Happy world oceans day! (photos)
Coastline in Colombia. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Celebrated since 1992, today is World Oceans Day! As apart of the day’s festivities, conservation organization Oceana is asking people to become Ocean Heroes by pledging to recycle, clean up a local waterway, or eat only sustainable seafood for the summer! Purple-striped jellyfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Leopard shark in a kelp forest at Monterey...
Happy world turtle day! (photos)
Baby marine turtle taking its first step out to sea in Costa Rica. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Yes, there is a World Turtle Day created by the American Tortoise Rescue! And today (May 23rd) is that day! Ancient leopard tortoise in Uganda. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Sumatran freshwater turtle. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Sumatran freshwater turtle. Photo by: Jeremy Hance. Radiated tortoise in Madagascar. Photo by: Rhett A....
Economic worth of living sharks (video)
It turns out that sharks are worth more alive than dead. According to a new study, a single shark is worth $1.9 million over its lifetime as a tourist attraction in the island nation of Palau. Sold for consumption the shark is worth around $108. In this case a shark is worth a stunning 17,000 times more alive than dead. Sharks worldwide are being decimated, largely for the Asian delicacy shark fin soup. Some populations have fallen by...
Conservation on the ground: how traditional fishermen saved sharks in Madagascar
Malagasy family helping fisherman take his boat out to sea . Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Or, Guitarfish a Go-Go- Bribes and barrages in Belo-sur-Mer By: Brian Jones, Blue Ventures Conservation in Belo-sur-Mer, Menabe, Madagascar. YOU’VE got to admire the mettle of people who, despite the cards being seemingly insurmountably stacked against them, can still stick to their guns and stand up for what they believe in. I didn’t give...
Power Shift activist: ‘there’s still [BP] oil on our coast’ (video)
An activist with Power Shift 2011 says BP not living up to its obligations one year after disaster. Activist from New Orleans wants everyone to know: ‘there’s still oil on our coasts’.
Oyster reefs a cheaper and more effective way to clean coastal waters
This post originally appeared ASLA’s “The Dirt” blog as Oyster-Tecture in Action Sustainable designer Neil Chambers, author of “Urban Green: Architecture for the Future,” made the case for using natural systems to clean and manage water at a conference organized by The Economist. In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, beach tourism had been negatively impacted by heavy water pollution. Instead of re-engineering...
Coral reefs in 55 years (video)
It’s 2065, and something has happened to the world’s coral reefs… A video produced by Earth-Touch in association with the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), EDGE, and Global International.
Activism: nominate an Ocean Hero!
Green anemone at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Ocean conservation organization, Oceana, is asking for nominations for its 3rd Annual Ocean Heroes Contest. According to their blog: “Think of the person you know doing the most for the oceans — and maybe it’s yourself! […] Past nominees have included educators, scientists, fundraisers, activists, and that’s just a start. And like last year, we...
“I hope that I never have to see it again”: oil spill hits penguins on Nightingale Island (video)
Video documents the oil spill on Nightingale Island in the remote Southern Atlantic ocean, which has taken a particular toll on Endangered northern rockhopper penguins Over a week ago conservation workers have hundreds of oiled northern rockhopper penguins (Eudyptes moseleyi) after a cargo vessel wrecked on Nightingale Island, a part of the remote UK’s Tristan da Cunha archipelago. According to a press release by BirdLife...
Video: saving cape fur seals from fisheries’ trash
Innovative program by Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa to save wild fur seals from dangerous, and in some cases deadly, trash from local fisheries.
Video: coral reefs at risk
An updated comprehensive analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI) along with twenty-five partners finds that 75% of the world’s coral reefs are threatened by local and global impacts, including climate change. To read more about the report: Coral crisis: 75% of the world’s coral reefs in...
Photo: U.S. bans shark finning
In early January the U.S. Senate passed the Shark Conservation Act, legislation that bans shark finning in U.S. waters.
Activism: the great bluefin tuna boycott
Note: mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue in comments. Bluefin tuna. Photo by: NOAA. The Center for Biological Diversity has launched a bluefin tuna boycott after the fish’s regulatory body, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT), failed to drastically limit the catch this year. The group has also...
Activism: petition against oil exploration near award-winning marine reserve
Note: mongabay.com does not endorse the action below, but believes its readers may be interested in taking action or discussing the issue in comments. Leather back sea turtles are one of four marine turtle species in the Seaflower MPA. Photo by: Tiffany Roufs. The Providence Foundation has created a petition against oil exploration near, and perhaps even inside, Seaflower Marine Protected Area in the Colombian Caribbean. The park...
NY Times Article on Europe’s Hunger for Illegal Fish
Yesterday the New York Times printed an enlightening article on the massive illegal seafood trade in Europe. It may be time for a moratorium on eating seafood altogether… The article can be accessed here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/world/europe/15fish.html?scp=2&sq=fish+europe An excerpt (by Elizabeth Rosenthal): “Fish is now the most traded animal commodity on the planet, with about 100 million tons of wild...
