An Ocean of Pseudoscience, Linkfest Round 3

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on An Ocean of Pseudoscience, Linkfest Round 3
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We’re halfway through our first ever Ocean of Pseudoscience Week. Many great blogs have decided to enter the fray, tackling pseudoscience in their own fields. If anyone wants to join in, either as a guest post on our blog or as a post on your own blog, let me know. Below are all the blogs … Read More “An Ocean of Pseudoscience, Linkfest Round 3” »

Our favorite sea monsters – The Giant Manta Special Edition

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 2 Comments on Our favorite sea monsters – The Giant Manta Special Edition
Conservation, Science

Sea Monsters, mythical beasts of legend and lore that ply the world’s oceans, sinking ships, terrifying sailors, swallowing entire crews whole. Sea monsters occupy a special place in our imagination. The ocean is huge, unfathomable. Of course mighty beast could dwell within, undetected.

Every once in a long while, the myths, the legends, the stories, turn out to be true. This is one of those times.

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Our favorite sea monsters – Aspidochelone (#3)

Posted on By David Shiffman 1 Comment on Our favorite sea monsters – Aspidochelone (#3)
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Though the Aspidochelone is not as well known as some other sea monsters, the story surrounding it is so awesome that we had to include it on our list of favorites.

According to legend, this crafty turtle/whale/fish (the story varies between cultures on this point) is so big that sailors think it is an island. Excited to see land after so much time out on the water, sailors make landfall on the Aspidochelone. The beast then submerges, taking the unsuspecting sailors with it to the depths.

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Maximum (un)Sustainable Yield

Posted on By Amy Freitag 10 Comments on Maximum (un)Sustainable Yield
Science

This post was chosen as an Editor's Selection for ResearchBlogging.orgIn 1954 and 1957 Gordon and Schaefer respectively described the idea of maximum sustainable yield (MSY) – that is, the amount of fish that could be taken by commercial fishing operations to maximize reproduction by the system year after year. Since then, it has been heralded as the mathematical panacea to fisheries management.

Gordon and Schaefer also described the maximum economic yield which threw price relations into the mix.  It describes the point at which the fishers will make the most money, accounting for revenue and their expenses. Note in the graph below the fold that the maximum economic yield (MEY) is below the MSY in terms of effort. Gordon and Schaefer imagined a private manager or government overseer that could calculate the MEY and regulate fisher behavior in order to meet it. The idea was meant to be win-win for the fishers and the fish.

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Ocean of Pseudoscience Shorty – Can methane bubbles sink ships?

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on Ocean of Pseudoscience Shorty – Can methane bubbles sink ships?
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One of the often cited causes for ships that mysteriously and quickly disappear are methane bubbles, released from sub-seafloor gas pockets. The story goes that as methane rises to the surface, the bubbles cause the density of seawater to drop, and any ships in the area suddenly lose buoyancy and spontaneously sink. This effect has … Read More “Ocean of Pseudoscience Shorty – Can methane bubbles sink ships?” »

Our favorite sea monsters – Ningen (#4)

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 12 Comments on Our favorite sea monsters – Ningen (#4)
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Sitting squarely in the middle of our favorite sea monsters is a new entrant in the world of cryptic sea monsters, the Ningen. The Ningen is a recent sea monster reported by Japanese fishermen working in the Antarctic. Allegedly, Ningens are up to 30 meters long, have a human like body, and a tail. Reports of what they look like seem to vary quite a bit, but the one consistent bit is that they have a human face and other human features.

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“You Could Walk On The Backs of Sea Turtles”

Posted on By Amy Freitag 1 Comment on “You Could Walk On The Backs of Sea Turtles”
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Sea turtle research is unique in that many if not most of the people actually out in the field taking data are volunteers. By day, they are teachers, librarians, business owners, lifeguards, firefighters, students, retirees, you name it. If you’re curious, check out the network’s website. Sea turtles are the classic cute endangered animals that can really make someone care about marine conservation. And all of this data has gone to help produce population assessments such as this that confirm that while overall population is declining, some areas are actually increasing. But no where is back to the populations on which people could walk out to sea on the backs of turtles.

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