Author: Helen Scales
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Sculpture of an ocean hero
A little while ago I went to Silicon Valley to attend the SciFoo unconference at the headquarters of Google. I loved the series of sculptures around the grounds depicting ocean explorers – why ocean explorers? I’ve no idea. This is the one that most people recognized.
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Lionfish – the new normal
Here at Seamonster we recently heard from marine conservation professor (and author of a great new book on the state of the oceans) Callum Roberts. He got in touch to send us a link from a website he recently found that gave a list of the “Top 10 most beautiful reefs in the world“. Nothing…
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Finding fish in the wrong place
This gorgeous woodcut print is the work of Jenny Pope, one of my favourite printmakers. Lots of her art is available to buy on her website and she’s promised me she will soon be blogging about lionfish. But first, here are my thoughts on seeing my first lionfish in the wrong place. Before I arrived…
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Five things I didn’t know about the ocean
My review of Professor Callum Roberts’ new book The Ocean of Life has just come out in Toronto’s Globe and Mail. This is the follow up to his first book An unnatural history of the sea (it was one of the Five Books I picked for the Browser) – it dives into the history of how we’ve stripped…
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Will this be the end of the Aquarius Reef Base?
Next week a team of aquanauts including Sylvia Earle will live and work underwater for 6 days inside “America’s Inner Space Station” aka the Aquarius Reef Base. It’s the world’s only undersea research station and its future is looking shaky – unless new funding is found the station will be closed. In an effort to…
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Anatomy of sea life by Jeff Wysaski
We love these brilliant cartoons by Jeff Wysaski over at pleated jeans. Head…
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Do slomo sharks snack on snoozing seals?
This week I wrote a piece for National Geographic News about a study just out suggesting that Greenland sharks could sneak up on seals and catch them while they’re sleeping. It’s a neat study, involving putting motion-sensors on individual sharks to see how fast they swim. In fact, turns out these guys swim so very…
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French supermarkets told deep sea fish are NOT sustainable
One of France’s biggest supermarket chains has been claiming the deep sea fish species it sells are sustainable even though they’re caught by enormously destructive bottom trawlers. A landmark ruling today bans the chain from making any further claims along these lines. It’s hoped that the decision will help put an end to practice of…
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Breaking News: No High Seas commitment at Rio+20
According to an Oceansinc release, negotiators at the Rio+20 have already dropped any immediate promise to protect the high seas – those distant parts of the ocean beyond national boundaries. US, Canada, Japan, Venezuela and Russia have blocked relatively strong language in the conference text to protect the high seas and left Rio+20 with a decision…
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Good news for the Coral Sea
It’s been announced that Australian waters will soon be home to the world’s second largest no-take marine reserve. Half a million square kms of the Coral Sea will be out of bounds to the oil & gas industry as well as fisheries – it will include around one third of the coral reefs in the…