How To Protect The Ocean

I used to think that Ocean Awareness was the only component needed to get the public to not only understand the issues facing the Ocean, but it would also give them enough information and inspiration to conserve the Ocean. Unfortunately, the behaviour change needed to conserve the Ocean for a particular issue does not happen just through Ocean Awareness.  Behaviour change leads to action for conse...

Whale Sharks are a huge and iconic species that are found to have migrated long distances; however, there is still much to be discovered about the species. For instance, do juvenile Whale Sharks travel the same long distances as the adults? The answer is yes...and no. A recent study found that juvenile Whale Sharks swam a large distance for the 126 day study period (2,580 km); however, the sharks...

"Everyone loves Marineland" is what I grew up listening to the Marineland commercial. Ask anyone that grew up in Southern Ontario, Canada and they will know the saying; however, not everyone loves Marineland anymore. There have been some major problems with the marine theme park over the past few decades as they have been cited under the Ontario SPCA Act for the way they mistreat their animals.  A...

I remember learning about marine ecology with a popular example of the relationship among the sea otter, sea urchin and kelp forest. Sea otters eat sea urchins and sea urchins eat kelp. A decrease in one population could give rise to another. A lack of sea otters caused sea urchin populations to increase, which fed on the kelp, severely decreasing its coverage. The reintroduction of the sea otter...

The Coelacanth is one of those fish species that could easily be my favourite fish. It's prehistoric history and evolutionary importance fascinates me. The manner in which the pelvic fins move is captivating. As you can see, I am very passionate about coelacanths.  Unfortunately, the coelacanth is critically endangered with only 30 left in the population off the coast of Africa. The species is als...

I covered something different than I am used to over the past week. I talked about businesses that benefit the Ocean. The businesses are usually Social Enterprises, companies that have a triple bottom line for profit, environmental and social change. There are many profiles in the news about specific Ocean Start Ups that have had success and received extra training, but I wanted to ensure that you...

The water along the beaches in San Diego are known for it's surfing and majestic sea life. The waters are also cooler as the Californian Current is influenced by the Alaskan Current and Northern Pacific Current; however, the global heat wave has raised the temperatures of the water to a point where researchers are worried about the affect this change could have on sea life in the area, particularl...

Yesterday, I introduced you to some start ups that were going to be part of an accelerator program for an Impact Investing Program.  Today, I speak to the CEO and Founder of Katapult Ocean, which is a new Impact Investing firm that is focused on searching and investing in start ups that help make the Oceans more sustainable.  Maren Hjorth Bauer is our guest. She defines Impact Investing and tells...

Talking about Ocean issues everyday can get a little tiring, so I've been doing some research to see what is being done about solutions.  There are some organizations such as Conservation X Labs that help engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs to create prototypes that will provide conservation solutions and scale their business.  There are also impact investing firms that are trying to incentivi...

I keep talking about the Ocean Clean Up Project because I get angry at the fact that there has been little criticism about the project in the mainstream media. So when I found this story, I had to talk about it on the podcast. This article really dives into the problems with the apparatus. I wanted to go through it because it's good to have criticism.  I should get one thing straight. I do support...

The Southern Resident Orca Population are considered a Schedule 1 Endangered Species by the Canadian Species At Risk Act. The main reason for the decline of the Orca population which only has 75 individuals left is because of the lack of Chinook Salmon, this according to Dr. Naomi Rose.  Dr. Naomi Rose is our guest on the podcast today in the second of a two-part interview where we discussed the e...

We have our most popular guest on the podcast today, Dr. Naomi Rose. She is a Marine Conservation Advocate who works for the Animal Welfare Institute where she specializes in Whales in Captivity.  Naomi came on the podcast to discuss the plight of wild Orcas of the Southern Resident Population; however, we first got on the topic of Marine Conservation Advocacy and discussed it for a while. It was...

There is a big United Nations meeting that is going to happen in New York City soon that some researchers say will dictate the long term survival of the Ocean. The meeting has been in the works for years with countries expected to sign on to a pact that will manage the high seas over a number of issues from water quality to fisheries.  Scientists have published on the way the high seas (ocean area...

Marine Conservation can be a tricky business at times. This episode covers one of those tricky times and it has to do with the porbeagle shark.  The porbeagle shark is a "mini-great white" that only feeds on fish. It's population on the east coast has dwindled to 10% of its initial population. The Canadian government has put them on the Species At Risk list to help protect them; however, the shark...

There is a report that was released by the Ocean Conservancy that states over 80% of the marine debris that enters the Ocean comes from 20% of the countries, primarily in the Asian Region of the world. Most of it could be attributed to lack of a waste management infrastructure. Since then, the focus of marine debris has been on those countries, but over in North America, we are not perfect.  The l...

I had the pleasure of interviewing Joni Pini-Fitzsimmons, who is also known as @MotherOfRays - a fantastic Twitter handle!!! We discussed a recent paper that she published on the feeding behaviour of smooth rays around a recreational fishing cleaning area.  The fishers clean their fish and discard the fish "waste" into the ocean where the rays feed; however, this feeding behaviour could be detrime...

SeaWorld is rebounding with higher attendance in the first 2 quarters fo this year pleasing investors and making them think that the fallout from the Blackfish documentary that showed the entertainment park was ignoring scientific evidence that the small tanks and shows were harming the mental and emotional state of the captive orcas.  An investigation is still under way by the SEC into allegation...

As if plastic pollution in the ocean wasn't bad enough, now researchers have revealed that as plastics degrade in the light (photo-degradation), they emit greenhouse gases.  Researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa published an article in PLOS One recently were they tested how gases were released as different forms of plastics degraded in saltwater. Surface area increased as the plastics...

A couple of weeks ago, I published an episode on a number of Sea Turtles floated ashore dead from a red time bloom off of Southwest Florida. The long term prognosis did not look good as the red tides usually happen in the winter, where cool water from the land break up the red tide; however, this red tide happened in the summer, where cool water is absent. I thought I would do an update on the sit...

Researchers at the University of Exeter have discovered that European sea bass lose some of their sense of smell when pH dips in tiny amounts, which means that Ocean Acidification with cause this fish to become vulnerable. The study showed the bass have to be 42% closer to their prey, to their habitat and their predators to detect them leaving them vulnerable to hunt for food, find suitable habita...

Andrew Forrest's Minderoo Foundation decided to give $100 million dollars towards marine conservation in Australia as he criticizes the Australian government for their lack of protection for proposed roll backs on Marine Protected Areas within the country. On top of that, Andrew is doing his PhD in Marine Conservation as he tries to find ways to create ways of economic and marine conservation sust...

There is a population on the Ile aux Cochons that is located between South Africa and Antarctica that holds a significant portion of the populations of King Penguins. Unfortunately, the population of those penguins has decreased by 90% over the past 40 years going from 2 million individuals to 200,000.  Researchers have been using satellite imagery to measure the population change over the years a...

I learned about the Ocean Conveyor Belt that influenced the climate for the Northwestern Atlantic and Northeastern Atlantic regions when I was in school quite some time ago. It fascinated me that the ocean can have such a prolific role in regulating Climate.  It seems that it also has a role in controlling, or accelerating Climate Change, as well. Researchers from China have recently published an...

Thomas Cook, a major UK tour operator, has officially stopped selling Seaworld tickets due to the captive mammal facility not abiding bu ABTA guidelines on animal welfare.  The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Organization has been working with Thomas Cook for the past 18 months to investigate whether the park was adhering to the guidelines. The investigation resulted in a failure and the tour opera...

In cool ocean news, Scientists at Cascadia Research Collective have discovered a new dolphin hybrid species off the coast of the Kauai, Hawai'i. The hybrid was the product of a melon-headed-dolphin and a rough-toothed dolphin, where the former is rare in Hawaiian waters.  A two-week study revealed observations of the melon-headed dolphin and another rare species called pantropical spotted dolphins...