Long Live the Aussie Oceans

The powers that be just created the world's largest network of marine reserves off of Western Australia and in the Coral Sea off the northeast coast.  The reserves are as big as Spain.  Larga vida a los océanos!

I had written about this when Pew released a report talking about all the awesome creatures that live there.  It's a softball pitch to be awed.

Just thinking about these vast, rarely seen places, with names like Rottnest Shelf and Kangaroo Island fires up the imagination.

How about an undersea canyon as deep as the US's Grand Canyon that is the feeding ground for the largest animal on the planet -- the blue whale?

Need more?  How about a chain of small islands that are home to 1200 species including the leafy sea dragon?

 Go you Aussies. And thank you Pew.

image credit: diverhotspot.com

Saw a Bull Shark at Trader Vic's

The ocean continues to surprise and astound.  Scientist Neil Hammerschlag pulled in a 1,000 pound bull shark in south Florida, according to Our Amazing Planet.  That's one big fish, and yes he let it go.

I hope this bull shark finds enough food, and lurks in the depths for many years, lives to die of old age.

I hope this bull shark eats up fat tourists especially the ones that litter the beach. 

I hope they find this bull shark like a famous werewolf, drinkin' a pina colada at Trader Vic's, his hair perfect.  

Image credit: Hammerschlag, Our Amazing Planet

Guess Who the Losers Are

The fish scales flew recently in Costa Rica as fishermen and environmental groups celebrated World Oceans Day by yelling at each other. 

The emotional rancor showed what's at stake from a fisherman's ability to make a living to seeing that last fish into a net.  The details were around a dropped lawsuit that claimed fishermen were killing sea turtles by not using devices that enable the turtles to escape a net.  The fishermen celebrated, loudly, so environmental groups dumped a bushel of other concerns and accusations.

They accused Costa Rica's national fishing organization of aiding shark finning, selling tico waters to industrial fishers from other countries, and setting policy with little regard to science.

The incident has a global reach.  Multiple the knot of problems in Costa Rica -- bottom trawling, possible corruption, bycatch, illegal fishing, woefully few inspectors to enforce rules -- across coastal nations and fisheries around the world.  You begin to understand the oceans' plight. 

I wish it were different believe me, but entrenched ocean problems are alive and well in many places.  Not everywhere, some places are doing great things, but it seems like there are fewer great programs than there are not-so-great programs.  

In Costa Rica, when the very public skirmish was over, even locals could not tell who won.

"But when the tide went out and the heated exchanges died down as attendees made their way towards tables lined with coffee and hors d'oeuvres, it was hard to tell who had been the sharks and who had been the bait," according to Tico Times.

Unfortunately, I have a feeling at the end of the day nobody won, because the oceans lost.

 Image Credit: Tico Times

Every Day is Oceans Day

Every day is Oceans Day BUT there are a bunch of great ways to celebrate the official World Oceans Day today.

Here's two (these are fun and easy):

Go to the Beach: Go to water.  Gaze at it.  Get into it.  Ride on it.  Be refreshed.  Have fun.

This will fuel your passion and actions to save the seas.  

Share Your Love:  Tell everyone about your love of the oceans.  Don't be shy.  There is probably no better way to inspire yourself and others.

People respond positively to a true story of why you love the oceans or the mountains or humming birds.  When the death and destruction end of the world talk so prevalent in the environmental dialogue comes, people shut down.  But people tune into a personal passion.  The nice thing is there is no right or wrong with this;  it's yours.  What you say will sink in, and likely sink deep.

See many more ways to do the ocean right:  Blue Frontier's 50 Ways to Save the Oceans (and yes, supporting clean energy is Job One).

Happy Oceans Day!

Photo credit: andreaharner.com

The Pro from Dover

Sooty Shearwater Keeping the Rhythm

Sometimes you just have to bring in the pro. 

Here is a great way to get your mind around the news that bluefin tuna, irradiated in Japan as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, was recently caught in California.  The fish is safe to eat radiation-wise, but the news speaks to the marvelous span of nature.

Carl Safina, author and marine biologist, articulates it beautifully.  There's a reason he won the 2012 Orion Book Award and many other accolades.

"We talked about migrations, about birds called sooty shearwaters and how they breed in New Zealand, fly past Japan, fly through Alaskan waters, come down the coast of California, cross the tropics and go all the way back to New Zealand -- every year.  We talked of the albatrosses that I've seen breeding on tiny mid-Pacific atolls, capable of gliding hundreds of miles without flapping and commanding the whole ocean in their quest for food.  And of the 1,000-pound leatherback turtles that breed in Indonesia, then migrate past Japan to feed in the jellyfish grounds off California and Oregon, taking more than a year, stroke upon stroke in the trackless sea in storm and calm alike, to make the round-trip.

I thought of the ageless mystery of all this, the profound miracle, the quiet patience of the planet.  I thought of these animals playing their ancient rhythms to the music of the spheres, keeping time to the faith of Earth.  I thought of how they struggle to survive against such long natural odds, such high background levels of death.  Of how many fall naturally to disease, to predators, to accidents, but how enough have lived these countless millions of years to make all the difference, to be with us as we've arrived to join their voyage.  I thought of their newly acquired, safe-to-eat radiation, their mercury burdens, and the fishing hooks and nets we send their way.  Of trade-offs made and balances foregone.  And I thought, this world, wondrous so far beyond comprehension, and, verily, so f*cked up.

The saving grace: the creatures don't understand.  The tragedy: neither do we."

Read Carl's full Huffington Post.

Image: Martin Garner, Birding Frontiers

No Wind in Romney's Sails

One more reason to re-think Romney: members of his own party say he doesn't get it on clean energy.

Romney's stuck in the past when it comes to clean energy.  He's all about extract and burn and claiming that any new technology like wind and solar must not be viable because it costs more than the dirty stuff.  Which, by the way, is not true but that's another story.

The kicker is that it's more than environmental types or knee-jerk Obamites ragging on Romney -- many members of his own party are baffled and disagree with him.  They acknowledge there are jobs to be had and prosperity from a clean energy industry. 

Conservatives in Iowa and Texas are opposed to Romney's denunciation of tax breaks for wind power.

“'Now is the time for stability in the wind industry' and the production tax credit offers that, Representative Steve King, an Iowa Republican, said on April 25 on a conference call organized by American Wind Energy Association.

"Romney 'believes that the market will take care of this. I wish that were true,' said Representative Roscoe Bartlett, a Maryland Republican.

"Bartlett is co-sponsoring The American Renewable-Energy Production Tax Extension Credit Act of 2011, which would extend through 2016 the 2.2-cent-a-kilowatt-hour credit for electricity produced by wind turbines, biomass, geothermal and landfill-gas plants," according to Business Week.

Germany Gets It

Germany gets it.  Why can't the US?  Here's a very reasoned and well-researched verbal editorial from The Big Picture on how Germany is eating our lunch when it comes to producing clean energy and cleaner air for ourselves and our next generations of Americans.

Germany to Make History with Alternative Energy: 

It's pretty straightforward, non-strident stuff.  The message: we work together, we remember our American values, we move forward into the clean energy economy and win.

If you find yourself getting red in the face, take a breather, in this case change is good.  We can do this.  For what it's worth, many people much smarter than me say we pretty much have to do this.

So it's ok to admit you care about healthy air and people.  It's ok to acknowledge that fossil fuels are the old way -- they absolutely had a great run.  Fossil fuels put us on top of the world. 

But just like the computer the size of a gymnasium or the eight track tape, it's outmoded technology to achieve the same results.  It's time to move on to something better; to clean energy innovation that gives us much-needed electricity with far less baggage.