How To Protect The Ocean

Indonesia is home to the largest coastline in Asia and one of the most biodiverse areas in the Ocean, including the number of marine mammal species that occupy the coastline and deeper sea either for food, call it home or use the island as a migration area to get to their next location. Unfortunately, the marine mammals don't always swim off into the sunset as they tend to strand quite a bit along...

It FINALLY HAPPENED!!! The Canadian Government has upped its Marine Protected Area Standards to exclude some extractive industries from MPA boundaries.  Take a listen to the episode to find out more details. Share your thoughts on this monumental decision for Canada and the Ocean in our Speak Up For Blue Facebook Group: http://www.speakupforblue.com/group . Want to get started on living for a bett...

A new study from researchers at Rutgers University-New Brunswick is out concluding that climate change impacts marine species has twice the impact than on land species.  Take a listen to the episode to find out why. What do you do to reduce your impact on Climate Change? Share your strategies in the Speak Up For Blue Facebook Group: http://www.speakupforblue.com/group . Want to get started on livi...

Imagine walking up and down the beach on a peaceful morning enjoying the sunrise with your significant other, or may even your family. You enjoy the calmness that is brought by the gentle waves hitting the sandy shore. As the sun lightens the sky, you quickly realize that there are a number of objects along the beach ahead of you. It's a number of dead dolphins...cue horror movie-like music.  This...

Have you ever wondered what marine conservation looks like in Asia, specifically China? I sat down with Marcy Trent Long, who is the host of the podcast Sustainable Asia, to find out what is happening in the environment in China.  Take a listen to find out about Marcy's Journey and how she finds ways to communicate environmental issues in China in a country where it can be difficult to communicate...

The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation and the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science have created a Global Coral Reef map covering 65,000 square kilometers that is available for free to the public .   The dataset was collected over a 10-year period as researchers traveled to over 1,000 coral reefs in 15 different countries.  I talk about the amount of work...

I had the wonderful pleasure of sitting down with Janis Searle Jones, the CEO of the Ocean Conservancy, to discuss how the Ocean Conservancy started working to prevent trash (debris and plastics) from entering the Oceans. Their work started with the launch and growth of the International Coastal Clean-Up, which removes 2.5 million pounds of trash every year. Now the Ocean Conservancy has a Trash F...

There is a great article in Hakai Magazine involving the questions as to whether every seal should be rescued. Normally, we think of seal rescues as helping a sea rehabilitate from an injury from fishing gear or being shot by humans; however, in the Netherlands, people are rescuing seal pups when the pups are alone on the beach; however, there is a problem with that process. Sometimes the pups are...

Happy Earth Day!!! I am joined by Angelo Villagomez. He is the man who started the #30EarthMonthHeroes to get people to highlight the people who they admire in the fight to conserve our planet, on land and in the sea. Angelo and I discuss why he started the hashtag and some of the results he has observed since April 1st.  Check out the hashtag by clicking here: #30EarthMonthHeroes What are you doi...

Last week the world witnessed a fire that destroyed most of the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. Two days after the fire was put out, there were $700 million Euros donated by billionaires and governments to restore the cathedral. The question that crossed the minds of many people was: Why can't mobilize the same amount of money for environmental issues such as Climate Change? I rant...

The Great White Shark is a predator there is no doubt about that; however, is it THE apex predator? In other words, is there something else that hunts down the Great White Shark? There is and this animal is the Apex predator of the Ocean.  This animal has been known to hunt Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa and off the West Coast of the United States.  Can you guess what this animal...

Horseshoe crabs are amazing to see along the beaches from Maine to Florida. We often see them in the touch tanks at public aquariums. They are cool looking with their armored shell and prehistoric look. In fact, they are prehistoric. They have been around for 450 million years with little change in their looks.  Humans have found an important use for them as well and that alone fuels the need to p...

Teresa Iglesias, a biologist at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, recently co-authored a paper on whether cuttlefish can dream . Teresa and her team observed Rapid Eye Movement (REM) in cuttlefish during an experiment that also occurs in mammals and other vertebrates. REM in humans is what scientists think leads us to dream. Of course, it is difficult to provide evidence that cuttle...

The Endangered Right Whale population has been through a lot of survival problems since its population started to decline in 2010. There are now an estimated 411 individual whales left and less than 100 breeding females. It's not a good sign.  Two years ago, we lost 17 individuals from the population after many of them died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence due to either ship strikes or fishing gear ent...

I am joined by Dr. Stacy Baez, who works with the PEW Charitable Trust on their Bertarelli Ocean Legacy Program. Stacy and I discuss the work that PEW does all around the world to support the discussion, strategies, and implementation of Marine Protected Areas.  Stacy's job involves traveling to different countries and speaking to governments as well as other stakeholders about the benefits of MPA...

Fauna and Flora International has reported that zero leatherback sea turtles nested along the beaches in the Rio Escalente Chacocente Wildlife Reserve this past season. A result that has the scientists at FFI worried about the future of Leatherback Sea Turtles in the Eastern Pacific that once had 30-40 female individuals nest on the same beaches in the 1980s.  The rapid decline has been attributed...

We see Marine Protected Areas being designated left, right, and centre. We always hear about the percentage of the area of the Oceans that are being designated. There is a reason for that. It's because of the Convention Of Biological Diversity at the meeting in Aichi, Japan (Target 11) that calls for nations to protect 10% of the Ocean.  A recent paper calls out nations for focusing too much on th...

We have witnessed many floods around the world lately. It's Spring, so the snow melts in the temperate parts of the world, which causes more water to run. When you add Spring rainfall into the mix, then you get even more water running everywhere.  Traditionally, the extra water would flood in areas known as floodplains. The floodplains tend to be natural areas that would get flooded every once and...

If Anemones and their close relatives, corals, don't have a tough enough time with climate change consequences that cause mass bleaching, they seem to also be dealing with taking in microfibres .  Microfibres enter the ocean through "shedding" during the laundry cycle, enter into the sewage treatment system and get into local waterways that will empty into the ocean, eventually.  The microfibres c...

I received an email this morning that inspired this episode. I get asked many times how people can change careers to one that is in Marine Conservation. It's not easy and for many, it can be scary.  I provide some advice for those of you who want to change your careers to Marine Conservation.  I would be more than happy to help you with your career. I also offer coaching services for those who are...

Belize has doubled the amount of No-Take Marine Protected Areas in its waters to boost biodiversity and protect fisheries from future fishing pressure.  The new No-Take MPAs as located in waters that range from 200-3000 metre deep and includes a coral reef complex called the Corona Reef. Corona Reef has been identified as an aggregation area of commercially important finfish species. The MPAs are...

There is nothing better than watching a nature documentary narrated by David Attenborough. The graphics delight my eyes and Attenborough's voice soothes my soul! It's why I was so excited that Netflix released its Original Series called Our Planet (Available Now!).  I started watching the series and I was quite surprised to see a graphic scene at the end of the second episode entitled Frozen Plane...

For decades the Queensland Government has been authorizing the killing of a list of sharks that may pose harm to bathers along the beautiful beaches of the Great Barrier Marine Park. The Shark population has since decreased due to the ignorant killings.  Sharks would be caught on baited drum lines and government contractors would go and shoot the sharks.  The Humane Society launched a lawsuit in c...

S-203 is a Bill in Canada that will make marine mammal captivity illegal in Canada. The bill is set to be presented in the House of Common before the House is released for summer. The Vancouver Aquarium and Marineland are the only two facilities that currently hold marine mammals. The current cetaceans in the facilities are grandfathered in; however, they cannot take on any more animals after the...

Nick Wehner joins me on the podcast today to discuss the use of the p-values in Marine Science studies. Statistical Societies have been telling the science community to be careful of only using the p-values as a way to measure significance as that is not always enough; however, it seems as though the scientific community has not changed its ways in its use of the p-value.  What say you? Share your...