How To Protect The Ocean

Do you remember when the Senator brought the snowball onto the Senate floor to demonstrate that Climate Change was not real? I sure do. You will find out my thoughts about the event on this Throwback episode to episode 8, my first solo/non-interview episode.  It was a time where President Obama declared Climate Change as the biggest threat to the United States. That claim was backed up by the Navy...

This episode may be the most powerful episode that we have ever published on Speak Up For The Ocean Blue podcast. It's all because of my guest today, Chelsea Gray, a PhD student who studies basking sharks.  Unfortunately, we are not discussing Chelsea's PhD today as Chelsea will be telling us about something that happened to her a couple of years ago that was terrible. She will also be telling us...

It's quite frustrating when you spend so much time applying for a job and then hear nothing back as to whether you go an interview or your application was even close.  I was able to find success in applying for jobs where I received interviews. There was a point in time where I was getting a lot of interviews. IT was all in how I applied for the job. In this episode, I talk about how to identify w...

The Sea Grant program has always been an important program for citizens that live within a Sea Grant state. The program conducts programs that are focused on finding solutions for state problems. In this throwback episode, Bill Wyse and I discussed the programs related to the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.  Also, there is a clip of my oldest daughter, who was 7 at the time, telling me about her fa...

Indonesia has the second-largest amount of pollution entering the ocean and its citizens are tired of it. They want the government to implement better waster management systems. The movement for a better system is driven by the youth of Indonesia, which has worked with the government to recently ban plastic bags, styrofoam, and plastic straws in July 2019. More needs to be done though.  Listen to...

It took me a while to figure out my Marine Conservation Career Path. 18 years to be exact. I experimented quite a bit with jobs in different sectors, but I never really found the job that equalled my passion for Marine Conservation. Full disclosure, my path was restricted to being a Marine Biologist living in Ontario, which required me to be creative. That creativity spawned this very podcast and...

I'm taking it back to episode 6 when I interviewed a good friend of mine Angelo Villagomez from the Pew Charitable Trust. He worked with small island communities to help them protect sharks using Marine Protected Areas. He still works with Pew on Marine Protected Areas for all of the Oceans.  This was Angelo's first time on the podcast. He's been on other episodes and podcasts within the Speak Up...

SeaWorld has been through a lot since the release of a documentary that exposed the truth behind marine mammal captivity. Blackfish was released in 2013 and caused SeaWorld to change its business practices surrounding Orcas; however, they were sued for allegedly downplaying the effect of Blackfish on their reporting to investors.  They had to pay quite a bit of money but potentially got off withou...

I wanted to share a story about the time I applied for, what I thought, was my dream job. Spoiler alert, I didn't get the job, but this story highlights the problem with the way job applicants are treated by some employers as they seek employment.  Share one of your infuriating job application stories in the Speak Up For Blue Facebook Group: http://www.speakupforblue.com/group . Check out the new...

Another Throwback Wednesday is upon us. The 5th episode of the Speak Up For The Ocean Blue Podcast was with Dr. Ellen Prager. She has pretty much accomplished everything of which most Marine Biologists can only dream. She's lectured, she's been the Executive Director of an Institute, she's authored papers, and she's authored novels for tweens.  I was very happy to interview Ellen on all of her acc...

The Turks And Caicos are overfishing their conchs and tourists are worried that they can't get their conch for dinner anymore. That was a bit sarcastic.  Unfortunately, the demand for conchs outside of the beautiful Islands of the Turks and Caicos is driving the population to extinction and people are calling for an All-Out Ban on fishing for the once plentiful mollusc. Link to the article: https:...

Many of you in the audience have either dreamt of being a Marine Biologist or are currently seeking a career in Marine Conservation/Science. For that reason, I would like to try and help you realize what is involved in finding a Marine Conservation Career over the next few Friday Episodes.  Today's episode is to tell you that jobs are available, but you need to put the work in to achieve your goal...

I am very happy to present to you Alex Tilley, who I interviewed in episode 4 about his organization called Talking Oceans. Much of our conversation covered the manner in which marine conservationists should approach helping local communities in foreign countries. We also discussed how Talking Oceans was approaching Science Communication. I was able to catch up with Alex at the International Marin...

We know that Sea-Level Rise will reshape the world's coastlines physically, but it is rare that we see studies that predict how local communities will be reshaped from a socio-economic perspective. A recent study out of the University of Southern California did examine how inland counties and cities could be impacted by coastal migrants moving away from their flooded homes.  Link to article: https...

The Government Of Canada introduced the creation of a new Aquaculture Act, which is long overdue, that was to be introduced in 2025. I was very excited to hear the great news; however, some people are not satisfied with how long it's going to take.  Episode Where I spoke about the Mandate Letter: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/speak-up-for-the-ocean-blue/id1010962669?i=1000459936009 So I de...

My 3rd ever episode published on the Speak Up For Blue Podcast was with Dr. Richard Kirby, who developed the only Citizen Science Secchi Disk programs in the world. At the time, Richard was with the Plymouth Marine Lab, but now Richard is an independent scientist that does a lot of stuff.  Check out his website: http://www.planktonpundit.org/ And his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theplankto...

What type of music do coral fish like? Well, a group of researchers from the University of Exeter found out recently. The researchers probably didn't play Stairway To Heaven to attract young juvenile fish to coral reefs; however, they did play the sounds of healthy reefs to attract young, vibrant fish to unhealthy reefs in hopes that it would activate something within the reef to start its way bac...

Marine Conservation is all about collaboration because collaboration leads to results. This episode presents a recent case where adaptive management, collaboration among government, research institutes, and citizen science groups show great results for a Nassau Grouper aggregation in Little Cayman.  Find out how an aggregation site for Grouper spawning tripled in size within 10 years. Link To Arti...

I continue to throwback to my first episodes as we approach the 1000 episode mark here on the Speak Up For The Ocean Blue Podcast. Dr. Craig McClain joined me to discuss his website, DeepSeaNews.com, how it runs and what was up with his most recent spike of readers on the website.  If you haven't heard this episode, you will want to because it lays out how Science Communication should be done.  Ha...

Our Seas Coalition has called for Scotland to ban trawling within 3 miles of the coast to ensure the sustainability of fisheries for the future. The Coalition is made up of various stakeholders including marine ecotourism firms, fishing communities, salmon conservationists and others.  There are other fishing groups that oppose the ban as they feel the current system of voluntary closures and othe...

Climate Change is destroying our planet and altering our Oceans. There is no doubt about it. We need to change the way we live and we need leadership from governments and corporations to help us change.  One company is leading the charge to help us change the way we choose our food by providing carbon footprint labels on their products so you can see the impact your food has on the environment. Qu...

I'm taking you back to my first episode on the Speak Up For The Ocean Blue Podcast because we are less than 50 episodes away from hitting 1000 episodes. In my first episode, I spoke to Dr. Judith Weis about her new book (at the time) entitled "Marine Pollution." It's a great book that breaks down marine pollution sources and effects on the environment in a digestible manner.  Podcasters say that y...

This episode is based on a great article in the Guardian (link below) that looks at various ways the increasing number of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are affecting the environment and human health in different places around the world.  Check out the article: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/04/lethal-algae-blooms-an-ecosystem-out-of-balance Has your area been affected by Harmful Al...

The Ocean influences the climate and when the Ocean changes in temperature, then the climate changes. Unfortunately, climate change is making the Australian wildfires worse to the point where the entire country seems to be on fire...and it's only going to get worse over the weekend.  Listen to the podcast to find out how the Ocean is inducing the wildfires and what needs to happen to stop the extr...

Happy New Year!!! We are entering a new decade where environmental awareness is rising as we continue to observe our world changing due to many of the bad things that we have done to it. However, this is a time for hope as the conversation is moving from awareness to action to live for a better Ocean. I talk to you about the direction that Speak Up For Blue will take in 2020. My focus will be on A...