was contained in the tsunami caused by the asteroid. Additionally, it had an energy that was 100,000 times greater than the volcanic eruption in Tonga.
How to determine the path
Brandon Johnson, a co-author of the paper, modeled the events during the first 10 minutes following impact using a tool called hydrocode. Johnson estimated the asteroid’s speed to be 26,843 miles per hour, or about 43,200 kilometers per hour, as it approached the Yucatan Peninsula’s oceans. Its weight and force when it reached the ocean were sufficient to cause a tsunami that was 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers) tall.
Following the primary asteroid, additional debris generated increasingly large waves that traveled hundreds of miles from the impact site.
A ring-shaped tsunami that was about a mile high and traveling across the ocean at a distance of 137 miles (or 220 kilometers) from the impact location followed the first 10 minutes, causing devastation to all property and individuals.
Read Also: Billionaire Ray Dalio Raps UK Government, says Fiscal Plan ‘suggests incompetence’
The North Atlantic Ocean, South Pacific Ocean, and the Central American Seaway had the greatest underwater currents, according to all information gathered from sediments discovered in the world’s seas. It’s the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, South Atlantic, and North Pacific experienced weaker currents.
“We feel these deposits are recording the effects of the impact tsunami, and this is perhaps the most telling confirmation of the global significance of this event,” said Range.
Photo Credit: Todays Chronic


Parasites of fish in Finland. VI. Nematodes.
In a survey conducted between 1973 and 1979, 23 nematode species were identified in fish from Finland. The material, consisting of 2922 specimens of 34 species of fish, was sampled in brackish water in the northern Baltic region as well as in freshwater; farmed fish were also studied. Sampling was extensive in one brackish water area and at one freshwater site. Most of the adult parasites occurred in only one or a very restricted number of fish species. Infective larvae were frequently recorded in numerous fish species. Species which reach sexual maturity in fish frequently had a marked seasonal occurrence due to the prevailing temperature. The parasite fauna is considered with regard to salinity, the geological history of Fennoscandia and fish migration. The nematodes were studied by light and scanning-electron microscopy and are described and figured; the biology and life-histories of the parasites are discussed.


Right at the end of our three and a half month trip we had 3 days in Vancouver before our flights home, despite it being such a short time we tried to pack in as many experiences as possible. On the first day we got out and explored Vancouver city centre then the next day we headed up to Whistler to see the mountains and do the Peak to Peak ski lift.
For our last day we booked to go out whale watching. We had really wanted to get over to Vancouver Island and visit Tofino in particular but in truth we had no idea how huge a distance this was and how long it would take- turns out it takes a full day to get there from Vancouver! Instead of trying to get to Tofino we booked a boat leaving from Steveston with Vancouver Whale Watch to look for whales among the Gulf & San Juan Islands.
The Gulf & San Juan islands are a large group of islands that are just off the coast that runs from Vancouver down to Seattle. They are renowned for being one of the best places in the world to see Orca’s as there are three pods that reside among the islands that can be seen from spring through to Autumn but there are also other transient pods who travel through the islands all year round while migranting North or South to keep up with their prey.
We booked the 12 seater open air lightship; an ex-coastguard boat used for rescue missions. As a result we got to pull on full-body survival suits for the trip, glamorous!
Having checked in, suited up and boarded our craft we departed and cruised through the harbour where we got a close view of this nesting pair of Bald Eagles who had made a home on one of the signalling towers.
Given that bald eagles diet is primarily fish this couple, who have mated for life, have picked a great spot to steal any scraps available from the incoming fishing boats and are right next to the water should they need to fish themselves. You can also easily see how much bigger the female sitting atop the signalling tower is compared to the male.
To get to the islands we had to leave the harbour and head down the open water of the Salish sea. This is where the trip got really bumpy but was so much fun!
After about 40 minutes we reached the Gulf islands and calmer waters. As we cruised between the islands we could see many more bald eagles. One flew directly overhead before landing on a perch not far from us.
Throughout the trip the captain had been scanning around for signs of whales as well constanly relaying messages with various other boats. In the midst of watching the eagles the captain got a radio message from another boat telling us to head in their direction and we were off!
It wasn’t long after we caught up with the boat that we got out first glimpse of what we had hoped to see;
We counted about five or six individuals in this pod of Orca’s and our guide Chris believed this was a transient pod after reviewing close up photo’s of the dorsal fins.
There are many differences between transient and resident pods but the biggest is their diet. The resident orca’s diet consist’s primarily of Chinook Salmon whereas the diet of transients is made up mostly of marine mammals such as seals and porpoises!
The pod was moving very fast. They would break the surface maybe three to four times before diving and then typically reappear quite a distance away. Even when we were close to them keeping up was a hard task for the captain.
A few times when the whales surfaced they came up quite close to the boat and seeing the animals so close was really amazing.
Throughout our time with the pod they never stopped moving covering a huge distance in the hour and a bit we spent as the matriach led her family on the hunt for food.
Orca’s are one of the most social animals in the world and have complex social structures similar to elephants. Each pod is effectively one family. They are led by the mother of the pod, the matriach, and all other members are her descendants; sons and daughters, her grandchildren and sometimes even her great grandchildren as wild orca’s can live up to 90 years old!
It was incredible to be able to see Orca’s and we hope to go back to B.C. and visit Vancouver Island and do more whale watching off its West Coast.
Unfortunately the population of the resident animals is rapidly decreasing having shrunk from an estimate of 200 animals down to 83 in 2008. This is largely attributed to the decrease in numbers of Chinook salmon available due to mass over fishing by humans throughout the area. Transients have also been badly affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill which has been responsible for killing off the transients prey as well the animals themselves. It’s also been noted that some pods that were affected have stopped re-producing for an unknown reason.
Groups like the whale and dolphin conservation charity are working hard to help protect Orca’s as well as all other whales and dolphins around the world and have a great Christmas gift idea where you can adopt an Orca that resides in British Columbia. So if you’re short of gift ideas this might make someone’s Christmas and help go towards protecting these amazing animals.
Our tips for a trip.
1.) This boat trip was a really good option to get out and look for whales if you are in the Vancouver area but short of time. Often there are sightings of different whale species such as Humpbacks and Grey whales depending on the time of the year. We would definitely recommend Vancouver whale watch as well- they had a well enforced policy on not crowding the whales with boats.
2.) If you do have time- plan in a trip to Vancouver Island, we were thoroughly recommended to visit Tofino and our Whale Watch guide said the island is full of Bears, Eagles, Wolves and has the highest density of Cougars per km in the world!
3.) If you do take a boat trip make sure you put on sunscreen. Unfortunately we forgot and even though it wasn’t the sunniest of days we both got badly burnt and had to fly home with bright pink faces. Another thing to note is that if you do go on the lightship as we did the full body survival suits aren’t actually waterproof so we would recommend you take a change of clothes that you can leave at the company’s shop to get changed into after your trip.
Thanks for reading,
Kirsten & Elliot.


Climate Ready Communities: A Strategy for Adapting to Impacts of Climate Change on the Oregon Coast
This strategy was created to help coastal decision-makers, legislators, and the public look ahead to possible effects of global climate change on the Oregon coast and to help frame a process for coastal communities and agencies of the State of Oregon to work together to plan for those effects. The goal is resilient, Climate-Ready Coastal Communities.
This strategy for adaptation sets the stage for coordinated planning and action by coastal cities and counties, state agencies, and businesses, individuals, and non-governmental organizations. It frames basic steps needed to prepare adaptation plans and to implement them over time.