Category: Environment
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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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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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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…
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Rising seas – coming to get ya
Strictly speaking, we don’t know to what extent this dramatic cliff failure can be traced to climate change and rising sea levels. But we can be reasonably confident that we’re looking forward to more of the same in the coming decades. SeaMonster’s own Helen surfs in this vicinity from time to time — good thing…
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Shark fins banned in world’s 2nd largest market — California
Yes, America, the California market for shark-fin soup is the largest outside Asia. Which means that much of the carnage John has documented in previous SeaMonster posts (see here, here, and here) is washing up right here in your backyard. Read it and weep. But the sun also rises. The California legislature passed the shark-fin…
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Rough seas for National Ocean Policy
Last summer, to the excitement of ocean policy wonks and yawns by pretty much everyone else, President Obama unveiled a new National Ocean Policy. The basic idea was to cut through the impenetrable tangle of regulations governing marine activities like fishing, shipping, oil drilling, and conservation that have sprouted up willy-nilly in the various agencies…
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Fisherman
I love this list of images of the fisherman that supply the innovative seafood project “Sea to Table” here. We always talk about them but rarely see or meet them.
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Hidden cost of shark fin soup
An article from 2006 on the Manta Ecuador shark fishery that puts the Galapagos shark fishing we documented into context (note the fisherman in that case were also from Manta): Hidden Cost of Shark Fin Soup: Its Source May Vanish, By Juan Forero January 5, 2006 MANTA, Ecuador – Early every morning, the cold water lapping…
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Divers want sharks. Guides need them…
A video from StudioUp and SharkAmigos about Angel Quimis, a Dive Master at Wreck Bay Dive Center, on San Cristobal island in the Galapagos. Angel used to be a fishermen, but decided to change professions and become a diver. He makes a really important point about the real economic value of sharks and other critters people go…