Interesting farmed vs. wild salmon video

Wild Salmon in Trouble Video: The Link Between Farmed Salmon, Sea Lice and Wild Salmon


salmon farms can produce billions of sea lice eggs
sea lice harm juvenile salmon
juvenile salmon near salmon farms have significantly higher infestation rates of sea lice than those further away from farms
if these lice outbreaks continue, salmon could disappear from certain areas in less than 4 years

"Help Stop the Expansion of Open Net Pen Farms"

On the David Suzuki website, I read that B.C fish farms are asking the provincial govt to increase their fish farm production in areas that are critical wild salmon migration routes. The website asks readers to fight against this, and ask you to write to the B.C premier to protect the salmon!!

Check out the website, do a bit of research and see if this is something you would be interested in protesting against. All contact info is on the site.

shark Party

Great ideas for having a shark birthday party! I like the under the sea treats: shark punch, edible aquariums and shark cupcakes. Don't forget, pin the tail or fin on the shark!

Resort, anyone?

Known as Blue Travel, there is a site that provides information on eco-resorts around the world. Unfortunately, as of yet, there are no listings of eco-resorts in Europe and Asia.

Hmmm...technology produced nature vs the real thing

So San Clemente, California has built a 175 acre kelp forest to offset the impact of their nearby nuclear power plant, which might destroy nearby natural kelp forests and the marine life within them. Just seems like another humans vs. nature issue. Why not conserve natural kelp forests and re-think/re-work/re-create ways to keep our natural environment safe, without thinking that our technology is a fool-proof option in creating ecology?

It becomes more real everyday...

Should we prepare for rising sea levels? Yup. Govenor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, ordered on friday that the state begin preparations for rising sea levels. This definitely makes global warming very real, at least I hope that's how other take it!

Give a Holler to salmon!

Since I've been reading "Song for the Blue Ocean", I learned a great deal about salmon. So when I heard that west coast American farmers will hopefully be restricted in using 3 particular pesticides near the coastlines, all in the hope of saving the salmon, I was very happy.

"Under the rules, the pesticides couldn't be used within 500 feet (152 metres) of streams that carry salmon. Crop dusters would have to stay even farther away, and farmers using the pesticides would have to leave 20-foot strips of land uncultivated along drainage ditches and streams that are home to the fish."

But I guess I shouldn't celebrate just yet because "the new restrictions, triggered by an environmental lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act, won't be implemented right away. And the Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates pesticides and would put the restrictions on product labels, could try to devise a different approach."

Here's to hoping that the U.S will make the right choice.

Arctic Ocean research project

A little blurb about my research project:
My Arctic Ocean research project takes a look at possible jurisdiction claims on the Arctic. Arctic ice is melting and in greater amounts, with a shorter freezing season because of global warming. This results in ice-free areas of the Arctic, which means the ability to explore for potential gas and oil. This also highlights the Arctic Ocean as a new potential transport/shipping lane, which would drastically reduce the time taken to get from Europe to Asia. This would likely increase the amount of shipping around the world.
This obviously leads to territory claims and disputes by countries whose coasts are adjacent to the Arctic Ocean. The controversy here is: who gets what? UNCLOS states that a coastal state can increase their EEZ to 350 nm from their baselines if they can prove that the ocean ridges in the Arctic Ocean are actually extensions of their continental shelf.
Along with Russia, Canada and Denmark are currently doing extensive seabed surveys and mapping, so that they can submit their claims according to UNCLOS regulations.
So what does this mean?
This would lead to oil and gas exploration, increased tourism, increase exploitation of fish resources, increased shipping traffic, environmental degradation........

Want to know where a marine species is distributed?

Found a website called Ocean Biogeographic Information System, where you can type in a marine species name and it will map out its spatial and temporal distribution.

These are marine worms??!

Various pics of marine worms...have to warn you that not all these worms are gross looking, but rather look like works of art. Another little tidbit, apparently marine worms have discovered 18 ways to reproduce and some stretch out to 200 feet!

Test Yourself

Found an oceans quiz on the National Geographic website...see how well you score!

Many ways we need and appreciate the Ocean

Short Thank You Ocean video. Reminds us how dependent we are on it.
"The “Thank You Ocean” campaign was designed to instill in Californians a sense of personal connection and responsibility to our ocean and coast. ThankYouOcean.Org provides access to everything ocean in California including how to learn about and where to experience the ocean, the impacts of daily decisions on ocean life, ocean conservation issues, and what to do to help the ocean."

Beautiful kelp forests

AMAZING....

Last class we saw part of a ocean video, which had a segment on kelp forests. I was amazed and have never seen such a thing before and had to check it out.
"Kelp forests occur in cold, nutrient-rich water and are among the most beautiful and biologically productive habitats in the marine environment. They are found throughout the world in shallow open coastal waters, and the larger forests are restricted to temperatures less than 20ºC, extending to both the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. A dependence upon light for photosynthesis restricts them to clear shallow water and they are rarely much deeper than 15-40m. The kelps have in common a capacity for some of the most remarkable growth rates in the plant kingdom."
I find it so fascinating that kelp can grow up to 2 feet a day and can reach lengths of more than a 100 feet. It really does look like an underwater rainforest. A kelp forest also has so many functions: it provides food, a place to hide, prevents sleeping otters from floating away when sleeping.

Many products we use today have kelp ingredients: algin, a substance extracted from kelp is an emulsifier added to ice cream, salad dressing, toothpaste, cosmetics and hundreds of other products, and the demand for kelp ingredients is growing.

Unfortunately many countries don't have regulations on how much kelp can be harvested. Pesticides from land water run-off kill species that live in these forests. As everything is interconnected, this imbalance affects these forests by removing parts of the food chain that help control species that feed on the kelp. I learn more everyday of how vast human impacts are no matter how small they seem. Not only that, but what a parasite humans are on the food chain of life and how important it is to recognize our utter dependence on the environment.

Arctic environment

Small but interesting website on the Arctic environment. Covers marine waters, inland waters, land and sky. Has cool facts and for a small site, it has a lot of info.

Arctic species host to genetic wealth?

Other than drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic, there has been growing interest in biotechnology, using genetic material of Arctic plants and animals in products.

"Enzymes from Arctic fish that remain active near the freezing mark allow food processors to operate at lower - and safer - temperatures. Such cold-adapted enzymes show potential for improving products from bread to beer. Other companies are using so-called "antifreeze proteins" found in Arctic plants and animals as a way to improve the taste, texture and safety of frozen food.
One company is using antifreeze proteins from the Arctic pout, an eel-like fish found off Labrador, to make low-fat ice cream.
Some of those proteins may have medical value. Proteins from the Arctic squirrel, the only mammal known to be able to lower its body temperature below freezing, are being tested to see if they will help people recover from strokes."

read about it here and here.

Newly discovered slower moving currents in ocean

Buoys placed in the ocean to measure currents have also turned up new information on another ocean current never before discovered. It turned out that there were alternating strips of water running eastward or westward, a bit like parallel moving sidewalks. It is a 150 km wide bands of very slow moving water that reaches from the ocean floor to the surface pretty much cover all the oceans.

Microdocs: Crown of Thorns Starfish

The crown of thorns starfish was discussed in class the other day and I came upon this website called Microdocs which is the short attention span science theater on ecological sustainability. Thought that was interesting...good for all you people short on time or attention spans. Anyhoo..it gives a good overview on what the starfish is, are they good or bad, how people influence their outbreaks, biological and human ways to can control them, and so forth. This website focuses on sustainability, coral reefs and coral reef species.

How much is known about the Arctic?

My research project is on the Arctic Ocean..and along my searching travels I came across an article urging Canada to get a research station in the Arctic to start more extensive monitoring of the effects of climate change. Apparently Harper stated there was going to be one built, but no details have come of that since.

Want info on invasive species?

I found a website, titled the Global Invasive Species Database that lists all the invasive species throughout the world. You can be specific by typing the country, location, species name, habitat and/or organism type. I found the Nova Scotia coastland has 5-7 invasive species ranging from algae, herbs and molluscs. Interestingly, it also lists the native species of NS that are invasive to other countries. It also lists the 100 worst!

Smiling baby thornback ray

Baby Thornback Ray's gill slits make it look like a smiling children's tv creature. Tourists are flocking to a Hampshire aquarium. Read about it here

Mislabeled fish in stores and restaurants: Are you getting what you think?

New York Times had an article on mislabeled fish and how 2 high school students underwent a year-long investigation to see if consumers were getting what they thought they were. Makes you wonder how far mislabeling activities go?

How many species live in the sea?

230,000 marine species have been recorded and they will soon be catalogued on a website so that people can search them by a click of their mouse.
The World Register of Marine Species is launched today by the the Census of Marine Life. Once complete, it will provide the first definitive list of all known species in the world's oceans.
The Register is freely accessible online and includes descriptions of the species and photos. It will allow both the public and scientists to identify species they come across and easily recognise entirely new species.

Mussel mania

Dr. Conrad had mentioned in class about a volunteer
opportunity in saving mussels in Lake Banook. So on october 23, which was a chilly, windy day, I borrowed a pair of totally awesome hip waders from Dr. Conrad, dressed myself in my warm manitoba gear and headed down to the lake. For some reason I expected there to be a lot more people because of all the classmates who had expressed interest in volunteering. I guess that just meant more mussels for me to catch! There were approximately 12-15 people. After a brief background on mussels and why we were doing this, we suited up, got our onion bags to hold our catch and ventured out. At first we were positioned in lines approximately a foot or two a part, and from there we slowly combed the waterbed. Because it was quite windy, the rippling water made it difficult to clearly see the bottom, and our walking so close together stirred up the floor which made the water opaque. We eventually discarded that process and as you can see in thte photo, we are randomly placed. The waterproof gloves we were given didn't hold up to the deeper waters as the water rushed in from the top anyhow, so many of us went bare handed. We found the most effective way of finding the most mussels was simply to keep our catching arm under water, and scour the lake bed with our fingers. It got to the point that having our arm in the water was warmer than taking it out, and since we lost feeling in our hands anyway, we continued on. We caught about 150 mussels in just over an hour. Once we had finished, the mussel-filled onion sacks were attached to empty bottles that would act as buoys and canoed them to deeper parts of the lake.

It was interesting to find out the lake had approximately 15 species of mussel and some of them were between 150-200 years old!

The mussels had to be moved because the lake is being partially drained to install a sewage pipe and because the world canoe championships are being held on the lake next year, certain construction needs to be done before then. As you can see, the lake is being dammed up beneath the highway bridge as water is being slowly drained into Sullivans duck pond. This decrease in water volume also decreases oxygen in the water, which is why the mussels are stored in the lakes deep parts. The coordinator said that mussels only move approximately 10 feet a day, so they wouldn't be able to keep up with the draining. It is important to save them because Mussels are filter feeders. They eat tiny animals (protozoa) and plants (algae) that they filter from water passing across their gills. Mussels are good for the environment because their filter feeding helps make water clear. They are also an important food resource for muskrats, raccoons, river otters, and some fish.


Here you can see the water has dropped quite a bit. But the more intense draining was to occur on the weekend. Clean NS was planning on returning as the water dropped to do some more mussel saving as well as clean up the exposed lake bed of garbage. They would probably need a lot of volunteers for that event! (hint, hint). I definitely had a good time and met a lot of great people, and though we joked about taking our onion sack of mussels home for dinner, it was nice to help out in this small way.

Things anyone can do to protect the ocean

This website has a good list of things we can do to protect the ocean: things we can do inside and outside our homes. Even starting small is a step, and hopefully people will take on more responsibility when they realize how vital it is to be apart of a lifestyle change towards our oceans and environment. http://marinebio.org/Oceans/Conservation/local.asp

How the lobster clawed its way up

Someone told me that way back in the day lobster was once food only fit for prisoners. So I did a little searching, and sure enough, back in the 17th and 18th centuries along the eastern coast of the U.S, lobster was a junk food item fed to orphans, prisoners, widows and servants and it was "commonly found in the dinner troughs of pigs, cows, and goats. It was so commonly used as a food for servants and prisoners that Massachusetts passed a law forbidding its use more than twice a week....a daily lobster dinner was considered cruel and unusual punishment! People were downright ashamed to eat lobster. Lobster shells about a house are looked upon as signs of poverty and degradation, wrote American observer John Rowan in the mid-19th century." In one Massachusetts town, a group of indentured servants became so upset at their lobster-heavy diet that they took their masters to court and won a judgment protecting them from having to eat it more than three times a week. Some contemporary Canadians remember kids from poor towns, as late as the 1940s, trading lobster sandwiches for peanut butter and jelly in the school cafeteria. (I find this hilarious!) The reason for it's gross unpopularity is that it was so plentiful. But when uppity tourists travelled to these coastal towns, they wanted to eat seafood, and it became a hot commodity. The locals began cooking it up in various ways, and when these uppity tourists returned home, they wanted to be able to have lobster whenever they wanted. So the lobster industry exploded...and here we are today, where lobster is a treat, the demand for it ubelievable and we all pay a lot to have it. Oh to have grown up along the east coast at that time..mmm! This goes to show the huge affect of public demand...yes, businesses want to make money, BUT we fuel it. We can't rely on business to be ethical for us, unfortunately that doesn't work, so we, the public, must make our own ethical and sustainable choices, and demand that businesses do the same thing.

Strange deepsea marine life

"Combining the latest scientific discoveries with astonishing color imagery, The Deep takes readers on a voyage into the darkest realms of the ocean. Revealing nature’s oddest and most mesmerizing creatures in crystalline detail, The Deep features more than two hundred color photographs of terrifying sea monsters, living fossils, and ethereal bioluminescent creatures, some photographed here for the very first time. Accompanying these breathtaking photographs are contributions from some of the world’s most respected researchers that examine the biology of deep-sea organisms, the ecology of deep-sea habitats, and the history of deep-sea exploration."

Videos on the environmental impacts of humans

Are you afraid of the world?

A short video, Are you afraid of the world, is actually a set of 3, so be sure to check out the other chapters. It is chock full of sad facts of how our current way of life grossly affects water resources...not that our class doesn't know, but is good to check out nontheless! The second video has scenes asking people on the street where their water and food comes from, many answer they have no idea! Nor do they know where their waste goes.

Another video, Once upon a Tide, is geared towards younger viewers, as it's in a fairtale with a message type setting...but I found it sweet to watch, and could imagine showing something like this to my nieces and nephew.

Ocean Acidification

Ocean Acidification has been mentioned in class a few times and so I did a little searching...and I came upon this article. It just goes to show how widespread and interconnected environmental impacts are. The change in the Oceans pH because of rising CO2 levels within the ocean does more than harm coral and crustaceons, apparently it can also make the ocean a louder place. More research is needed to see what sorts of impacts this will have on all marine life, but the worry is that the increased noise will make it difficult for whales to communicate.

Interesting take on photo contest

A diver prepares to free a sperm whale from a drift net

I came across a photo contest that has redirected its focus from "not seeking the typical beauty shots but rather images that inspire public action". Coming from the prairies, I sometimes feel that marine life is a distant world! The only thing I've seen are seals.

Society is incredibly visual and I wonder if people feel disconnected with marine life because you don't see it, like you see land animals like cattle, horses and deer. I feel this photo does a good job in provoking feelings of anger and sympathy as you see marine life struggling with our economic need to fish and impose ourselves on them.

US Offshore drilling ban expires September 30th

I found an article on the environmental news network.The US off-shore drilling ban expires (this ban has been in place for 26 years) because of the current economic issue. It looks as though the Bush government doesn't want to renew this ban because the public is demanding lower gas and oil prices, especially now, because of the economic instability brought about by the current financial crisis.This lifting of the ban will obviously have major negative impacts on marine life and habitat. Sadly, this re-iterates our misplaced dependence on one resource at the expense of another. Such a vicious circle.