Year: 2011
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A price tag on Paradise?
How much is nature worth? We can put a price tag on a fish (say, $350,000 for a prime condition bluefin tuna in Tokyo), or even on a salt marsh if it provides a breakwater out front of the house that reduces one’s flood insurance premium. But what about the value of Nature per se–the…
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all alone now
Yesterday the ARSV Gould left the pier, taking most of the winter crew northbound. I’m usually the one leaving on the Gould – either on my way farther south for a research cruise or heading home – so it was strange to be left on land while the ship pulled away. That’s it! Those of…
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Good news and bad news
Every day in marine conservation, you hear both. How about the bad news first. The Guardian is reporting another shark masacure in the Malpelo sanctuary off Columbia (but note I have not heard independent confirmation about this and the Guardian botched part of the article by suggesting whale sharks had been harvested for their fins). Like Scott…
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BEST confirms it (again): the earth is warming
The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) project has released it’s findings. Like many previous efforts to synthesize existing land surface temperature data to estimate changes over time, this new group found that the terrestrial portion of the earth has indeed warmed – on average – by ~ 1C since the 1950s. In the graph below…
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Still life in oil
“Still life in oil” by Daniel Beltrá, winner of the 2011 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year award. “Crude oil trickles off the feathers of the rescued brown pelicans, turning the white lining sheets into a sticky, stinking mess. The pelicans are going through the first stage of cleaning at a temporary bird-rescue facility in Fort…
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Eden
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/9994103[/vimeo] by Sean Mullens
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Watch out tasty reef critters
Coral reefs are dangerous places to hang out if you’re small and tasty. There are many mouths out to get you and now there’s one more thing to worry about: mobs of fish rampaging the reef in search of dinner. Recently here at Seamonster we’ve had fish brandishing tools and now we have cunning fish…
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Sharks and grouper in Cuba
I shot this video on Gardens of the Queen (Jardines de la Reina) reef south of Cuba in May. This is how reef food webs are supposed to look like; most of the biomass is in the top predators. The diver is Abel Valivia. [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/29737963[/vimeo] Go here to see more of our Cuba expedition coverage.
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Afternoon with taj
from pinchmysalt.tv [vimeo]http://vimeo.com/16857351[/vimeo]
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All the good seashells taken
“The good shells have clearly been overcollected. There used to be so many, and we just assumed they’d be around forever.” From the Onion (a satire magazine): According to a report released Monday by a group of environmental researchers, all the good seashells worth picking up and bringing home have already been taken, a development that threatens the…