Thriving Oceans

Out of sight out of protection? Not any longer as technology is enabling scientists to study deep sea coral reef ecosystems and provide protection before commercial bottom trawling, crab pots and energy exploration activities mar the reefs.

“The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is pushing the proposal to protect the region, about the size of West Virginia, in depths down to 2,500 feet and below, creating the largest deep water coral protected area off the Atlantic Coast.” AP

In a world of overfishing, bycatch, and declining ocean health, I know this is hard to believe but this is one of those rare cases where protections are being instituted prior to the development of a potential problem. Go figure!

According to the USGS:

The Atlantic cruises will examine deep coral ecosystems off Florida and North Carolina. The Gulf cruise will involve returning to deep coral sites visited in previous years as well as exploring new target locations on the West Florida Slope and a deep ship wreck. The primary research objectives are to examine and classify deep coral reef habitats and their associated fauna and compare them with non-reef environments.

The program has integrated a diverse group of collaborators, including scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNC-W), UNC Chapel Hill, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS).

Conservation, Invertebrates, Media, Videos, Wildlife

Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle Video

Posted by Scott A. On August - 6 - 2009

Media, Sea turtles, Videos, Wildlife

Bringing JAWS into the 21st century

Posted by Scott A. On July - 31 - 2009

In a previous incarnation of Thrivingoceans.org, I used to have a list of favorite quotes that was almost completely comprised of excerpts from the movie Jaws. And after all the years of watching the flick I am still not exactly sure how my wife truly feels about the film, but she does seem to tolerate the viewings. Perhaps I’ll ask her tonight.

At any rate, I came across this great video from Save Our Seas and I wanted to pass it along, not only for the familiar movie appeal, but for its ultimate message. Don’t be alarmed as it may contradict what is typically heard on the evening news and cable news networks.