Shark populations are being targeted in international waters by fishing fleets using legal fishing gear...sort of. The gear can target sharks that are in high demand for their fins, meat, and organs. Tens of thousands of metric tons of sharks are being fished annually reducing some populations by at least 70%. The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, which governs tuna fisheries in those waters could vote on a proposal to ban the devices as soon as this week in Vietnam. Research has shown that banning the devices could lead to a decreased mortality of oceanic whitetips by 40.5% and silky sharks by 30.8%.

 

I am going to break down the story and show you how this vote could easily help shark populations in international waters.

 

Link to article: http://bit.ly/3GX4JOZ

 

After two seafood certification bodies pull their support for the Maine lobster fisheries to support more protection to protect the Northern Right Whale population from extinction. There are only 340 individuals left in the population and government departments are getting desperate to protect the struggling whale population. They don't want to take any chances on whale entanglements. Is this the right thing to do? Will this protect the whale population and is it worth hurting the Maine lobster fisheries?

 

Link to Article: http://bit.ly/3Bdrfjh

 

The purpose of COP27, aside from sharing climate change information, is for specific governments to work together to formulate an agreement to help reduce climate change. The COP27 meetings ended with a new agreement that builds on the last meeting's results after negotiations almost collapsed when the EU negotiator almost walked out due to the meeting agreement at the time. So some would consider it successful. Two major agreements were reached: 1) the agreement for developed nations to pay developing nations damages for climate change consequences; and, 2) the US and China resumed climate talks. I am going to discuss these results and what it means in the near future.

 

Link to article: http://bit.ly/3AItF8W

 

The Northern Right whale population is in trouble and measures need to be taken to ensure the population does not go extinct from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Climate change is driving the whales north into the Northern US and Canada where there were 17 deaths in 2017 due to ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. Canada took measures to reduce the ship's speed to half of the regulated speed during the summer of 2017. the speed increased the next year during the same timeframe. Now fishing certification organizations have removed their certification of the Maine Lobster fishery as the fishery has been deemed not to take the necessary precautions to help the Northern Right whale population. I am going to discuss what this means for the whales and the fisheries in this episode.

 

Link to Articles:
1) http://bit.ly/3ETJRXO
2) http://bit.ly/3OosLnW

Shark species are being fished unsustainably all around the world and protections in sharks need to increase to track where these species are being bought and consumed. Tracking their trade can be difficult, but one tool that is available is CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. A recent vote during the 19th convention added 54 shark species on the CITES Appendix II. I am going to talk about what this means for sharks and what else can we do to further protect them.

 

We talk a lot about the ocean on this podcast and ways that people within the field of marine science and conservation are trying to protect it, but we rarely talk about the things that you can do at home or at your work/office. I work at an office two days a week where people are in and out of the office as we work hybrid work schedules. It's a pretty great office and my company provides us with a lot of great things including coffee and food/snacks. I now have the opportunity to help shape our work policies as to how the company can be more environmentally-friendly. I have a lot of work and research to do so I am going to document it here, on the podcast.

 

Do you know that corals are living animals? Did you think they might be rocks? It's okay because you are not alone. There are many people who don't know much about coral reefs other than they are beautiful to see on TV and everyone wants to see them. But the thing is that corals are great for the oceans and coastlines. Corals form dense biodiversity and decrease wave energy to protect eroding coastlines. Reefs are critical to the ocean, but there are specific environmental and human disturbances that are causing them to degrade to the point of no return. you need to know more about them to help protect them. On the podcast today, Dr. David Vaughan joins me to discuss his new book The Secret Life of Corals: Sex, War, and Rocks that don't Roll to help you better understand corals and provide you with opportunities to help save them.

 

Buy the book: The Secret Life of Corals: Sex, War and Rocks that Don't Roll http://bit.ly/3UVXsTu
Other Book: Active Coral Restoration: Techniques for a Changing Planet: http://bit.ly/3tBfzma

 

Connect with Dr. David Vaughan:
Website: https://drdavidevaughanconsulting.com/

 

 

COP27 is happening in Egypt right now where world leaders are gathering to discuss how they will reduce the greenhouse gas input into the atmosphere and make promises for their respective countries...that probably won't be met. People are tired of broken promises and would like to discuss and see solutions in action. One solution can be found in the Ocean through seagrass farms that can be cultivated in the Ocean, accumulate carbon, and sunk into the depth of the ocean to drive the carbon cycle. There are many companies who are trying to accomplish this goal, but can it work, and is it good for the Ocean?

 

Link to Article: http://bit.ly/3GegKPR

In the last episode I spoke to Maria Pinto about her experience in marine science communication where she discussed her platform of choice and the type of content she enjoyed creating. Speaking with Maria inspired me to continue to level up my scicomm game so in this episode I wanted to share with you how I will be starting (re-starting) my efforts for content on YouTube. I hope that those of you who are inspired by today's episode will have enough guidance to help you start your own efforts in science communication.

You have heard my thoughts on science communication based on my experiences which I enjoy telling you all about. But it's about time that you hear about someone else's experience in marine science communication. Maria Pinto is that person that you need to hear from because she is a marine science communicator that has experience working on multiple platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram using her knowledge of marine science to share via science communication. She discusses what it's like to be a science communicator in Europe, gaming and scicomm, and why she sticks to being creative rather than only focusing on growing her following.

 

Connect with Dr. Maria Pinto:

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/Seamemaria

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@maria_seandme

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maria.seandme/

Unicorns of the sea is a term used to describe the majestic and mysterious narwhal, a cetacean that is widely known for its modified tooth that grows out of its skull. I call them mysterious because research is relatively new on the narwhal. We don't know a lot about them. But we do know when they typically begin their fall migration. Dr. Courtney Shuert is here to tell us about their migration and how climate change is affecting the timing of such an important event.

 

Courtney's Twitter: https://twitter.com/CourtneyShuert

Article Press Release: https://bit.ly/3E6Vn1p

 

Have you ever gone grocery shopping and watched people leave the store with the groceries in a bunch of plastic bags? Or watch people smoking cigarettes while lying on the beach and extinguishing their butts in the sand. It's frustrating to watch people continue to do things that don't protect the oceans. I think the change comes with the principles of psychology and behaviour change. There are certain ways to go about changing behaviour and it goes beyond spewing facts at people.

 

Link to article: https://oceanfdn.org/behavioral-change-for-the-ocean/

 

I did a search on the web for any type of content with a topic surrounding communication for ocean conservation and I found videos, papers, and blog posts on how scientists think science communication needs to be conducted using scientific facts. But is that what audiences want to hear? Are they interested in learning about the facts? I propose that we have to find new ways to talk about the ocean that is fun and provides real ways to change the ocean.