How To Protect The Ocean

I am a huge advocate for science communication (scicomm). It's important for audiences to understand what science is doing for our society and how we are affecting it. However, scicommers like myself do not have a formal community where I can exchange ideas and experiences with other people who are in a similar position as me...until now! Virginia Schutte and Bethann Merkel join me on the podcast...

There was a great article on Mongabay News (link below) that asked the question as to whether marine biologists should work for natural resource companies that would like to mine the deep sea.  It's a more complicated question than you might think as marine biology is not well funded for governments, non-profit organizations, and academia. There are companies that have a vested interest that would...

The one thing that I love about doing this podcast is the fact that I can talk to people who have done amazing things in Marine Conservation. Sometimes, people are supported by large organizations/companies that help them get on their way to launching these amazing conservation projects. Other times, the people start the projects on their own and create something really special.  In today's episod...

A listener named Sydney Stauffer asked me to create an episode on my thoughts on swim-with-dolphin programs that are held with dolphins in captivity. She heard the episode with Stephanie Stack (e1214) about swim-with-whales in the wild and wanted me to discuss the captivity aspect of swimming with dolphins.  Sydney was concerned that we don't discuss the captivity programs, especially the smaller...

Did you hear the Brittany Spears may not be under conservatorship anymore and her father was removed as the head of said conservatorship? Wait...what? You are probably wondering what Brittany Spears has to do with marine conservation. You are right, it really doesn't, but the reason I know what is happening with Brittany Spears is because of a documentary on her that was centred around her conserv...

A study is underway in Mozambique to study the distribution ranges of two species of wedgefishes family (bottlenose wedgefish and bowmouth guitarfish) to help better manage their population.  The species are considered critically endangered due to the fin-trade industry. The fish are either sought for their fins through catching them individually or as bycatch. The fin-trade can yield more money f...

South African penguins are having a tough time with their population numbers. The IUCN lists them as endangered in the Red List due to lack of food from commercial fishing and the fact that their food source may have shifted to different locations due to changing ocean currents from the consequences of climate change.  So it makes things even worse when 63 Endangered South African penguins were fo...

A viral TikTok video has sparked a debate on the app and on Twitter as to whether a woman working on a small ocean vessel should have made a sea lion go back in the water as three orcas were circling her boat. The sea lion leaped out of the water onto the boat to escape the orcas that were chasing it. It looked comfortable waiting there until the orcas left, but the woman on the boat had other pla...

Swim-with-whale tour operators are popping up in various places around the world. The idea of getting in the water and swimming with humpback whales nearby can be a dream come true for many people; however, the tour operators are running without any regulations to ensure that the tours are not altering the behavior of the humpback whales.  The humpback whales that hang out in Hervey Bay, Australia...

We are entering the 6th mass extinction. When I tell people about the mass extinction, people are not too worried. I don't think they realize that we are already starting to see the effects of the mass extinction and that the planet has gone through this before, but there is one difference.  The major difference is the fact that the Permian extinction (which occurred approximately 66 million years...

The Faroe Islands government has announced that they will review their regulations of the dolphin cull after some whalers and critics thought that the last cull of 1400 white-sided dolphins was too numerous to use all of the meat.   The current regulations that I mentioned during the last episode raised a number of questions about how quantitative are regulations? How many animals can they take at...

There was a cull of 1400 white-sided dolphins in the Faroe Islands recently has some people wanting to know if it was legal.  Whaling of pilot whales and other small cetaceans is legal in the Faroe Islands as the local community relies on whale meat as their primary protein source. The small island autonomous territory has been culling whales for centuries. The meat is processed in the open bays a...

The Canadian federal election is less than a week away before we find out who will lead Canada into a very different world than it was 18 months ago. There are many predominant issues at hand in this election such as the COVID pandemic, the economy, reconciliation with Indigenous communities across Canada, and climate change.  I am very interested in all of these issues, especially that of how eac...

Kaitlyn Mitchell is a lawyer for Animal Justice, a non-profit organization that looks out for the welfare of animals in Canada.  Website: https://animaljustice.ca/ Kaitlyn came highly recommended as someone to interview on the Canadian side of the border that is involved in advocating for the belugas in the transfer from Marineland (Canada) to Mystic Aquarium (US). I covered the original story by...

All of the talks around protecting 30% of the world's oceans by the year 2030 have really put a focus on the quality of MPAs that exist and that will be designated in the future. MPA design and implementation are unique around the world, especially if a country or region is new to the process.  Angelo Villagomez and Johnny Briggs join me on the podcast to discuss the new Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legac...

Every country has a different way of managing its oceans and every region also has its own way of managing its oceans. Various regions can learn from one another and build on each other's successes to implement ocean conservation.  In today's episode, we complete our three-part series with a guest host, Laure Katz from the Blue Nature Alliance, who speaks to Arthur Tuda from WIOMSA (Western Indian...

We are continuing our series in partnership with the Blue Nature Alliance to discuss Marine Conservation and how that will move forward in order to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030.  Incorporating People, Knowledge, and Networks in Ocean Conservation will be crucial to implement successful marine conservation strategies.  I am joined by Kate Brown (Global Island Partnership in New Zealand), Coral...

The Blue Nature Alliance is a collaboration among several organizations that would like to help communities around the world to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030. The goal cannot be reached by any single entity, but teaming up with each other can help all of us achieve this goal.  Getting to 30% ocean protection will take the participation of all ocean users around the world. Social equity will pla...

I am listening to a podcast series called White Saviors that is produced by Canadaland. It's a series on the rise and fall of a charity called the We Charity that was founded by two brothers (one of which went to my high school in Toronto, Canada) that wanted to save children from child labor. The organization got huge and that's where it went wrong. Now the organization is trenched in scandal and...

It's that time of year again for me to provide advice for students and early-career scientists/conservationists as people are going back to school or trying to find their first job.  Check out all of our episodes on www.speakupforblue.com Want To Talk Oceans? Join the Speak Up For Blue Facebook Group: http://www.speakupforblue.com/group . Speak Up For Blue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spea...

I have been reflecting on the subject of collaboration as I work on a special project for this podcast (the project will be released next week!). Collaboration is a term and major theme of the project; however, over the past 6 years I noticed that people in Marine Science and Conservation are more competitive than they are collaborative.  Now it could be the way the system is set up in terms of ma...

Fisheries and Oceans Canada's (DFO) Whale Protection Program has several investigations open of illegal drone activity along the southern shores of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.  The drones are being flown near marine mammals (whales, seals, and sea lions) causing disturbances and, in some cases, interfering with government activities surrounding whale entanglement.  DFO has issued...

I speak to Dr. Johann Bell from Conservation International on today's episode to discuss a Climate Justice example in the Pacific Islands.  Many small islands states in the Pacific received a majority of their revenue from fishing licenses from the distance water fleets of other countries such as the US, China, Korea, Japan, and others. The revenue pays for education and other programs in the Paci...

COVID caused a lot of disruption in the form of shutdowns, but something that was always available in North America was grocery stores. However, there were some small island states such as Cape Eleuthera that did not know if their food was coming via shipping boats. Luckily it was only temporary.  During that time, people looked to the sea to provide food without regard for catch limits and quotas...

Canada is about to have a federal election in September 20th. The election was called during a time when we are entering the 4th wave of a pandemic; major forest fires are happening on the West Coast (and around the world); and, parts of Canada are flooding (also happening around the world). Some Canadians are not happy that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for an election, but I am happy.  It...