The Importance of Remotely Operated Vehicles in Offshore Mining

When most people think of mining they imagine terrestrial mining operations consisting of earth moving machines designed to dig down to bedrock to extract gold, coal, or diamonds. Offshore mining, also called Deep Sea Mining, is a rather new method of extracting precious materials from the ocean floor.

Read full article at the source: https://www.aquabotix.com/news/the-importance-of-remotely-operated-vehicles-in-offshore-mining

Underwater noise

Underwater noise - a man-made problem

Whales and seals depend on their sense of hearing for survival. Man-made underwater sounds can impair their hearing in both the short and long term, displace them from vital habitats, cause a change in important patterns of behaviour and thereby deteriorate the survival capacity of these marine mammals.

Most whales and seals, many fish and even some invertebrates such as squid rely on acoustic signals for a great number of basic activities, including communication, mate selection, location of prey, protection against predators, or navigation. A change in ambient noise can have a negative impact on the biological fitness of individual animals or even entire populations.

Read full article at the source:  https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/underwater-noise#textpart-1

What is a marine protected area?

Marine protected areas conserve, manage, and protect.

The majority of marine protected areas in the United States are multiple-use sites, meaning fishing, boating, surfing, diving, and other recreational activities are allowed.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) in the U.S. come in a variety of forms and are established and managed by all levels of government. There are marine sanctuaries, estuarine research reserves, ocean parks, and marine wildlife refuges. Each of these sites differ. MPAs may be established to protect ecosystems, preserve cultural resources such as shipwrecks and archaeological sites, or sustain fisheries production.

Read full article at source:  https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/mpa.html

Blue whales lack the ability to avoid cargo ships, says Stanford biologist

As the largest animals in the ocean, blue whales have not evolved defensive behaviors. New research by Stanford biologist Jeremy Goldbogen suggests this might explain why the whales are so prone to ship collisions.

GPS data from a blue whale shows the animal (blue dots) rising to the surface and then slowly dipping and narrowly missing a cargo ship (red dots) before diving deep once again.

For millions of years, blue whales have cruised the world’s oceans with hardly a care, their sheer size making them largely free from predator attacks. The downside to being the largest animals in history, however, is that the species was never pressured to evolve defensive behaviors.

Read full article at source:  https://news.stanford.edu/2015/05/04/whales-ships-collisions-050415/

Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ is the largest ever measured

June outlook foretold New Jersey-sized area of low oxygen

Scientists have determined this year’s Gulf of Mexico “dead zone,” an area of low oxygen that can kill fish and marine life, is 8,776 square miles, an area about the size of New Jersey. It is the largest measured since dead zone mapping began there in 1985.

Read full article at source: http://www.noaa.gov/media-release/gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone-is-largest-ever-measured

Ocean Acidification

Carbon dioxide in the water puts shelled animals at risk.

For tens of millions of years, Earth's oceans have maintained a relatively stable acidity level. It's within this steady environment that the rich and varied web of life in today's seas has arisen and flourished. But research shows that this ancient balance is being undone by a recent and rapid drop in surface pH that could have devastating global consequences.

Source:  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/oceans/critical-issues-ocean-acidification/

Corals eat plastic because we’ve made it tasty, study suggests

By Ben Guarino October 30 

“Plastics may be inherently tasty,” said Austin Allen, a Duke marine science doctoral student. Allen and Seymour are the lead authors of a study just published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin. Along with Duke marine ecologist Daniel Rittschof, they demonstrated that corals respond to microplastic fragments as though they were food.

Source:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/10/30/corals-eat-plastic-because-weve-made-it-tasty-study-suggests/?utm_term=.868009d39abf

Plastic Garbage Patch Bigger Than Mexico Found in Pacific

Yet another floating mass of microscopic plastic has been discovered in the ocean, and it is mind-blowingly vast.

Water, water, everywhere—and most of it is filled with plastic.

 A new discovery of a massive amount of plastic floating in the South Pacific is yet another piece of bad news in the fight against ocean plastic pollution. This patch was recently discovered by Captain Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Research Foundation, a non-profit group dedicated to solving the issue of marine plastic pollution.

Source:  https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/ocean-plastic-patch-south-pacific-spd/

Destruction of Habitat

Coral Bleaching

What Can We Do?

Some years ago I completed my scuba certification at one of the world’s most spectacular coral reefs, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

At that time, the reef was stunningly pristine, hosting an amazing variety of marine life. I was overwhelmed by the beautiful shapes and colors of the fish and coral and pledged then to continue diving throughout my life and to do what I can to preserve these beautiful places for generations to come. Needless to say, the devastation caused by coral bleaching in that area (I was certified near Port Douglass) breaks my heart. So, what can we do?

First, what is it? Coral bleaching occurs when coral expelsthe algae(zooxanthellae) that live in its tissue,depriving it of its major food source. If prolonged, this will eventually kill the coral.

Second, what’s causing it? There are many causes of coral bleaching including local factors like over fishing, excessive tourism, careless diving, pollution and storms and global factors like climate change and acidification. Scientists agree that the biggest single contributor, and perhaps the most difficult to control, is rising water temperatures caused by climate change.

Third, how important are reefs? Although I’m very clear on the value of coral reefs to me and other recreational divers, I was somewhat surprised to learn just how critical they are scientifically, socially and economically. Although they cover less than 1% of the earth’s surface, reefs are home to 25% of all knownmarine species and surpass even rainforests in their diversity¹. Over 850 million people live within 100km of reefs² and depend in large part on them for their sustenance. And, a recent attempt by the BBCto put a monetary value on the natural world's flora and fauna estimated that coral reefs are worth $9.9 trillion to the global economy³, or more than half the GDP of the United States. That number included the value of the fishing and tourism economies that coral reef support, as well as its ability to sequester carbon and mitigate storm damage.

So, what can we do to attempt to save our coral reefs? There are several points of action. First, we should do all that we can to minimize human impact on coral reefs. Second, we should do what we can to improve the resiliency of coral reefs…to enable them to better resist disturbances and to fully recover from them, since we know disturbances will happen. Third, we should pursue research and known techniques to restore damaged reefs.

Ways to minimize human impact on coral reefs on a large scale involves management, coordination and education. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) (and networks of MPAs)that restrict human activity have proven very effective, particularly with respect to over fishing which can result in excessive fleshy algae growth. Individually, we must all do our share to (i) walk/bike/bus/electric car whenever possible; (ii) avoid red meat (as emissions from livestock is estimated at 15% of all emissions^4,…); (iii) avoid the purchase of coral jewelry to eliminate consumer markets that encourage coral destruction; (iv) minimize the use of fertilizers/pesticides; (v) minimize the purchase and use of all plastic products; (vi) keep garbage out of our oceans; (vii) purchase sustainably farmed or fished seafood (see http://www.seafoodwatch.org/); and (viii) use appropriate sunscreen (see http://www2.padi.com/blog/2013/06/27/coral-reef-safe-sunscreen-for-scuba-diving/).

We should also support organizations doing great work to improve the resiliency of coral reefs and to restore damaged reefs. Some of those organizations include:

Aquatic Invasives

Invasive Lionfish

What’s for dinner?  Hopefully it’s lionfish!

Bermuda has just hosted the “Eat Lionfish Chefs Throwdown,” a lionfish cooking competition organized by 11th Hour Racing whereby featured celebrity chefs from the host nations of each America’s Cup team, competed to create the best lionfish dish.  Chef Chris Kenny, Necker Island’s Head Chef, won the prize, and all involved were winners in raising awareness.

Lionfish, specifically, Pterois miles and Pteroisvolitan, are native to the Indian Ocean, Southern and Western Pacific Oceans and the Red Sea, where they have sharks, cornetfish, grouper, large eels, frogfish and other scorpionfish as natural predators. However, in the Western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and in the Gulf of Mexico where they do not have natural predators,invasive lionfish are an immense and growing problem. The first marine reef fish invasion of its kind, some say this is the worst man-made ecological disaster ever witnessed.¹

The efficiency of invasive lionfish is impressive!  They are literally out-breeding, out-eating and out-living native fish and other marine species. 

BREEDING:  A female lionfish becomes sexually mature at one year old and can release up to two million eggs per year.  Many of those eggs become larvae and then juvenile lionfish in environments where they can live relatively free from environmental pressures.

EATING: Lionfish eat an amazing assortment of species including fish (the young of important commercial fish species such as snapper and grouper),invertebrates, mollusks, shrimp, crabs, juvenile octopus, squid, juvenile lobster and sea horses and in great quantities. Lionfish have been seen consuming 20 small fish in a 30-minute period and eating prey up to 2/3rds their size. Their stomachs can expand up to 30 times their normal size after a meal. These voracious appetites threaten both individual species as well as entire reef ecosystems. Some studies have shown that a single lionfish can reduce native marine creatures by 79% in its range within just 5 weeks. ² Many of the species lionfish eat, such as grazers and cleaners, are ecologically critical to the health of the reef because they eat the algae that cover reefs, keeping the algae levels low enough that coral can survive and reproduce. Grazers include parrotfish, goatfish, wrasses, surgeonfish and tangs. Reefs are home to 25% of all known marine species and serve as shelter and protection to schools of many juvenile marine creatures.

Because they are so flexible, lionfish are seldom without food but, if conditions require, lionfish can live without food for 3 months and beyond and lose very little body mass as a result.

LIVING: Lionfish have impressive lifespans of 15-20 years and are spectacularly versatile in their ability to adapt to and thrive in different environments. For example, they have been spotted in water as shallow as 1’ deep and in water beyond 1,000’ deep. They live in oceans as well as brackish water estuaries and are able to tolerate water temperatures down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Sailors for the Sea http://sailorsforthesea.org, a nonprofit organization in Newport Rhode Island that unites boaters to protect the ocean, has witnessed lionfish in the cold water North Atlantic but claims “they don’t live long in our cooler waters and are unable to survive the tougher winters.”³ On top of all of this, lionfish appear biologically resistant to most diseases and parasites that affect native fish ⁴.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Obviously, many people are working on solutions to this devastating problem. A number of techniques have been tried, among them, hunting lionfish (spearguns, pole spears and Hawaiian slings have proven most effective), training native species to eat lionfish and zapping and collecting lionfish with robots. 

Surprisingly, direct action by lionfish hunters is the most viable method for controlling lionfish currently in the very small areas divers can access. REEF.org⁵ is one of several organizations that sponsor lionfish derbies, in which hunters compete for the largest/smallest and most lionfish kills. It’s a nice way to raise awareness; the public is generally invited to participate, watching scoring, filleting and cooking demonstrations and tasting lionfish samples. And, the areas regularly maintained by such hunters have seen a demonstrable rebound of native fish over time.

Some groups have tried training sharks and groupers to eat invasive lionfish with limited success and unintended consequences. In one experiment, the grouper were clearly afraid of the lionfish and appeared to prefer starvation to eating lionfish. Also, because fish don’t train their offspring, each generation of fish would have to be trained to eat lionfish, making this method cost prohibitive. Lastly, once trained, sharks, in particular, thereafter equate lionfish with food, putting lionfish hunters in significant danger.

Robots In Service of the Environment (RISE) is a nonprofit organization attempting to solve the lionfish problem with robots that stun and then capture lionfish. One key benefit to using robots is that they can dive significantly deeper than humans and can potentially cover extensive areas. If successful, co-founder Colin Angle says, robots could capture enough lionfish to establish a new market in which “chefs can turn an environmental hazard into gourmet cuisine.” Angle wants lionfish hunting to become an online sport whereby users pay to hunt and capture fish by operating robots from an application. If it takes off, that would be an amazing way to both capture lionfish and raise awareness!

The only way to possibly solve this problem is ifscientists, technologists, fishermen, divers, chefsand consumers coordinate their efforts. So, back to dinner, I’m taking the pledge to improve my healthy choices⁶ and order/buy delicious lionfish whenever possible.

1. https://lionfish.co
2. MarkHixon et al (2009)
3. http://sailorsforthesea.org/programs/ocean-watch/lionfish-invasion (Kimball et al. 2004)
4. https://lionfish.co
5. REEF also holds lionfish jewelry workshops which encourages yet another consumer market that promotes lionfish removal.
6. Nutritionally lionfish have the highest concentration of omega-3 in their category, scoring above farmed tilapia, Bluefin tuna, red snapper and grouper.  (Scientists from Roger Williams University, REEF, NOAA and the North Carolina Sea Grant (Morris et al, 2011) study detailing the nutritional benefits of lionfish consumption)

---

What are Microbeads and Why are They Illegal?

Next time you wash your face, think of the sludge that you've just dumped in the rivers and ocean. Not from your skin. From microbeads.

Microbeads are tiny bits of plastic found in exfoliating body washes and facial scrubs. Since their introduction in 1972, they have made their way into more than 100 personal care products sold by companies such as Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and L'Oréal.

Source: https://www.popsci.com/what-are-microbeads-and-why-are-they-illegal