Ice-free Arctic and salmon symphonies: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, July 12 2018

Posted on By David Shiffman
Uncategorized

Cuttings (short and sweet):  Follow environmental social scientist Angela Dean on twitter! Ice free passage for ships could cause problems for marine mammals. From MongaBay Bone scraps hint at whale harvest by ancient Romans. From Nature News. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and and Transportation is holding a hearing entitled “SHARKS!”  “We don’t see many … Read More “Ice-free Arctic and salmon symphonies: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, July 12 2018” »

Valuing the deep sea, send @mcmsharksxx to Antarctica, deep-sea mining takes a dive, explore Kiribati, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 9, 2018

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Read More “Valuing the deep sea, send @mcmsharksxx to Antarctica, deep-sea mining takes a dive, explore Kiribati, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 9, 2018” »

Voyaging canoes, failed sea-steading sea states, breaching ocean plastic, deep-sea mining, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 2, 2018

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Atlas Obscura is on a roll this week with some seriously fabulous ocean coverage, including my new favs:

The wreck of the Jalisco. ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Read More “Voyaging canoes, failed sea-steading sea states, breaching ocean plastic, deep-sea mining, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 2, 2018” »

A new disaster in Ocean Policy, follow the International Marine Conservation Congress at #IMCC5, shallow vents, deep mining, cotton candy lobsters, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 25, 2018

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

https://vimeo.com/276100766

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

Read More “A new disaster in Ocean Policy, follow the International Marine Conservation Congress at #IMCC5, shallow vents, deep mining, cotton candy lobsters, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 25, 2018” »

5 things to know about sixgill shark teeth, this month’s 3D printed reward!

Posted on By David Shiffman
Science

I recently unveiled a new tier of Patreon rewards: 3D printed shark and ray models!For $17 per month, you will get a monthly 3D printed educational model of different shark or ray parts in the mail, and you’ll be supporting my efforts to provide these models to schools for free.

This month’s reward is a tooth from Hexanchus griseus, the bluntnose sixgill shark, a member of the cowshark family!This particular specimen was scanned by Dr. Lisa Whitenack as part of her Ph.D. dissertation work on comparative evolution and biomechanics of shark teeth.

Figure from Whitenack et al. 2011, the sixgill tooth is the one in the lower right! This paper studied teeth of different shapes using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). When Lisa inputs the shape of the tooth, how elastic the tooth is, and how much force the tooth experiences into her computer program, FEA will map out stress on the entire tooth. High points of stress are where a tooth would be likely to break.

Learn more about the bluntnose sixgill shark and it’s unusual shaped teeth below!

Read More “5 things to know about sixgill shark teeth, this month’s 3D printed reward!” »

Shrinking Islands, shrieking dolphins, little hobbit shrimp, boat knives, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 18, 2018

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

A combination of storm-driven erosion and sea-level rise, which are both increasing as climate change advances, may soon swallow the island entirely.Photograph by Gordon Campbell / At Altitude Gallery

A normal call. 

The call of a dolphin that would rather not get eaten. 

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Read More “Shrinking Islands, shrieking dolphins, little hobbit shrimp, boat knives, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 18, 2018” »

I asked 15 ocean plastic pollution experts about the Ocean Cleanup project, and they have concerns

Posted on By David Shiffman
Conservation, Science

The online ocean science community has been vocally skeptical about the Ocean Cleanup, a device that aims to physically remove plastic pollution from the ocean. Drs. Kim Martini and Miriam Goldstein published a technical review of its feasibility over at Deep Sea News, and Andrew asked some important questions that have yet to be answered. Also, be sure to read environmental journalist Chris Clarke’s thorough overview of these concerns.

Overall concerns include a lack of understanding of the problem (including but not limited to the fact that much of the harmful ocean plastic is small and well-dispersed), insufficient structural integrity for a large object that will be deployed in the open ocean (which would result in the object breaking and creating even more ocean garbage), and the fact that this device is designed to aggregate objects of a certain size to remove them from the water but cannot distinguish between plastic and living things.

Mainstream media coverage has been noticeably less critical of the Ocean Cleanup, often presenting the idea as revolutionary and it’s creator as a genius.

Artist’s conception of the Ocean Cleanup, from TheOceanCleanup.com

I am not an expert in ocean plastic pollution. However, the uncritical tone of most mainstream media coverage of the Ocean Cleanup does not seem to correspond with my impression of expert opinion on this matter from speaking with expert colleagues who study this.

Through professional contacts, I developed a list of 51 ocean plastic pollution experts who work in academia, government, and the environmental non-profit sector, and I sent them some questions about the Ocean Cleanup. 15 (4 in academia, 5 each in government and the non-profit sector, and 1 in industry) agreed to participate in an anonymous survey. While this is not (and not intended to be) an exhaustive survey of the entire field of ocean plastic pollution, the broad agreement among a diverse group of experts is telling. Below, please see what they had to say through some representative quotes. Some respondents chose to provide an on-the-record quote, while many chose to remain anonymous out of concerns about reprisal.

I also asked Lonneke Holierhoek, COO of the Ocean Cleanup, to respond to these concerns. Her comments are included in each section.

Read More “I asked 15 ocean plastic pollution experts about the Ocean Cleanup project, and they have concerns” »

Things that go “POP!” in the deep: crushed cups, whole cans, and seafloor spam.

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Science

This week, two questions echoed through the hallowed halls of Deep-sea Science. It began, as things these days tend to begin, with a tweet. Dr. Diva Amon challenged deep-sea researchers to show off their shrunken cups from the bottom of the abyss. And we obliged, oh but did we oblige.

Concurrently, though unrelated, Angelo Villagomez announced out symposium on Human Impacts in the Deep Sea and shared several image of the garbage that finds its way to the ocean floor. Cans of cheap beer and pristine Spam littered the deepest reaches of the Mariana Trench, where they will lie forever as they are slowly buried in sediment.

And thus we found ourselves awash in to variations on the same theme: Why did that ocean thing get crushed? and Why didn’t that ocean thing get crushed?

Read More “Things that go “POP!” in the deep: crushed cups, whole cans, and seafloor spam.” »

Cinnamon-flavored hagfish, how to open a coconut, hunted by sperm whales, speaking up for the blue, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 11, 2018.

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Read More “Cinnamon-flavored hagfish, how to open a coconut, hunted by sperm whales, speaking up for the blue, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 11, 2018.” »

Hacking Extinction, fishing for hagfish, itchy crabs, clam cavalcades, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 4, 2018

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Read More “Hacking Extinction, fishing for hagfish, itchy crabs, clam cavalcades, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: June 4, 2018” »