Tag: healthy oceans

ICS Chairman, Masamichi Morooka, addressed delegates at the World Ocean Summit organised by The Economist magazine in San Francisco on 25th February, following a key note speech by US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and a video presentation by HRH Prince Charles of the UK. In response to a suggestion, endorsed my most of the Summit delegates, that the United Nations might establish a 'World Ocean Organization' to tackle the crisis developing with respect to the environmental wellbeing of the high seas below the surface, Mr Morooka suggested that a model for such a new UN agency already exists in the form of the London-based International Maritime Organization (IMO) which works within the framework provided by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Mr Morooka explained that, although the IMO may be one of the smallest UN Agencies with commensurately modest costs, it regulates the global shipping industry very effectively through a wide range of diplomatic Conventions that are genuinely enforced worldwide. He remarked: "The IMO MARPOL Convention on pollution prevention has contributed significantly to the dramatic reduction in oil pollution from ships despite massive growth in maritime trade. MARPOL also addresses sulphur emissions and the ...

With active involvement in the conference programme; a raft of associated events and on-stand activities; and a key role in ‘Careers Day' the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology is taking its most active position ever in Oceanology International (OI 2014) - the world's largest exhibition for marine science and technology taking place Tuesday 11 - Thursday 13 March 2014 at London's ExCeL. "We are proud to be a supporting organisation of this influential event," says IMarEST's Chief Executive, David Loosley. "I am delighted to see such strong involvement by our science and technology experts, Special Interest Groups, and key individuals. We are also supporting Catch the Next Wave, the associated one-day conference at the Royal Academy of Engineering on 10 March in advance of the opening of OI 2014 the next day. "The conference will be taking a longer-term view of some of the capabilities that will shape our future ability to explore, understand, use and protect our oceans. The objective is to stimulate creative thinking in areas such as materials science, sensor technology and complex systems and for delegates to leave the conference buzzing with new ideas that will lead to new research and business opportunities, it ...

At a press conference under the suspended blue whale replica at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society USA joined with partners Bionic Yarn and Cookies for All for the U.S. unveiling of The Vortex Project, an unprecedented partner campaign to clean the oceans of plastic debris and transform it into fashion, and its first collaboration, G-Star's ‘RAW for the Oceans,' a long-term partnership between denim brand G-Star RAW and Bionic Yarn to turn ocean plastic into denim. The New York Fashion Week event is part of Parley for the Oceans, an initiative comprised of artists, activists, tastemakers, entrepreneurs and innovators to address and solve the plastic pollution problem impacting ocean ecosystems. Sea Shepherd is an official partner of Parley for the Oceans and together with Bionic Yarn is cofounder of The Vortex Project. The Vortex Project takes waste from the oceans and shorelines, and recycles, enhances, and reuses it for yarn, fabric, and other elements in consumer products. Parley collaboration partners will use the reclaimed plastic waste from the oceans to create exclusive products with a unique product story. They will also seek to close the loop by again recycling these products at ...

The Economist continues its global ocean sustainability initiative with the second World Ocean Summit. Taking place in San Francisco from and chaired by John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, the summit will convene global leaders from government, business, international organisations, NGOs, think-tanks and academia to continue the unique outcome driven dialogue first established at the 2012 summit. The World Ocean Summit 2014 will offer delegates the opportunity to better understand the risks bought about by ocean degradation and help shape debate about governance of the ocean. Central to the 2014 Summit are two things. The first is GOVERNANCE; the second, SUSTAINABILITY. Governance is critical-our seas are in trouble for want of governance. But good governance is difficult to forge-not least in the high seas, where there is little formal jurisdiction. The sustainable use of our seas is equally essential-and intimately linked, of course, to better governance. A small cohort of progressive companies are leading the way on the responsible use of the ocean. They rightly view governance, regulation and certainty-and sustainability-as central to their very future. The best talk now of integrating natural capital approaches into their business models, and of mitigating risks to their businesses of the externalities or threats ...

A new action plan has been presented to facilitate the further development of the renewable ocean energy sector in Europe. A central element in this action plan will be to establish an Ocean Energy Forum, bringing together stakeholders to build capacity and foster cooperation. The action plan should help drive forward this nascent 'blue energy' sector towards full industrialisation. Ocean energy covers all technologies to harvest the renewable energy of our seas and oceans other than offshore wind. Its exploitation would contribute to the decarbonisation of the EU's economy and provide secure and reliable renewable energy to Europe. European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Maria Damanaki, said: "As our Blue Growth strategy highlights, seas and oceans have the potential to generate huge economic growth and much-needed jobs. By helping the ocean energy sector to fully develop we can fulfil this potential through innovation while also securing clean, renewable energy for Europe." European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger said: "Ocean energy has a significant potential to enhance the security of supply. This Communication aims to contribute to promote technological innovation and to reach the Objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy and beyond. Developing a wide portfolio of renewable energy sources ...

Almost 70 % of the debris swept to sea by last year's tsunami has sunk Bottles, plastic foam and floating buoys are just a few of the scattershot items washing ashore in Alaska, part of a wave of debris surging toward U.S. shores from the March 2011 earthquake in Japan, CNN reports."In the past we would find a few dozen large black buoys, used in Japanese aquaculture, on an outside beach cleanup," Patrick Chandler of the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies told Agence France Presse. "Now we see hundreds."Officials estimate almost 70 percent of the debris swept to sea by last year's tsunami has sunk, but that remaining 30 percent has begun showing up on Canadian and American shores in the last few months. In April 2012, a Japanese child's soccer ball turned up in Alaska, a ghost ship had to be sunk, and a lost Harley Davidson washed ashore on Graham Island off the coast of British Columbia.According to CBS News, one-and-a-half million tons of an estimated five million tons of debris remain afloat. And more than radioactivity, toxicity poses the greatest concern when it comes to wreckage."Think about everything in your garage and imagine that dumping in the ...

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation Toxic compounds derived from oil that was released in the Deepwater Horizon spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico nearly two years ago has entered the ocean's food chain through microorganisms, a recent study has confirmed.The study, funded by the National Science Foundation and led by a team of researchers from East Carolina University, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Oregon State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and the U.S. Geological Survey, detected chemical compounds found in oil called hydrocarbons, some known to be carcinogenic, within the bodies of microscopic crustaceans called zooplankton."Our research helped to determine a 'fingerprint' of the Deepwater Horizon spill--something that other researchers interested in the spill may be able to use," Dr. Siddhartha Mitra of East Carolina University said in a statement. "Furthermore, our work demonstrated that zooplankton in the Northern Gulf of Mexico accumulated toxic compounds derived from the Macondo well."Zooplankton form the base of the ocean's food web and are typically fed upon by fish larva and smaller crustaceans, said Dr. David Kimmel of East Carolina University. Whether or not these larger organisms have accumulated significant amounts of toxic compounds, or ...

But Long-Term Environmental Impact Is Unclear As oceans warm due to climate change, water layers will mix less and affect the microbes and plankton that pump carbon out of the atmosphere -- but researchers say it's still unclear whether these processes will further increase global warming or decrease it.The forces at work are enormous and the stakes huge, said Oregon State University scientists in an article publishedFebruary 10 in the journalScience. But inadequate ocean monitoring and lack of agreement on how to assess microbial diversity has made it difficult to reach a consensus on what the future may hold, they said."We're just beginning to understand microbial diversity in the oceans and what that may mean to the environment," said Stephen Giovannoni, an OSU professor of microbiology. "However, a large portion of the carbon emitted from human activities ends up in the oceans, which with both their mass of water and biological processes act as a huge buffer against climate change. These are extremely important issues."The interest is growing, scientists say, because nearly half of the world's photosynthesis is contributed by microbial plankton, and the process of marine carbon production and consumption is much faster than on land. A turnover of ...

For Whales, too Every year, humans consume 70 million tons of seafood. Though this is an astonishing volume-one that has aserious impact on ocean populations-it cannot compare to sperm whales which consumer more than 100 million tons of seafood annually. Most of this consists of squid and small fish but-increasingly-plastic trash is making its way into the whales' diet as well.Sperm whales, specifically, have been identified as one of the most intelligent species in the ocean-if not on the planet. They posses the largest brains of any known animal-living or extinct-and use sounds and sonar to communicate with one another,organize into social groups, and evenidentify individuals by name.The cosmopolitan species has found great success and managed to establish itself in all of the world's oceans and many of the major seas. One of the keys to this success is their ability to dive deep below the surface-with some dropping nearly two miles-to find food. Even so, they have not been able to escape the scourge of ocean plastic pollution that has also impacted fish, turtles, and birds.Though hunting of sperm whales has been regulated since just after WWII, threats like pollution continue to threaten the species. The problem with ocean ...

Over the past year he has been following the menace of plastic On Midway atoll in the North Pacific, dozens of young albatross lie dead on the sand, their stomachs filled with cigarette lighters, toy soldiers and other small plastic objects their parents have mistaken for food.That sad and surreal sight, says Hong Kong-based Australian film director Craig Leeson, is one of the manysymptoms of a plague afflicting the world's oceans, food chains and human communities: the onslaught of discarded plastic."Every piece of plastic ever made since the fifties exists in some shape or form on the planet," Leeson told AFP. "We throw plastic into a bin, it's taken away from us and we never see it again -- but it still comes back at us."Over the past year, Leeson has been following the menace of plastic from Sardinia to Canada to the Indian Ocean for a film that aims to combine the art of nature documentary with a campaigning quest.Provisionally called "Away", the film -- backed by David Attenborough and the UK-based Plastic Oceans Foundation -- brings together new research on the spread of plastic with missions by "explorers" such as Ben Fogle to show the diverse effects of ...