How To Protect The Ocean

Dolphinariums in North America are thriving. I just came back from a trip the Caribbean where I saw advertisements for "swimming with dolphin" experiences. People flock to these tourism attractions because dolphins are such an iconic species that everyone loves ( except some don't ).  We see advertisements for dolphinariums all of the time, but we rarely think about the effect of the facilities on...

The short answer is, yes, they are. The long answer is that it depends on other factors, which I will get to soon.  A recent article authored by Terry Hughes, a very well-known coral reef scientist, proposed that widely used sunscreens with oxybenzone and octinoxate are not that bad for coral reefs as previously reported by scientific studies. Terry's reasoning is because it doesn't represent real...

The time of marine mammals in captivity is slowly dwindling. We are seeing people speak volumes with their wallets and actions as they deliberately leave out Sea World and other marine mammal entertainment facilities off of their family excursions thanks to the movie such as Blackfish and the decades of advocacy and science worked to show that marine mammal captivity is bad for their health. Organ...

Elephant Seals at Point Reyes National Park decided to take over a beach during the US Government Shutdown when the staff was a third of its regular size . Now the beach is closed down along with some access roads due to the new Elephant Seal pups that were born during the take over time.  The Park staff are ensuring the pups and mother seals are protected during a vulnerable stage of the populati...

Ban Straws. Ban Plastic Straws. The movement to ban single-use plastics is growing. There are still many issues; however, the movement is starting to tackle some of these issues. New Zealand seems to be leading the pack. New Zealand has rolled out a Plastic Packaging Declaration that grocery stores seem to like. Foodstuffs, a grocery store, has signed on to the declaration with glowing results. Re...

Dr. David Ebert (@lostsharkguy) joins me on the podcast today to discuss why scientists go to fish markets. He has been going to fish markets all over the world building relationships with fishers on what, where and when they catch fish (mostly sharks).  David has many reasons to go to a fish market rather than catching the fish himself.  Listen to the episode to find out what those reasons are. W...

Zero waste stores are slowly popping up in places such as New York City, USA, Vancouver, Canada and now Devon, UK. These Mom & Pop stores are serving customers that tend to search for a more eco-friendly option in their local grocery story. Apparently business is booming for these shops as the owners of the shop in Devon say they are getting people that are not considered traditionally eco-friendl...

A listener requested that I discuss Marine Career topics so I decided to look at some Facebook Groups for some insight on what advice new graduates and early career conservationists were seeking. I am a part of Marine Biologists Network and Job Postings Facebook Group where many of the members seek career advice on a daily basis. Many of the questions involve seeking out graduate work. Some people...

Dr. Edd Hind-Ozan joins me today to discuss the US Shutdown on his weekly segment called "This Week In Marine Social Science."  The shutdown is happening in the US because the US Federal Government cannot agree on how to fund the government; therefore, 800,000 federal employees do not get paid during the shutdown.  The bad part is that people have to worry about paying their bills. The other bad p...

Nick Wehner joins me on the podcast to discuss Open Access papers and the challenge of getting more authors to upload their papers to Open Access databases such as MarXiv for Marine Conservation papers .  Nick and I discuss the comparison of success rates of authors agreeing to share their papers in open access databases via email. You will be surprised at the rate! We also talk about a weird thin...

Florida Governor, Ron Desantis (Republican), took over the office at the beginning of 2019. Many Floridians and onlookers were afraid of the governor's dismissal of Climate Change during his campaign; however, his new policies to protect water quality has surprised many critics.  Desantis has earmarked 2.5 billions dollars for water quality monitoring programs throughout the state, establish a res...

Brooke Tully joins the podcast for her segment of "What's Happening In Conservation Marketing This Week?"  On today's episode, Brooke and I explore the notion that people don't change because why should they?! Everyone is being asked so much these days from being asked to be healthier to buying eco-friendly products to save the planet. There are some people who are tired of being asked to change a...

As I consumed myself with the issue I discussed on the previous episode regarding Ocean Ramsay Swimming with Sharks and the controversy that it caused throughout the internet, I witnessed the attack on science by her followers. Many of Ramsay's supporters questioning the value of science in conservation as compared to science contributions. Attacking science has become normal; however, it must sto...

Ocean Ramsay is an Advocate known for free diving with iconic Ocean Animals such as sharks. Her uniqueness is that she touches the sharks in her pictures and images. The point of touching the sharks is to show that they are gentle animals and not the "human-killing" machines in the movies. There is a recent viral set of videos of Ocean Ramsay swimming and laying her hand gently on a massive Great...

The Ocean Cleanup Project has gone through some growing pains over the past couple of weeks including having to tow the device into port because it broke apart at sea. The critics have come out in droves all over the internet to point out that the Ocean Cleanup Project has dismissed scientific peer reviewed criticism. A new criticism has been put forth and Boyan Slat responded positively while at...

Have you ever tried to change, but little things got in the way. For example, one of my New Year's Resolutions for 2019 was to eat less meat (only 3 times per week). So far, it hasn't gone so well because I haven't planned my meals. When I am hungry, I want to eat everything that is in front of me, so I pick the first thing I see. I won't meet my resolution if I don't change. I need to plan my mea...

The Dzawada'enuxw First Nation has filed suits against the Provincial Government (2 suits) and the Federal Government for allowing 10 aquaculture farms in their area that they say infringe on their Aboriginal Rights.  The First Nation fishes for eulachon and Pacific Wild Salmon to trade with other Indigenous tribes in the area for goods. The farms will harm an already declining populations of both...

Ken Balcomb, founding Director of the Centre For Whale Research, and his team have spotted a new Orca Calf on the Eastern end of the Juan de Fuca . This is the first calf since last year after a mother was seen floating her newborn dead calf for 17 days.  Ken is cautiously optimistic of the calf as he gauges the Orca's chances at about 50% survival due to low salmon populations, increased underwat...

Have you ever heard of a fatberg? It could be one of the most disgusting things that I have ever seen. A Fatberg is what you get when you combine frozen oil, fats and wet wipes.  There is a large Fatberg in a coastal town in the UK that is 64 metres long and it's clogging up the sewers. It will take 8 weeks to break it up, according to local authorities.  This episode is to reinforce the notion th...

Indonesia has been aggressively fighting illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing domestically since 2014. It has gone as far as sinking foreign vessels that were illegally fishing in Indonesian waters using Navy Forces. The result has been an increase in fish abundance domestically to support its artisanal-based fisheries industry, but there is still more work to be done. The country is...

Over 5000 people were treated for stings from an armada of bluebottle jellyfish last weekend along the Gold and Sunshine Coasts in Queensland, Australia. This totals over 22,000 people stung in the past 5 weeks by the jellyfish colonies. The average number of people treated for jellyfish stings is between 25,000 and 45,000...for all of Australia!!!  Authorities say they have never seen anything li...

Brooke Tully is back again with a great segment of "What's Happening in Conservation Marketing." We continue to discuss why people don't do things. We focused this episode on people don't change their behaviours because they can't. Brooke brings up the fact that people are often asked to change behaviours that may be too expensive and/or not accessible to them. I notice this quite a bit in the Mar...

As we start the New Year, it's always good to go over how we can make better choices for the Ocean. The Guardian put out an article on 10 Ways You Can Reduce Our Plastic Use In 2019 and I thought it would be good to run through them. Some ways are easier than others. You might also find that you are doing some of the reductions already, but we can always do more.  Have a listen and share your thou...

Ken Balcomb is THE research expert on Southern Resident Orca Population in the Salish Sea area. Ken has predicted two deaths by summer 2019 based on the state of J17 (female, 42 years-old) and J25 (male, 27 years-old) . He says both individuals look skinny compared to recent years and J25 is exhibiting "peanut head", which is a sign of malnutrition as the head is smaller than the rest of the body....

There are projects that are happening all over the world with the purpose of trying to either clean up the Ocean of plastic pollution or prevent it from getting into the Ocean. The Ocean Clean Up Projects Hits Another Snag The 2000-foot Ocean Clean Up device has broken up into two sections in the Pacific Ocean Gyre. A 60-foot section broke off at one end of the large device in the rough weather in...