How To Protect The Ocean

Polar Bears have been facing a number of challenges that have played a role in decreasing their global population in the Arctic Environment. Climate change and metal poisoning have been two of the top issues facing Polar Bears. We talk about climate change and its effect on Polar Bears almost every time we discuss the marine mammals. Of  course, there are still some people who don't think Climate...

  Nathan Johnson joins us on the podcast today to discuss this week's top stories that we think you should know about: Giving Small-Scale Fishing a voice on an international platform; Regular people work to help Sea Turtles; Countries around the world agree that Plastic Pollution in a Global Problem; and, Arctic Countries agree to stop fishing in Arctic High Seas for 16 years so researchers can st...

I had the pleasure to catch up with my friend and colleague, Dr. Nathan Robinson, who is a Sea Turtle Biologist, a Marine Scientist, and a Science Communicator.    Nathan is known for being the scientist that pulled a straw out of an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle's nose and 4 months later pulled a plastic fork out of another Olive Ridley Sea Turtle's nose about 70 km from the other site. Those videos co...

Science Communication (SciComm) is a great tool for Scientists and Conservationists to use to reach the public. It provides Scientists with the power to drive their own message straight from their own mouths, especially now with social media tools such as podcasting and online videos available to anyone that has a message to provide an audience. However, traditional media such as TV Networks and N...

This week on Ocean Talk Friday, I cover 3 stories: 1) The Science of The Climate Change Denier's Strategy to confuse people; 2) President Trump is reducing the area in National Monuments and allowing mining and commercial fishing in the protected areas; and, 3) A lobster in New Brunswick had the Pepsi logo imprinted on its claw opening a larger conversation of how bad plastic pollution has gotten...

SEA Change Clothing Co. is a company on a mission to change the way we make decisions when we buy our clothes to reduce plastic pollution. Most shirts and sweaters are made with micro-plastics and every time we wash our clothes, some of those micro-plastics come off the clothes and are added to our waterways. However, Sea Change Clothing is pure organic cotton so there are no micro-plastics in the...

Ocean Update today is a special one...400 EPISODES here on The Speak Up For Blue Podcast!!! I take some time to Thank You for helping me get there and helping me build this fantastic community!!! I also talk about how the Media needs to stop throwing sharks under the bus and start to help their reputation. Specifically, I talk about the spear fisherman that was bitten by a white shark and how the...

Ocean Talk Friday is all about dealing with human issues (as much of marine conservation is!). I start off today by talking about a 210,000 gallon oil leak of the Keystone Pipeline in South Dakota last week as well as some news about the Keystone XL pipeline construction. Next I talk about how we should use science communication for conservation via the Blue Planet II series and their assumption t...

Dr. Craig McClain is on the podcast. This is his second time on the podcast as he was on our second ever episode, so this is really special. Craig is the Executive Director of the Louisiana Marine Consortium (LUMCON) and the Chief Editor of DeepSeaNews.com.  Craig is on the podcast to chat about OCEANSDOTCOMM, which is an innovative concept he has been wanting to do for a very long time. OCEANSDOT...

I cover 3 unrelated topics this week. The first story is a tragedy, the second is a call to action and the third is a congratulatory story...kind of...let me explain. Here are the topics for today: 1) 4 Sperm Whales Die After Being Stranded In Indonesia (13:51) 2) Opinion: We Need To Change The Way We Live (23:23) 3) Trump Delays Lifting Trophy Hunting Import Ban After Huge Backlash Enjoy The Podc...

An article came out this week where over 15,000 scientists agreed upon on thing: we are screwing up this planet royally. But don't let the title fool you, the authors highlight 9 things that either went wrong or are going wrong. The optimism is to look at the first thing the authors go over: The Ozone Layer. The paper highlights that, as a planet, we overcame ozone depletion and made it strong aga...

Products that are good for our health and the environment actually exist!!! I know, right! Today, on the podcast, I have Caroline Duell, founder of All Good Products, which sell products such as lotions and sunscreen that are created from natural ingredients. For example, their sunscreen is reef safe because it is made from natural ingredients and lacks oxybenzone, which is deadly to corals.  Take...

I comment on a recent article from Oceans Deeply where Dr. Asha de Vos commented on how the Marine Science and Conservation field needs to move away from Parachute Science and support more long term local initiatives in developing countries. Find out what Parachute Science is all about and why we need to stop. Also on the show, we talk about how Climate Change is decreasing the Walrus population i...

Dr. Edward Hind-Ozan joins us on the podcast today to discuss some major stories that are roaming around the Marine Conservation World this week. Here is the breakdown of the stories: 1) Can we really save the Vaquita? (6:01) 2) Is Sea Shepherd Society turning over a new leaf with combating IUU Fishing? (36:48) 3) An Update form Edd's project in Mexico looking at the affects of Land Use changes in...

Dr. Austin Gallagher is someone who never stops in this Marine Science and Conservation Industry. He conducts research on sharks and other predators all over the world, he founded and leads a non-profit organization called Beneath The Waves; and, he is now a social entrepreneur that quenches your thirst with Tempo, an all organic no sweetener sparkling tea that is built to be good for the Ocean. I...

Today's Update episode cover two stories and an opinion piece that I have about something that people freak out on way too much.  There is so much news out there that it was tough to pick just 3 things, but I thought these would be the ones that weren't getting the attention that they should.  Today I discuss the following: 1) Menhaden fish catches will be reduced to ensure their sustainability (8...

Dr. Lyne Morissette joins me on the podcast again this week for another instalment of Ocean Talk Friday. Today we talk: 1) Volvo Award goes to Canadian Economist for High Seas Fishing Study; 2) The expansion of an Antarctic Network of Marine Protected Areas does not go ahead...yet; 3) A weird sailing story from two women who were rescued after 90 days stranded at sea, but their stories don't corre...

Ret Talbot is a Freelance Fisheries Jounalist, and a friend of Speak Up For Blue, who has recently released a podcast of his own called Beyond Data. It's a podcast about fisheries, the data behind them (or lack thereof) and their story. Ret will explore the stories of fish we know and some we may not knew existed like his first episode on the oyster toadfish in New York.  Ret stopped by the podcas...

On this week's instalment of Ocean Updates, we tackle the last ditch efforts of the collaborative, Mexican-led group, of VaquitaCPR to try to save the last 19 individuals of the endemic Vaquita. If you read the story, you wouldn't think that it was a success as VaquitaCPR caught and had to release the first Vaquita, but the team thinks it was a success.  Other stories that I am covering today incl...

Dr. Lyne Morissette, marine mammal scientist and science communicator extrodinnaire, joins us on the podcast today to discuss her takeaways from the 22nd Biennial Conference for the Society of Marine Mammals. That means she gets to spend more than 5 days listening and talking about whales, dolphins, seals, walruses, polar bears and more!!! It's a dream come true!!! Lyne's highlights were the talks...

Open Access to Science is crucial to sharing information across the world. If you think about it, the entire scientific process is all about one scientists being able to duplicate an experiment of a study based on the methods outlined in a paper. However, sharing literature is not always possible. As our guest today, Nick Wehner from OCTO (Open Communications for The Ocean), will describe to us, m...

As always, there is quite a bit going on in Marine Science and Conservation field so it's a good thing that the Speak Up For Blue Podcast is here to keep you updated. Here are the stories for today: 1) Open Acces Week (3:34) 2) Salmon populations may be decreasing for many reasons (8:28) 3) Scientists travel too much by plane to go to conferences/meetings (23:00) 4) Master Chef technique used to s...

Nathan Johnson is back again for another Ocean Talk Friday episode. Nathan makes a special announcement about his career and how being a co-host of the Ocean Talk Friday Episodes helped him attain this new goal.  We also talk about some articles that we thought you should know about: 1) Countries pushing for another MPA in the Antarctic; 2) Nuie, island in the South Pacific, declares MPA protectin...

Marine Conservation is great when we see things like water quality policies and Marine Protected Areas implemented into law by governments; however, enforcing those policies on the Ocean is a huge challenge. It takes a number of tools and experts to create a Management Plan that will deter and prevent future problems.  Paul Whitaker, from KSAT , is our guest on the podcast today and he is leading...

The New York Times wrote a great article of fishers in Maine, USA who were diversifying their lone revenue stream of fishing lobsters by farming oysters and kelp. You might wonder, "Why in the world would they want to do that?"  Apparently, they say they cannot rely on income based on the seasonal fluctuation of wild stocks anymore. The lobster fishery seems to be doing quite well; however, many f...