MarineBio Blog

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"Nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution" - Theodosius Dobzhansky (1973)

Now I have that song going through my head, but I was a Police/Sting fanatic back in the day, so this is not a bad song-infection. But the reason it’s in my head is because of a message *on* a bottle. Check out the Plastiki: http://www.theplastiki.com/. I’m riveted by this concept and the design of the 60-foot catamaran. The website is fantastic. The catamaran is made from recycled plastic water and soda bottles and other sustainable materials – it’s a design marvel. The adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild and a handpicked crew of scientists, adventurers and creatives will sail over 10,000 nautical miles across the Pacific from San Francisco to Sydney on a 60-foot catamaran made from post consumer plastic water and soda bottles and self-reinforced PET. This voyage will be a feat in and of itself, but they’re also on a mission. Over the three month journey, David and the Plastiki crew aim “to inspire, educate and activate individuals, communities and businesses to start moving towards a smarter more sustainable planet 2.0 way of living. Its time to rethink waste as a resource.”

What an amazing feat of environmentalism and what better way to show the world that we’re treating the ocean like a giant garbage can. I can’t wait to join the Plastiki crew on their voyage – virtually of course – through their website and via Facebook and Twitter.

This is getting ugly and increasingly dangerous:

Anti-whaling activists accuse Japan fleet of attack

Anti-whaling activists have accused a Japanese vessel of ramming their high-tech speed boat during a confrontation in the Southern Ocean. Video of the incident appeared to show the Japanese ship severely damaging the Ady Gil, but all six crew were rescued.

Earlier the campaigners – who are trying to stop Japan’s whaling fleet – said they threw chemicals onto the whaling boat to prevent it being used.

The whalers said the activists tried to tangle their propeller with a rope.

In recent years the two sides have regularly confronted each other in the waters around the Antarctic.

Sea Shepherd spokesman Paul Watson said the incident had turned the confrontations between the whalers and the activists into a “real whale war”.

A statement on the Sea Shepherd website said a Japanese vessel that was accompanying the Nisshin Maru whaler “deliberately rammed” the Ady Gil, a high-tech speed boat that resembles a stealth bomber, shearing off its bow.

The crew of the Ady Gil, five from New Zealander and one from the Netherlands, were picked up unharmed by nearby Sea Shepherd vessel Bob Barker near Commonwealth Bay.

“The Ady Gil is believed to be sinking and chances of salvage are very grim,” the Sea Shepherd statement said.
A video apparently shot from on board the Japanese vessel showed the two ships smashing into each other at speed.

The Ady Gil was swamped by waves, its nose was torn off and damage could be seen to its side.
Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), which administers the hunt, accused Sea Shepherd of using the Ady Gil to attack its vessels.

They alleged the trimaran speedboat came dangerously close to the Nisshin Maru, trying to entangle its rudder and propeller with a rope and launching stink bombs at the vessel.

“The Sea Shepherd extremism is becoming more violent… Their actions are nothing but felonious behaviour,” the (ICR) said in a statement.

Japan’s fisheries agency said it was the fourth time this season that the anti-whaling activists had interfered with the whaling fleet’s operations, Kyodo news agency reported.

The Sea Shepherd group sends boats to Antarctic waters each year aiming to disrupt the Japanese hunt.

Japan abandoned commercial whaling in 1986 after agreeing to a global moratorium; but international rules allow it to continue hunting under the auspices of a research programme.

Conservationists say the whaling is a cover for the sale and consumption of whale meat. Current Japanese programmes aim for a total catch of more than 1,000 whales per year.

THE ADY GIL

The Ady Gil, formerly Earthrace, was designed for a successful round-the-world speed powerboat record attempt in 2008. It was acquired by Sea Shepherd last year and renamed after a Hollywood businessman benefactor.

1. The hull is described as a wave-piercing trimaran. It is made out of carbon fibre with a foam core, but has had Kevlar armour added to defend against ice. It is capable of submarining up to 7m (23ft) underwater.

2. Much of the helm was originally modelled on a racing car. It was fitted with racing-style seats and a carbon steering wheel. Its windscreen is 17mm laminated toughened glass.

3. Power comes from two 540 hp engines, and the boat can reach speeds of more than 40 knots (75km/h). It runs on biodiesel fuel and has a range of between 2,000 (2,700km) and 13,000 nautical miles depending on speed.

4. The 14-tonne vessel’s distinctive horns act as ducts to channel hot air from the engines and suck in cool air. The interior has space for six beds.

Sources: Sea Shepherd, Earthrace, Craig Loomes Design Group

Happy New Year!

So my blog posts have been few and far between over the past few months, but I have a good excuse. For the past 15 years I’ve been commuting 25 miles to work. Alone. In my car. Then coming home in the evenings and blogging about global warming. Feeling every bit the hypocrite. I’d rationalize by saying, well, I work from home frequently to avoid the commute. And I’m very conservative with electricity. But 50 miles round trip for 15 years? That’s a lot of emitting and contributing to the problem. So. I’ve been house hunting for the past few months with the goal to reduce my commute to under 5 miles from an energy efficient home. I’m proud to say that two days ago I closed on a home 3.5 miles from my office. A home built in 2005, which means it’s much more up-to-date in terms of efficiency than the 43 year old house I was living in. I’ll have to give up my power showers in the old house where the water pressure could clean graffiti off cement, but my conscience welcomes the dramatically decreased water usage.

My house hunting experience was an arduous, painfully slow, emotional roller coaster ride. But that was my fault for being so particular about what I wanted. And as a first time home buyer I had a lot to learn. The first house I put an offer on was in a high-risk flood area and its mid-century modern design is one of the worst architecture styles in terms of energy efficiency. There’s next to no insulation. I jumped the gun because I fell in love with the aesthetics, but fortunately I got out of the deal. Once I slowed down and made more practical decisions, I found a home that I love that also meets my green expectations.

With all that work house hunting, I didn’t have much time to follow the Copenhagen climate change summit.  Seems I didn’t miss anything. I really hoped that, this time, decisions would be made and action would be taken. There have been other climate change talks that have changed nothing. This one with its resolution to resolve nothing, at least not definitively and decisively, will be tossed onto that pile. Maybe the “Copenhagen Accord” will have more impact than the “Kyoto Protocol” – but if political will continues at the slower-than-molasses-in-January rate, we’re in big trouble. The Kyoto Protocol was proposed in 1997 – but not implemented until 2005. Eight years?

Then there was the ill-timed “climate-gate.” Fodder for the conservative rumor mill, which has shadowed my perception of the internet being the greatest communication tool since the telephone. Because baby-boomer retired conservatives (like my father) seem to have nothing better to do than send fear-mongering emails back and forth about how the tree-hugging liberals (like me) are trying to ruin this country. Actually, my father has no idea what I do – but he loves to hate Obama along with his right-wing friends. I avoid talking politics with him at all costs.

Those of us who believe that climate-change is a real and serious threat need to work harder to build momentum toward action on this issue by global political leaders. We can’t continue to allow the powers that be to hem and haw until the situation reaches crisis level and it’s too late. Some think it’s already too late. Based on what I’ve seen in the oceans, particularly the impact on coral reefs, I am one of those who fear it may be too late.

So the very least I can do is walk the walk. But I plan to do more. With the extra time I’ll have without the ~hour-long commute, I’m going to stay up on the latest information about global warming, and share it in this blog and on MarineBio. And I’m going to change my behavior to do what I can as an individual to reduce my “carbon footprint.” That’s my 2010 resolution. What’s yours?

I am a whale researcher and conservationist, writes Erich Hoyt, Senior Research Fellow with the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society and MarineBio’s Director of Marine Mammals. Recently I became very interested in toothfish in Antarctica. At up to 2.5 m long they can be the size of a porpoise or dolphin. Left alone, they live for up to 50 years; they don’t breed until they’re about 16 and not every year thereafter. But aside from some remarkably similar reproductive parameters how is this relevant to my interest in whales and dolphins?

The reason is that Antarctic toothfish are being caught at what may be an unsustainable pace in a place where they shouldn’t be caught at all: Antarctica’s Ross Sea, one of the most treasured, least affected ecosystems on Earth. It is an area full of Antarctic minke whales, southern bottlenose and Arnoux’s beaked whales and three ecotypes of killer whales, or orcas, which may someday be considered three species. (The fish-eating orca ecotype sometimes dines on toothfish.) The 250,000-square-mile (647,000 sq km) Ross Sea has been proposed as a highly protected marine reserve. Preserving it for its biological wonders and as a laboratory for studying climate change is a “no brainer” — something that anyone in their right minds would say: “that’s a great idea; let’s do it!”

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and the UK-based Moody Marine have proposed that Ross Sea toothfish be certified as sustainable for the kitchens, tables and restaurants of higher-end society. At $28/lb in US markets where it masquerades as “Chilean sea bass” or simply “sea bass,” it is not likely to turn up as fish ‘n’ chips. Giving this “green label” to the exploitation of Ross Sea toothfish is “completely inappropriate,” says Sidney Holt, a long-time expert on fish population dynamics as well as on the Antarctic and whales.

It is not just the whale and overfishing lobbies who are upset about this.  A large number of scientists and conservation organizations have joined together as part of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) to protest this misguided seal of approval being given to “an exploratory fishery with no reliable stock assessment” in the words of Ross Sea scientist David Ainley.

You can read more about it here www.asoc.org. ASOC hopes that MSC will listen to reason and refuse to certify Ross Sea toothfish.

Meanwhile the Ross Sea remains unprotected despite discussions in a number of key Antarctic meetings this year. The Antarctic body called CCAMLR is charged with creating a network of MPAs in the Antarctic with a target of 2012 for completion but has not yet given its full attention to the Ross Sea.  As one of the most precious places on Earth many people will continue to defend it against further exploitation.

In recent days the Japanese have launched yet another “scientific whaling” foray to Antarctica.  The intention is to catch their self-allotted minke whale total in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and they may well, as in years past, take some of them from the heart of the Ross Sea, too.

But today the issue is toothfish and the fact that this fishery also catches the complete range of benthic species which make up vulnerable marine ecosystems including stony corals, black corals, gorgonians, sponges and bryozoans. These organisms, thousands of years old, ironically provide habitat for toothfish, but all is laid to waste. It is a bit like cutting down the forest to supply deer for the king’s table.

It is clearly time that the Ross Sea gets the full protection it deserves.