Jellyfish Sting the Future

The water off central Florida beaches on the Atlantic Ocean were thick with jellyfish this past weekend according to CNN and other media.

Lots of annoying stings and many people who arrived for a nice beach day promptly left, taking their tourism dollars with them. The story may go deeper than that.

Although no one is saying this particular jellyfish bloom was caused by overfishing, pollution, and/or warmer ocean temperatures due to climate change, it is possible.

Soup

"Overfishing and deteriorating coastal water quality are chief suspects in the rise of jellies. Global warming may be adding fuel to the fire by making more food available to jellyfish and opening up new habitat. Now, researchers fear, conditions are becoming so bad that some ecosystems could be approaching a tipping point in which jellyfish supplant fish," according to Richard Stone in Environment 360. 

It's all about balance, a common mantra at Eco Ocean.

When you remove the jellyfish's chief predator -- fish -- from an area, the jellyfish have a field day and their numbers increase dramatically.

The rise of the jellyfish has been documented in many other places including the Black Sea, The Gulf of Mexico, and Sea of Japan. According to some scientists, this could be the wave of the future.

One more reason to support sustainable seafood and clean energy whenever and wherever possible.  

Environment 360.
Story from CNN.
Image courtesy of amazingdata.com

Squid vs Panda

Squid as mascot. Love it.

The giant squid, Architeuthis dux, first photographed as recently as 2005, is as long as a New York City bus and boasts ten articulating arms. The compelling creature could also be a symbol of ocean conservation, mused Matt Walker in his BBC blog.

Conservation people call them charismatic megafauna. In simpler terms, they are memorable mascots of honorable missions or great causes.

The giant panda used by the World Wildlife Fund comes to mind. It is a classic, and wildly successful as it is almost universally recognized.

Ironically, the panda was not the product of some marketing brainstorm but more a practicality. It was chosen in the days well before color printing was readily available so it had to be easily distinguishable on black and white letterhead, according to Matt's blog.

Although the practical makes a good tale, the success of the WWF panda is about emotion. The word charisma even implies charm and appeal. The brilliant idealists from Futerra Communications already established that conservation efforts are more effective if they go for the heart more often.

There are certain animals that evoke an emotional response from people and that makes them worthy of calendars, t shirts, and coffee mugs.

If it helps save the oceans, I'll tattoo them on my forehead. Though that might do more harm then good as people may have trouble listening to a man with whales, sea turtles, and sea otters inked across his dome.

The case for the squid lies in its mystery and seeming solitude in the deep dark cold of the sea. It is grand in both scale and drama. Although deeming it "cuddly" might be a stretch, it is a lovable beast.

Also, the giant squid is vulnerable to the onslaught currently pounding the oceans. Ocean acidification and deep sea fishing can kill off the animal's small populations.

The giant squid is also representative. About 92% of marine species are invertebrates – animals that lack backbones. And though estimates vary, there may be anywhere between 178,000 and 10 million such species living beneath the waves, according to Matt's blog.

The jury is still out on the giant squid as symbol for the oceans urgent plight, but it does evoke the imagination and anything that gets the juices flowing cannot be all bad. And yes, the oceans need all the help they can get.

See Matt's full blog here.
Futerra Communications.
World Wildlife Fund site.

California Does Right by Sharks

California just passed a bill in its Assembly that bans the possession of shark fins. This means that Chinese restaurants and banquets cannot serve the infamous shark fin soup.

Although it still must pass the Senate, this is great news for sharks and great news for healthy oceans. Much of the media coverage is about the debate around the bill. There is no debate -- killing tens of millions of sharks every year for soup is the poster child for abuse of our natural systems.

Jennifer Cheung, 27, an industrial designer, said it well in the New York Times.

She refused the soup at her family New Year’s dinner, trying — in vain, she said — to explain the importance of the ecosystem to her elderly uncle, a Chinese herbalist.

“It was, ‘Oh, Jennifer’s being a hippie,’ ” she said.

“I come from a culture where food is very important,” she continued. “But I think this is a very hefty price to pay just for a bowl of soup.” 

See local coverage of bill.
See NY Times story here.

Grim Tally But Hope

Short fin mako

Endangered species news is never really that good.  But we have to be made aware, and there are slivers of hope.

New scientific evidence suggests that a growing number of creatures could disappear from the earth. One-fifth of the vertebrates and as many as a third of all sharks and rays are now threatened with extinction, according to the Washington Post.

International fisheries officials adopted new protections in the Atlantic Ocean for the oceanic whitetip, whose numbers have declined by as much as 99 percent in some areas, according to the story.

Whether its rooting for the underdog, or you recognize something inherently wrong about the human-caused end of a species -- never to return -- or whether you mourn more for biodiversity, the crown jewel of healthy natural systems, it is tough to hear. But turn it into a motivator -- the time is now to take action.

See full gallery of endangered species here.

The Unreachables

The doors and windows to the bar were wide open letting in the fresh breezes and the afternoon sun.

It was Spring and many of us were sitting outside at a cafe and a nearby coffee shop. It was perhaps perhaps the first full realization of Spring -- that it actually arrived and that it will actually stay. Even the dogs being walked by their sandal-wearing owners in shorts and skirts had an extra pep in their steps.

This urban, bucolic scene was swiftly knifed. Looking out into the street, I see the driver of a shiny black Mercedes slide down his window and drop a large, empty coffee cup -- plastic top still securely on top of it -- onto the street. It lands just next to his car, rolls slightly, and comes to a rest in the middle of the busy street. His window slides back up.

My disbelief turns into general objection followed by rage rather quickly. I see him inside his car, laughing with his companion, his head shaved and his collar white.

Now, I know he didn't hurt anyone, I know he didn't even mar a natural landscape, and sure, the street cleaners will get it, anyway, but come on!

This embodies the disconnection with the natural world that imperils us all. It's just plain ugly. We can do better than this. Maybe he can't. Maybe he's just an ugly person. He's one of the unreachables, and there are probably plenty of those, unfortunately.

Yet, as I see this, I am very close to getting out of my seat and walking out of the bar and into the street, picking up the cup, and tapping his window with my bold knuckle and saying something like 'you dropped this'.

I also think about the headlines the next day -- Good Samaritan Shot for Confronting Litterbug. That would be stupid of me to get shot.

So the car with the culprit moves away shortly, and all I can do is give him the universal gesture of displeasure, middle finger bold and true as he slowly pulls away and down the street. He doesn't even see it. I'm twisting in the wind as they say.

The people sitting next to me do see my gesture and throw me odd looks. They wonder who this freak is sitting next to them with has his finger silently extended, seemingly to the world in general, and on such a great afternoon. Oh well.

The sun continues to beat down on us, happily. Another beautiful girl walks by with her beautiful boyfriend not noticing the lavender lilacs someone planted in the nearby organic tarmac. Soon, I begin to see the humor of it all. You have to. And I don't let it ruin my day, but certainly, hands in pockets en route home pondering connections, I remember it.

Nature's Gift Through Another Lens

Susan Middleton 2005

Look at a Susan Middleton photograph of a marine creature and you may be surprised at how hard it is to look away. But it turns out to be a positive experience.

She does what artists do best -- show you something you may have seen before in a whole new way, or with her simple, clean, straightforward images, she lays out life's unique and wild beauty.

It is easy to come away thinking, "Why wouldn't you want to preserve that gift from nature?"

Michelle Clark, biologist with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Kauai, Hawaii, finds just such inspiration from Susan's art, according to the Peninsula Press.

“Her species portraits spoke to me on a visceral level and ignited a passion within that inspired me to go deeper in to the work of conservation of Hawaii’s native flora and fauna.”

We need all the inspiration about nature we can get especially with all the bad news out there.

So I am looking at a Susan Middleton picture and having trouble looking away, but that's just fine.

Susan's latest exhibition is Life Cycle, at California's Santa Clara University’s de Saisset Museum.

Susan's site.
Peninsula Press story.

Keep the Good News Flowing

The good news is that good news seems to be a bit of a trend.

With Futerra's Branding Biodiversity paper concluding that people respond better to positive conservation stories rather than doom and gloom, and with Carl Safina's new PBS series highlighting ocean conservation successes, there is a lean toward good news that also engages and and raises awareness.

"We want viewers to see that all is not lost with the ocean environment, and by extension the global environment," said PBS producer John Angier. "Things can change and we can be smart with our world."

Most recently, Nancy Knowlton of the Smithsonian Institution took the positive approach.

“I look at marine conservation biologists as akin to the doctors of the ocean. And doctors don’t train just to write obituaries. They fill medical journals with stories of advances and successes," said Nancy Knowlton of the Smithsonian Institution, according to Discovery News.

 She recently headed a program called "Beyond the Obituaries: Success Stories in Marine Conservation" at the International Marine Conservation Congress.

Sure, the bad news -- the huge challenges to marine conservation -- must still be part of the whole picture. Otherwise, we may as well put on those rose-colored glasses and start skipping down the street. But please let's keep the good news flowing. It can do wonders.

Read more about marine conservation success.
Read more about PBS's Saving the Ocean.